Wolfgang Tillmans calls for better funding for arts and music in schools: ‘I hope the new government listens’
The iconic photographer issued the plea while accepting his 2024 PEUGEOT Attitude Pride ICON Award at our ceremony in London today
Wolfgang Tillmans has called on the incoming UK government to provide better funding for arts and music in schools.
The iconic photographer made the plea while accepting his 2024 PEUGEOT Attitude Pride ICON Award at Raffles London at The OWO today.
“There’s literally no art education in British schools anymore,” the iconic photographer said. “For a country that prides itself [on] design, and art, and music, as a huge economy… I just never understood the logic of the last 10 years, to cut arts and music education from the curriculum.”
Speaking ahead of the the General Election on 4 July 2024, Tillmans furthermore added: “I can only hope the new government will listen.”
“We have to make sure that 40 years from here, history is not going back” – Wolfgang Tillmans
Recalling the impact of the arts on his coming out journey as a teen, Tillmans said on stage: “‘Smalltown Boy’ by Bronski Beat was fresh in the charts. I had this support. It was all right. There was hope [for] millions of gay boys.”
Speaking at today’s ceremony, 55-year-old went on: “That was 40 years ago. And 40 years before that, 1944 – on the cover of ‘Smalltown Boy’ there was a triangle.
“Gay men had to wear that in the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. So, we have to make sure that 40 years from here, history is not going back. It is going forward.”
Speaking in a recent interview with Attitude about his career, Tillmans detailed his artistic journey, including photographing Lady Gaga during The Fame Monster era.
“She was interested in art, knew who I was, so that was great,” he remembered. “I met her before a concert in Duisburg, a relatively small town between two gigs in Paris and Berlin. There was no press arrangement. We had a whole afternoon for each other.”
Tillmans also discussed his return to making music in 2016 after a 30-year hiatus. “Little did I know, half a year in, a song of mine landed on Frank [Ocean]’s visual album, Endless, on the song ‘Device Control’,” he explained.
“I haven’t stopped. I recently released my second full album, Build from Here.”
Issue 359 of Attitude magazine is available to order online here and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.
