Should the arts be ethical? What kinds of values should the arts represent? Do artists have a moral responsibility to speak out? These are just some of the questions that will be asked at Culture and Consequence - a major conference in June on the role of ethics in the arts promoted by the London Centre for Arts ad Cultural Enterprise (LCACE) in partnership with the Cultural Leadership Programme.

Culture & Consequence will include keynote speeches from Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, and Baroness Susan Greenfield, an academic and broadcaster who is well-known for her outspoken views on ethics.

LCACE was set up in 2004 to link academics with the cultural and creative industries. The Cultural Leadership Programme is a Government-backed initiative to promote leadership excellence in the UK’s cultural and creative sectors. The conference will raise a number of challenging questions for the cultural leaders of today and tomorrow and offer fresh perspectives on the role of culture in society.

The one-day conference, on 12 June at King’s College, London, is aimed at existing and future cultural leaders, artists, cultural practitioners, academics and policymakers, and will explore aspects of the sometimes uncomfortable but increasingly important relationship between the arts and ethics.

Renowned economist and creative industry policy expert Hasan Bakhshi from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) will lead a discussion about the impact of profit and wealth on the arts.

Choreographer and hip hop theatre artist Jonzi D, who has used dance to inspire and educate young people, will be amongst a group debating the role of artists as ‘prophets’ and their social and moral responsibilities.

Artist David Cotterrell, who produces site-specific installations and is about to visit Kabul in Afghanistan, will join a discussion about the way art can create sacred space and places for communal experience.

Sir Richard Dalton, former UK Ambassador to Iran, and musician Professor Nigel Osborne, will give their perspectives on the role of the arts and culture in conflict resolution and uniting the faiths.