Front Row

Hollywood star Keanu Reeves and award-winning author China Miéville have joined forces for The Book of Elsewhere, which is based on Keanu's hit comic book series BRZRKR and tells the story of an immortal warrior and his journey through time.As Paris prepares to welcome the world for the Olympic and Paralympic Games this week, the writer and broadcaster Agnés Poirier reports on the City of Light's Cultural Olympiad.Nick visits Blackburn to meet co-founder and co-director of the National Festival of Making, Elena Jackson, and to see two of this year's festival commissions - Breathing Colour by textile artist and designer Margo Selby, and Invisible Hands by ceramic artist Nehal Aamir.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Samira discusses the perilous situation facing arts sponsorship in the UK, amid growing protests and campaigns, with leading figures from the worlds of arts and finance. As literary and music festivals have been engulfed in sponsorship rows this summer, resulting in many severing ties with major donors such as the investment firm Baillie Gifford. what are the implications for the future of arts institutions?She is joined by Peter Bazalgette, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non Fiction. David Ross, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, founder of Nevill Holt Opera Festival and Chair of the National Portrait Gallery. Julia Fawcett, Chief Executive of The Lowry in Salford. Noreen Masud, author and lecturer in 20th Century Literature at the University of Bristol. Author and journalist John Kampfner. Luke Syson, Director of The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. City Financier Malcolm Le May. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser

Tom talks to the creators of the hit Australian musical Fangirls, Yve Blake and Paige Rattray, as it opens in London. Countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski makes his Proms debut tomorrow night, and talks about combining his career as a top international soloist with breakdancing and modelling. Actor Samuel West discusses a new report from Campaign for the Arts, which reveals new findings about the state of the arts in the UK. Children's literature expert and broadcaster Bex Lindsay recommends summer books for younger children. Race to Imagination island: Mel Taylor Bessent The Nine night mystery: Sharna Jackson Super sunny murder club (collection) Mysteries at Sea: the royal jewel plot by AN Howell Ramzee: The cheat book Starminster: Megan Hopkins Fantastically great women, Sports stars and their stories: Pete PankhurstPresenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Rebecca Stratford

Jason Solomons and Kate Maltby join Tom to review Those About to Die, the new 10-part ‘sword and sandal’ series from Amazon Prime, directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Anthony Hopkins. The film Thelma which follows an elderly grandmother who turns action hero to track down her scammer, inspired by her favourite film series – Mission Impossible. And Echo at the Royal Court, the new play from the Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, starring a new unrehearsed performer every night. The likes of Meera Syal and Adrian Lester take to the stage while guided by Soleimanpour live from his flat in Berlin.Plus Belle and Sebastian perform live ahead of their upcoming festival The Glasgow Weekender. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Writer actor Ryan Sampson and actor Danny Dyer on their new sky comedy series Mr Bigstuff which explores the relationship between two brothers and masculinity .Pete Bellotte is one of the world’s greatest songwriters. With a catalogue of over 500 songs he is best known for his work with Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder. Earlier this year he won a Grammy after the 1977 song “I Feel Love” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.As an exhibition on Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body opens at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the exhibition’s co-curator and classicist Caroline Vout and the art historian Lynda Nead join Tom to talk about the Olympics, high-performing bodies, and the interplay between art and sport. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Corinna Jones

As Disco makes its debut at the Proms, conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, who will be leading the BBC Concert Orchestra at Saturday’s Everybody Dance! The Sound of Disco Prom, talks about the link between the music which dominated the 1970s pop charts and the orchestral world.Today the Welsh First Minister, Vaughan Gething and four of his cabinet ministers including the Culture Secretary resigned. Jane Henderson, President of The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales, and Emma Schofield, Editor of Wales Arts Review, discuss the current arts funding crisis in Wales and the impact of the political upheaval.Sweet Dreams is a new immersive installation at Aviva Studios in Manchester which explores our relationship with fast food. It’s been created by cutting edge arts collective Marshmallow Laser Feast, and the group’s co-founder and director, Robin McNicholas, talks to Nick about fusing theatre, gaming, and video art to tell new stories.Pioneering artist Bill Viola, who was known for his distinctive slow motion videos which reflected on life’s biggest questions, is remembered by Marshmallow Laser Feast director, Robin McNicholas. We also delve into the Front Row archives to hear Viola himself talk about how a "miracle" inspired his installation in St Paul's Cathedral. Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Anne-Marie Duff talks about her role in the crime thriller Suspect and her career from Shameless to Bad Sisters, Al Murray and Matthew Moss on the ongoing fascination with World War II in festivals, podcasts and films, an interview with Melvyn Hayes, well known for It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and curator Bakul Patki and artist Dawn Woolley discuss A Real Woman, a billboard art exhibition exploring representations of femininity. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Eliane Glaser

Boyd Hilton and Dreda Say Mitchell join Samira to review the 12 time Tony nominated Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris which has just opened in London, having premiered, not without controversy, in New York in 2018. The film Fly me to the Moon starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum is a rom com set during the 1960s Space Race between the USA and Russia. Sunny is a future set thriller TV series in which an American woman living in Japan loses her family in a plane crash and is sent a robot by way of compensation and comfort, by the company her husband worked for, and who ends up helping her uncover some shocking secrets.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

For the first time ever, breaking (known commercially as break dancing) is going to be featured as a sport at the main Olympic Games when they are hosted in Paris this summer. But what exactly is breaking and where did it come from? Tom Sutcliffe speaks to DJ Renegade, one of the world’s top breaking judges who came up with the original judging system the Olympics competition is based on and Crazy Smooth, one of Canada’s top street dancers.We visit the Museum of the Home in East London to speak with the museum’s director Sonia Solicari about their new Rooms Through Time: 1878-2049 exhibition which features displays of seven distinct homes of people who lived in that area, and explores how migration and belonging shaped their home lives.Presenter and judge Vick Hope announces the winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024.Playwright Mark Ravenhill explains why he's offering online classes for aspiring writers.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Playwright Mike Bartlett and theatre director Robert Hastie on their new stage production of Chariots of FireAs preparations are made for a major redevelopment of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, Catherine Croft, Director of the 20th Century Society and Olivia Salazar-Winspear Culture Reporter for France 24 discuss the iconic building.BBC Russian senior reporter Sergei Goryashko on the sentencing of the Russian playwright, Svetlana Petriychuk, and theatre director Yevgenia Berkovich for their production of a play, Finist The Brave Falcon.Jason Allen-Paisant, who has won both the most recent Forward Prize AND TS Eliot Prize for his poetry collection Self-Portrait as Othello reflects on Aimé Césaire's epic poem Return to My Native Land as it is republished by PenguinPresenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu