Former Globe boss says bean counters are stifling the arts

INSTALLING too many accountants at the top of the arts has created a climate of fear and risk-aversion, the former director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has said.

Dominic Dromgoole, who left the Globe last year after a decade in charge, said board members with financial backgrounds resist ideas that are not guaranteed to succeed and that governing bodies should pay more attention to artists who are willing to take risks.

Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival about the Globe’s project to perform Hamlet in every country, completed under his tenure, he said he had encountered too many people with a negative approach to new ideas in the UK.

“The greatest resistance you encoun- ter in the UK is the ‘stop it’ mentality, which you meet at all corners and everywhere,” he said. “It’s a mixture of fear, and people being very risk-averse, and being lethargic and lazy and frightened.

Asked what could be done, he said: “Institutionally I think we have a problem that we have possibly over-stacked our governance areas with people from the world of finance.

“They are entirely honourable and entirely nice people, but their inclination is to say no to any venture they can’t absolutely 100 per cent future-proof, which you can’t really do with theatre tickets.”

Last October, Emma Rice, Mr Dromgoole’s successor, announced she would leave after a dispute. Michelle Terry, the actress, takes up the role in April.