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The UK’s Unboxed Festival could be investigated for costing £120 million at a period of financial unrest. Conservative MP Julian Knight has urged action to be taken, and according to the BBC called the festival an “excessive waste of money during a cost of living crisis” in a letter to the National Audit Office (NAO).
The cost of living crisis in the UK has been highlighted in recent weeks, with ongoing energy concerns, the pound sterling currency dropping, and concerns over widespread closure of foodbanks on the day of the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II. The price of the festival has exceeded four times the amount of tax money spent on the Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier in the year.
UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of creativity, taking place across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and online from March to October 2022.
They’re lifting the lid on 10 awe-inspiring new ideas, shaped across science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics by brilliant minds working in unexpected collaborations. Unmissable events and unforgettable experiences are coming to places and spaces right across the UK: from coastal towns and city centres to breathtaking areas of natural beauty.
You’ll be able to experience UNBOXED in person, on TV, on radio and online – entirely for free. And they want you to get involved in every part of this extraordinary year: diving into our UK-wide learning programmes, taking part in workshops and special events, even playing a central role in bringing one or more of these 10 astonishing projects to life.
Take a thrilling multimedia ride through 13.8 billion years of history in About Us, and get planting as Dandelion reinvents the harvest for the 21st century. Unleash the limitless potential of the mind in Dreamachine, fast-forward three decades with GALWAD: A story from our future, and become one of 20,000 ‘Lumenators’ celebrating our beautiful UK landscapes in Green Space Dark Skies. You can explore the solar system right here on Earth in Our Place in Space, tour a magical forest-garden in the heart of the city with PoliNations, and climb aboard a repurposed North Sea offshore platform in SEE MONSTER. StoryTrails is animating and amplifying the hidden histories of our towns and cities – while Tour de Moon is a major festival created in collaboration with our lunar satellite.
Martin Green, chief of Unboxed argues that the project is making a positive impact, in line with the governments wishes, and says that the festival has created jobs and creative activity.
Speaking to the BBC in addition to his letter, Julian Knight’s committee from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the festival was an irresponsible use of public money, while Mr Knight called it:
“A fiasco in the making. Questions need to be answered about how this was allowed to happen. These decisions are signed off by politicians so therefore politicians need to take the blame. I’m calling for an NAO investigation to ensure we see what has happened, why it is that this money has been spent in this way and then we also learn the lessons for the future. We saw the warning signs… and the fact is this has been potentially a monumental waste of money and has had little impact in the country as a whole.”
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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