iview launches ABC Arts

The ABC has launched a new dedicated iview channel, ABC Arts.

It will feature content on photography, travel, sculpture, music, painting, dance, animation, theatre alongside news, reviews and interviews with artists, musicians and more. This month it will showcase more than 70 titles and 35 hours of arts programming.

ABC Director of Television Richard Finlayson said, “ABC Arts on iview is set to be the home of arts programming for all Australians, available on Australia’s favourite online television destination – iview. ABC iview provides the perfect environment to curate a powerful and broad range of content for arts lovers to find and watch on demand, whenever and wherever they choose.”

ABC Acting Head of Arts Kath Earle said, “We’ve created a channel filled to the brim with hand-picked arts content which will lead audiences to surprise discoveries and classic favourites. Where else would memorable moments from ABC’s Recovery sit comfortably alongside the grandmother of performance art Marina Abramović, celebrated photographer Trent Parke and the superstar of Nigerian funk Fela Kuti?”

Rebecca Heap, Head of ABC TV Strategy and Digital Products, added, “The most exciting aspect is the opportunity to commission new, unique content specifically for the channel, adding to the overall conversation and making arts programming more accessible, exploring new stories and shorter form content.”

Original Australian video series for ABC Arts on iview includes:

#OnAssignment hosted by Australian photographer James Simmons;
The Imitation Game: Marina Abramovic, inside an art-world experiment with the matriarch of performance art;
Thrill and the Fury, an antidote to the effusive celebration of street art;
Fashpack Freetown, celebrating the irrepressible forces of creativity in a town known more as a civil war battleground than a fashion hotspot; and
The Critics with Zan Rowe, a new review show dissecting screen culture from film to video art and the latest web series.

Highlights also include curated arts documentaries celebrating the renegades of the art world, with titles such as:

Finding Vivian Maier
Chuck Close
Beautiful Losers
Getting Frank Gehry
Finding Fela
Stranded

ABC Arts on iview also brings you cult art shows from abroad, such as Park Bench with Steve Buscemi, plus hours of clips from the extensive ABC archives including rarely seen live performances and interviews by Public Enemy, Bon Scott, Regurgitator, Silverchair, Oren Ambarchi, Midnight Oil and more.

http://iview.abc.net.au/channel/abcarts

ABC News Digital has also launched a dedicated Arts & Culture section:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/arts-culture/