What is the point of art? The London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange, in partnership with creative arts think-tank Jericho House, organised a one-day symposium with leading thinkers to discuss this age-old conundrum which has perplexed generations of artists, philosophers and writers. The Chatham House-style event gave influential figures from media, law, medicine, economics and the arts a rare opportunity to debate the role of art and aesthetics in contemporary society. It was chaired by the international human rights lawyer Philippe Sands QC and was supported by Arts Council England. LCACE intended to shake the core conventional ideas about where the arts belong in society; the discourses surrounded art and economics, aesthetics as ethics, art as belief and cultural capital and risk. Following the event, the debate was available as a podcast.

Contributors/Speakers: Philippe Sands QC, Human Rights Lawyer; Armando Iannucci, comic writer, performer, director and producer; Brian Eno, composer and musician; Henry Marsh, Neurosurgeon; Karen Armstrong, former nun and British author of numerous works on comparative religion; Kwame Kwei-Armah, playwright; Noreena Hertz, economist and Professor of Finance, Globalization and Sustainability; Siobhan Davies, choreographer; Susie Orbach, psychotherapist and writer; Ziauddin Sardar, scholar and journalist; A.L Kennedy, writer and comedian.