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Socialism firmly on the cultural agenda
CONRAD LANDIN reports on the radical intent of the AV Festival in Newcastle
Everyday communists: Stefan Konarske (left) as Engels and August Diehl as Marx in The Young Karl Marx

WHEN the AV Festival lost its funding in the latest round of Arts Council awards, there was little outcry in the national press. The fact that the festival is defiantly not London focused — connecting as it does north-east England with art projects the world over — could well point us to why.

But though the festival which opened last week could well be the last, it shows no signs of abating in its boldness, vibrancy and originality.

This year's AV is the second to be titled Meanwhile, What About Socialism? The first, staged two years ago, explored the history of industry and left-wing institutions and the festival's formidable director Rebecca Shatwell says that 2018’s programme is all about presenting “new work by artists and film-makers that consider the future.”

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