If Mr Livingstone can do something with public transport, he may have the credentials to interfere in the South Bank Centre. Maybe it is cronyism - but in the negative sense for the crony - who actually wanted the job? Can you imagine what Hell it will be trying to sort that Centre out. Get it wrong (more than possible and even if you get it more right than wrong, there will be enough people vocal on your shortcomings) and you've hung a huge albatross round the eck of your career. Good Luck to Hollick. He'll need it because there won't be endless supplies of money to cure the problem. I wonder if he's any good at seat upholstery?<P>I want him to get it right, by the way. SBC is an important part of the capitals' cultural and social life (plus it's on my doorstep!)

Well it's not the South Bank Centre, but the National Theatre is right next door:<P><B>The South Bank's big experiment</B><BR>by Veronica Lee in The Evening Standard<P><BR>If you go down to the South Bank today, you'll be sure of a big surprise. What last week was Denys Lasdun's austere concrete bunker is now the hippest, most happening place on London's arts scene. Or that's what the National Theatre's outgoing artistic director, Trevor Nunn, wants you to go away thinking. <P>The National has undergone a facelift and next week starts a five-month season of new works in two new spaces - a rejigged Lyttelton has lost its proscenium arch, a third of its 890 seats and is now described as "an enveloping womb-like space for cutting-edge drama", while the 100-seat Loft has been created out of an unloved and mostly unused circle foyer space. <P>[url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/hottx/review.html?in_review_id=565287&in_review_text_id=532520]<B>click for more</B><BR>

Michael Lynch has been appointed top man at the South bank Centre. Two articles from The Independent.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>An Aussie who lives in Sydney and who twice worked on Crocodile Dundee movies has been appointed to one of the most prestigious and powerful positions in the British art world. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/news/story.jsp?story=297918" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><P>And<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Michael Lynch has been a popular and outspoken chief executive of the Sydney Opera House, Australia's premier performing arts venue as well as an architectural icon. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/news/story.jsp?story=297919" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><p>[This message has been edited by Joanne (edited May 23, 2002).]

<B>Welcome - to perpetual crisis</B> <BR>Martin Kettle in The Guardian <P><BR>The first thing Michael Lynch should do when he takes up his new job as head of the South Bank Centre is to make a phone call to his opposite number at the Royal Opera House, Tony Hall, and arrange to have lunch. <P>It's not that Hall can necessarily tell Lynch a lot about how to run his new empire that he doesn't know already. Hall, after all, has only been in his own post for little more than 12 months, after long years at the BBC. Lynch, by contrast, has spent the past four years in charge of the Sydney Opera House, which, for all its obvious glories, is not exactly an easy ride for an arts chief. Take a glance at the iconic building's history and you will quickly get the picture. <P><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4420603,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><BR>

Who are you calling MOR?
Monday's Independent ran an attack on the Royal Festival Hall's programme. Here, the South Bank Centre's chief executive, Michael Lynch, hits back

What a narrow view Annette Morreau takes of the Royal Festival Hall ("Is the RFH too MOR?").

The South Bank is the best centre for the arts in the world because of the very diversity of its programme which Annette Morreau denigrates. The Royal Festival Hall has always presented a wide-ranging programme – just as much Sinatra and Hendrix as Stravinsky and Toscanini. There continues to be a place for Meltdown, La Linea, and the London Jazz Festival. We present the occasional musical, and ballet will be returning at Christmas.

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<img src="http://www.sbc.org.uk/main/images/support/auditorium.jpg" alt="" />

Arts venue unveils £90m revamp
From the BBC website


The Royal Festival Hall will be given a whole new look
Plans for a £90m refurbishment of London's Royal Festival Hall have been unveiled, with the news that £73m of the total sum

has been raised so far.

The total has been boosted by a £5m donation from the Clore Duffield Foundation, headed by Selfridges heiress Dame Vivien

Duffield.

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Is it me or are theatres getting smaller?
By Duncan Walker for BBC News Online Magazine

Theatres are getting increasingly cramped, with less leg room and the bodies of audience members squashed closer together.

Why?

A trip to the theatre these days is more likely than ever to find you shifting uncomfortably in your seat for space.

But while customers may be tempted to blame the architects or penny-pinching owners for their discomfort, the cause of the

problem lies elsewhere.

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Festival Hall revamp is under way
From the BBC website


A £71m project to revamp London's Royal Festival Hall has begun as part of a £90m programme to improve the famous music venue on the city's South Bank. Initial work began this week, but the main refurbishment of the auditorium and foyers will start in summer 2005.

Acoustics, amenities and access will all be improved - and there will be more leg room for concert-goers.

A new education centre is also due to be built on the ground-floor of the 53-year-old venue.

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Jude Kelly becomes South Bank Centre artistic director
By Jeremy Austin for The Stage


Jude Kelly, former artistic director of West Yorkshire Playhouse, has been appointed artistic director of the South Bank Centre.

One of the most respected figures in the UK arts scene, Kelly will continue in her role as chair of the arts, education and culture committee for the 2012 London Olympics, and her many freelance roles following her installation in the new post in September.

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