The Art Newspaper is thrilled to announce that its podcast The Week in Art has been named the Best Special Interest Podcast at the 2021 Publisher Podcast Awards. Described by the judges as “one of our most competitive categories”, The Week in Art beat out competitors including the Plodcast from BBC Countryfile Magazine and Big Brains by the University of Chicago News. The Art Newspaper’s podcast host Ben Luke accepted the award at livestreamed ceremony on Wednesday 21 April.
“On behalf of the whole team, we’d like to thank the Publisher Podcast Awards and its judges, the many brilliant guests that have come on to the podcast, our sponsor Christie’s, The Art Newspaper’s superb editors and reporters, including those who’ve not appeared on the podcast but whose stories are the backbone of what we do—and, of course, you, our listeners—thank you for being part of this journey,” says Luke.
The Art Newspaper's podcast host Ben Luke Photo: David Clack
The Week in Art—originally named The Art Newspaper Weekly—launched on 15 September 2017. Since then, the podcast team has produced more than 150 episodes crammed full of incredible stories, from the mysterious disappearance of a $450m Leonardo to the secrets of Van Gogh’s suicide. The podcast offers timely, in-depth and investigative news; shot through with the sharp, knowledgeable analysis that defines The Art Newspaper’s editorial. The content is emphatically international, exploring the art world from the traditional art centres of London and New York, but reflecting its global breadth. The Week in Art has now had over 1.5 million downloads and has listeners in more than 100 countries.
The podcast covers major art and heritage stories, always with an eye on major geopolitical shifts: in recent months, numerous episodes have explored the effects of Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter on distinct fields within the art world, from the art market, to museum collections, programmes and economics; and the debates around public sculpture, historic and contemporary.
Regular highlights include tours of major exhibitions and interviews with renowned and emerging artists. Guests have ranged from artists such as David Hockney, Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović, Theaster Gates, Doris Salcedo and Mark Bradford, to museum directors including Frances Morris of Tate, Philip Tinari from UCCA in Beijing and Sonia Lawson from Togo’s only contemporary arts centre, to curators, philosophers, actors, broadcasters and academics.
Ben Luke spoke to David Hockney for an episode of The Week in Art Photo: David Clack
Almost four years on, The Art Newspaper’s podcast “family” continues to grow, with the new series A brush with… launched in August 2020, offering in-depth interviews with artists, and plans to add more series to the roster in the near future. "‘We are so proud to have won this award," says The Art Newspaper's editor Alison Cole. "It’s a wonderful tribute to our particular brand of journalism—which not only covers the art world, but also analyses the world in which art happens—and to the passion and expertise of our brilliant team."
The Week in Art podcast by The Art Newspaper is available every Friday on our website and all the usual places where you find podcasts. This podcast is sponsored by Christie's.
The Art Newspaper's podcast team
Hosted by Ben Luke, produced by Julia Michalska and Aimee Dawson, produced and edited by David Clack. With Henrietta Bentall and Daniela Hathaway.