Artist  Rebecca Salter, the first female President of the Royal Academy of Arts, tells our Fair & Square podcast the challenges of running the institution during and after pandemic lockdown, the central role of education and how, having been rejected herself, she shares artists’ disappointment about missing out on the Academy's celebrated Summer Exhibition.

Renowned as a painter and printmaker , Rebecca  was elected as President of the Royal Academy of Arts  in 2019, just months before lockdown. Rebecca says the experience of lockdown meant the RA recognised that the audience that came to the actual building in London’s Piccadilly was just one kind of audience. Now they look at how to extend the reach of the RA using online platforms and content such as video of exhibitions and lectures.

The educational element of the RA – which goes back to its origin in 1768 - is Rebecca’s priority particularly when state education’s focus on important subjects such as maths and science may leave little room for art. She also stresses that the RA’s education was always free, continues to be free and will be free into the foreseeable future.

Rebecca Salter was speaking to our Fair & Square podcast host Adam Batstone