March 2016: at the annual Critics' Circle lunch, Dame Maggie Smith accepts the Circle's highest honour for the contribution she continues to make to the arts. Picture © Elliott Franks
President: Jeffery Taylor
Vice-President: Anna Smith
Hon. General Secretary: Rick Jones who can be contacted at criticscircleallsections@gmail.com
Hon. Treasurer: Peter Cargin
Trustees: Ian Herbert, Michael Billington
The Critics’ Circle has existed since 1913 to protect cultural criticism from the censor and the despot. It was at first an offshoot of the Institute of Journalists on Fleet Street and has aways had the critics of the daily national papers as the core of its membership. The Circle views criticism as an arm of free speech and an essential ingredient of a healthy society. From small beginnings, the Circle today has 490 members shared between Theatre (117), Music (78), Film (151), Dance (57), Visual Arts (47) and Books (40). As an association, it provides numerical strength to its members, most of whom labour as unrepresented freelancers. After much philosophical debate in the 1980s, the Circle decided to become an award-giving organisation and since 1988 has presented each year the Service to Art Rosebowl to an artist of conspicuous achievement whom the President toasts by raising the Charles Dickens Goblet to him or her at the annual luncheon usually held in London. In 2015 the members voted for Dame Maggie Smith. The sections also make their own awards, some of them in ceremonies which have become siginificant social occasions. The sections hold periodic meetings to discuss their awards, propose new members, debate current issues and sometimes meet artists.
Admission to the Circle is by invitation from the 28-member Council. The rule book states:
Invitations are issued to persons engaged regularly and substantially for at least two years in the writing or broadcasting (television, radio and internet) of criticism of drama, music, film, dance, visual arts and literature or who write or broadcast informed analytical features or programmes.
A Critical Century - a history of the Circle is available on Amazon as an E Book.
The Merchant of Venice
Cardiff Millennium Centre
16 September
Lucien Jenkins
Published: 22/09/2016
Mozart and Bruckner, Dresden Staatskapelle, Royal Albert Hall, 7th September
Amanda Holloway
Published: 10/09/2016
Prom 55, CBSO/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Albert Hall, 27th August
Amanda Holloway
Published: 30/08/2016
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, BBC Proms, 18th August
Rick Jones
Published: 19/08/2016
Enquiries about the Critics' Circle should be made to the Hon Gen Sec Rick Jones by email criticscircleallsections@gmail.com or telephone 020 8698 2460.
The Critics’ Circle is the oldest critics' organisation in the world and to date has over 500 members who work in the media throughout the United Kingdom.
Read more...
Published: 29/02/2016
Published: 08/03/2014
Pictures from our 2011 Film, Dance and Drama Awards presented in January 2012
William Russell
Published: 25/01/2012
The reports in The Stage about the setting up of the Circle
William Russell
Published: 09/06/2011
Circle Film Awards, BFI Southbank, February 10, 2011
Willliam Russell
Published: 10/04/2011
A collection of pictures from our past film awards.
William Russell
Published: 23/03/2011
A collection of pictures taken at Circle events
William Russell
Published: 16/03/2011
Stars and critics from the 1940s to the 1980s
Peter Cargin
Published: 07/01/2011
Published: 16/12/2010
Published: 04/12/2010
