One of the subjects I have been researching in the Design archives has been the Festival of Britain, so I was really interested to hear that the South Bank Centre last week announced plans for a ‘summer of celebrations’ to mark the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. This announcement has already met with cynicism in the national press, with many finding it difficult to believe in the convictions of a government that wishes to ‘celebrate’ british design and arts culture, after it has just been so dramatically de-valued by the budget cut, as this article in the guardian argued.
It’s difficult not to see the cruel irony in the timing of the 60th anniversary. In my reading so far, the Festival has been consistently cited as a key moment in the narrative about the greater ‘visibility’ of the design profession; when government brought design to the centre stage. It will be interesting to note the tone of the celebrations as they take place in the summer; will they look forwards or backwards? Will they be a commemoration of British Design or a promotion of its future role in society?