One place of great growth in the arts? In the UK, in 2002/03, the country’s 40 rural touring schemes staged more than 3,000 professional shows to a quarter of a million people. Since the creation in 1997 of umbrella body the National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF), performances have doubled. “Village halls are places where, far from the nearest focus group fretting about access or elitism, real life takes place. Gigs are packed with people, because whole communities – farmers, retired people, young families – turn out to what is a major event in their social calendar.”