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It's impossible to imagine a Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú without the arts. Music, arts and culture are woven into the fabric of so many of our services from Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú One to Radio 3.

But it's equally impossible to imagine cultural life in the UK without the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú – without the exposure it gives to cultural activity of every kind; without the continuous conversation it holds with the British public about the arts, reviewing, scrutinising, chronicling both present and past; without the many tens of millions of pounds it invests each year in British music and culture.

Given the scale of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's involvement in the arts, it's hardly surprising that we are often in the thick of a lively debate about values and standards in our national culture.

In the heat of that debate, people can sometimes lose sight of the sheer range of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's cultural contribution and, in particular, its steadfast support for challenging as well as popular forms of art – and for original work.

That's why I am delighted to introduce this snapshot of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's plans for content around the arts, music and culture in 2009.

There are a few overarching themes – the importance of big, bold ideas to seize the imagination of the public; a determination to use TV, radio and digital media in concert to deliver a richer, broader offering in the arts; a new willingness to work with partners from across the cultural spectrum so that, by joining forces, we can serve the British public better.

This is the first time that we have pulled our highlights together – more than 100 different titles, around 1,500 hours on television and over 8,000 hours on Radio 3 alone.

Highlights include ambitious projects from the pan-Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Poetry Season and Radio 3's year-long celebration of Purcell, Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn; television landmarks from Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú One's Seven Ages Of Britain (presented by David Dimbleby) to Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Four's Art Of Germany; the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's formidable line-up of regular arts strands from Front Row on Radio 4 to Imagine on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú One; our engagement with the next generation of art lovers through our children's programming and youth initiatives; and finally our journalism about the arts and culture across TV, radio and the web.

The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's contribution to music, arts and culture is not restricted to the privileged or to a handful of subscribers. It is available to all.

And the British public take us up on that offer – to quote just one figure, 12m people chose to watch some of the 2008 Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Proms season on television, and that was before the Last Night.

I hope you will find this guide to the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's future plans in the arts both useful and exciting.