Artists should elect their own parliament

How should state money for the arts be distributed? As it stands, the Arts Council is a barely respected bureaucracy slavishly shadowing the social policy of the day. What's more, filling out forms for the Council's often meagre funds is a dispiriting and frequently futile exercise with no long term guarantees. Should the arts be freed from the bureaucrats, and artists allowed to oversee distribution of their allotted money?

If so, is a parliament of eminent artists the answer? Or would such an assembly turn into a Tower of Babel - a multi-disciplinary talking shop quickly collapsing under the weight of its own self-importance?

Proposing the motion is David Farr, artistic director of the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, alongside National Theatre associate director Tom Morris.

Opposing the motion is Richard Noble, lecturer in Fine Art at Goldsmith's College alongside playwright Alistair Beaton.

Journalist Patrick Marmion will chair the meeting.