[Commlist] ViewFinder 120 - Arena published

Learning on Screen is pleased to announce the publication of ViewFinder 
Issue 120: Arena (https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/viewfinder/)

This term ViewFinder will be exploring the landmark BBC arts and culture 
series Arena. Rightly included in Broadcast Magazine’s 50 most 
influential programmes of all time as well as the BFI’s 100 BBC 
Gamechangers, Arena has been essential viewing for the culturally 
curious since its 1975 launch. Always innovative in its output, the show 
has been particularly noteworthy in its focus on cultural figures from 
marginalised social groups, its eschewing of high and low art binaries, 
and its keen eye for the peculiarities of British culture. These 
factors, at least in part, explain the series’ continued relevance and 
why, when the neon message in a bottle floats towards the viewer in the 
opening credits, one awaits the arrival of something special.

Examining Arena both in terms of its production context and in relation 
to programme content contributors to the issue include leading academics 
researching arts broadcasting and, significantly, creative personnel 
from the series itself. Indeed, we open the issue with an extended 
interview with Anthony Wall. A crucial figure in Arena’s development and 
character, Wall became the longest-serving Series Editor of the strand. 
In this interview he discusses, amongst other topics, the culture of 
working on the show and the nature of its distinct aesthetics and ethics.
Other contributions in the issue include: Richard Haynes’s piece 
exploring the art sport journalism in the Arena episode Sportswriter.
Michael Hrebeniak’s essay on the episode The Private Life of the Ford 
Cortina. Jonathan Bignell on ‘The Arena Samuel Beckett season: Art, 
Drama and Adaptation’.
Mary Dickinson’s reflections on her experiences as an Arena director. 
Ian Greaves' biographical portrait of Nigel Finch
Vana Goblot’s ‘Attitude, Alchemy, and Archive – Arena’s Arts Television 
and its Fight for Survival’.
Leanne Weston on Arena's representation of Amy Winehouse.
Katerina Loukopoulou on 'Arena's memorial Portrait of Henry Moore'.
Sergio Angelini’s ‘Arena – Ars Longa, Vita Brevis’.
ViewFinder is fully open access and can be read here: 
https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/viewfinder/
Please do engage with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LearnonScreen

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