How Brexit nearly scuppered the ‘festival of Brexit’

theguardian.com:

For some, the whole project was supposed to be a celebration of Britain’s departure from the EU. Which means there is more than a little irony in the fact a main concern of the “festival of Brexit” organisers was the impact of leaving itself.

Disruption to the supply of workers and materials, as well as increased costs, emerged as one of the risks overshadowing the project, according to records.

The £120m festival was controversial from the moment it was first announced by Theresa May in 2018, but this week was in the firing line once again after thespending watchdog said it is investigating – after a series of rebrandings – Unboxed: Creativity in the UK amid concern visitor numbers were less than 1% of early targets.

Though the festival failed to win over many who voted remain in 2016, some in the arts sector are suspicious the latest attacks have been led by Tory politicians, with some already on record as being unhappy at an apparent drift from the original idea of a post-Brexit festival that would showcase “the best of British creativity”.

Days after Julian Knight, the Tory chair of the Commons culture committee, said the project had been a “catastrophic failure”, its organisers remained guarded while there was no sign of its chief creative officer, the arts impresario Martin Green.

Among the few festival partners to speak out in defence of the festival was Liz Pugh of the outdoor arts organisation, Walk the Plank, who argued that the festival’s legacy and true value would become apparent in the longer term and would outweigh the current focus on spending.

“At the moment there is a feeling that the bean counters are not happy with how many beans there are, and that roots it very much in a financial and economic framework.