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News from the nationals
News from the nationals
Written by Gillian Bates
Prize Draws?
It may be because it is coming on Christmas, the time of giving, that the papers are full of arts awards. However, it's like being surprised at finding a tangerine in your stocking to read that the winner of this year's Turner Prize is "controversial" (item 6). The selection of Mark Leckey, whose inspirations include Felix the Cat, got a somewhat lukewarm response from the critics and loads of media coverage. The equally prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award has a more discreet media profile, but appears to enhance the artistic lives of its recipients (item 7). Another award scheme of great importance, however, received scant coverage. The ArtVenture Freedom to Create awards are for artists who produce great works whilst being subjected to intense political pressure. This year's winners include a Burmese actor and satirist who has been sentenced to 45 years in prison (item 1). Finally, Ape-mail sends all our readers the compliments of the season.
Abbreviations: DT - The Daily Telegraph http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAF0QAAJ5M | FT - Financial Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAHEQAAJ5M | G - The Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAHzgAAJ5M | Ind - The Independent http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAItAAAJ5M | T - The Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAJgQAAJ5M |
Top Stories
1. Artists in exile
A controversial ballet is to tell Robert Mugabe's story, charting the rise and fall of African dictator through cutting-edge dance on the British stage. 'My Friend Robert', by award-winning choreographer Bawren Tavaziva, draws upon his personal experiences and memories of growing up in the then newly independent Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean playwright who has repeatedly challenged the Mugabe regime and an imprisoned Burmese comedian have been honoured with international awards. Cont Mhlanga won the inaugural ArtVenture Freedom to Create prize for his political satire, The Good President. The judges awarded the Imprisoned Artist prize to Burmese satirist Zarganar, who has played a prominent part in the country's pro-democracy movement and has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for "disaffection towards state and government''
Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAQNAAAJ5M | Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAQ7gAAJ5M
2. Artist unveils tribute to troops killed in Iraq A powerful piece of war art featuring more than a hundred men and women killed in Iraq since 2003 has gone on show in Edinburgh. Steve McQueen's -Queen and Country' commemorates 136 personnel, each featured on their own individual stamps and displayed in strips, in a large oak cabinet. McQueen, also the director of Hunger, the film about Bobby Sands, says he will regard the piece as incomplete until the Royal Mail issues editions of the stamps to the public. His stance was supported by relatives of some of the dead soldiers who attended the opening at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAUxgAAJ5M
3. 'Oyster' card could promote arts to young Londoners Boris Johnson has criticised the "dumbing down" of culture for young people, saying that they should be targeted with opera and ballet as well as hip-hop music and movies. The Mayor of London's strategy to promote culture in the capital says that the young are often patronised by the presumption that they will only like art that they can immediately relate to. Mr Johnson has called on arts chiefs to provide a wider variety of cultural opportunities for young people and suggests that the Tube's Oyster card ticket scheme could be used for free or cheap entry to museums, theatres and sports centres.
Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAYjgAAJ5M
4. Poetry Please
If your verses aren't verbose and your prose is perfect then the search for the new Poet Laureate could end with you. The hunt for Andrew Motion's successor is under way, with the public invited to make suggestions for his replacement. This is the first time the public has ever been consulted about the poet laureateship, although one wonders what 'consultation' means when the DCMS says there will be no official public vote.
Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAczAAAJ5M | Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAdawAAJ5M
5. Turner Prize runs into controversy (again) Mark Leckey's winning work in the Turner Prize included elements of film, sculpture and Felix the Cat, but did not receive universal acclaim and critics were unhappy with the selection. Michael Glover, in the Ind said it was "Brainy stuff - but can't we have some beauty?" Also in the Ind, Andrew Johnson ponders "whatever happened to the Turner Prize?"
Independent http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAheAAAJ5M | Independent http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAiQQAAJ5M | Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAjHgAAJ5M | Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAj0wAAJ5M | Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAkiAAAJ5M | Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAlKwAAJ5M
6. Hamlyn Prize is praised
The controversial Turner prize may catapult artists into the spotlight, but the Paul Hamlyn award is equally life-changing, according to Laura Barnett in the G, who interviews past winners. The awards were originally set up in 1994 to provide composers with enough cash to allow them to concentrate on developing their ideas over a three-year period. They were expanded in 1998 to include those working in the visual arts. Artists who have benefited from the Paul Hamlyn -are almost evangelical about its value to their career and confidence', says Barnett.
Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAp7wAAJ5M
7. Is the Royal Academy to blame for its sponsorship troubles?
Rachel Campbell-Johnston in the T, considers whether the RA lost sponsorship because the planned exhibition was just too dull. She argues that the RA's inability to find a corporate sponsor for its forthcoming Andrea Palladio exhibition was not due to fiscal problems but because it is too staid.
Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAs6QAAJ5M
8. Strikes threaten La Scala opening
The Italian government is attempting to rescue the gala opening of Milan opera house La Scala, which is under threat from strikes and protests. Theatre union Fials, which represents most of the staff and musicians, is protesting against a pay deal signed by management and other unions in July. Although La Scala has often suffered from strike action and cancelled performances, the gala opening, to which visiting heads of state and other VIPs are invited as guests of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has never been affected before.
Telegraph http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAwsgAAJ5M
9. Skullduggery
A 16-year-old graffiti artist, who made a series of collages using photographs of Damien Hirst's platinum cast of a human skull, is being sued by the multi-millionaire. The two artists have become locked in an unlikely art clash that has led Hirst to demand recompense from the teenager for selling £200 worth of images of his skull without permission, says Private Eye magazine.
Independent http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAAzpwAAJ5M
10. You own 200,000 oil paintings
The Public Catalogue Foundation plans to give everyone greater access to the paintings in public ownership in this country by cataloguing every such work. This includes everything in the National Gallery, the Tate and all the historic properties owned by the National Trust, as well as hundreds of thousands of paintings dotted through schools, council offices, hospitals and fire stations. Many have never been catalogued or photographed, and may be in storage away from the public gaze.
Telegraph http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAA3lwAAJ5M Best of the rest
At last, for Yorick
A concert pianist's dying wish to appear on stage in Hamlet has been realised 26 years after his death. André Tchaikowsky, a Polish Jew who escaped the Holocaust and settled in Britain, bequeathed his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company to be used as a prop. David Tennant co-starred with the skull in Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Times http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAA7mwAAJ5M | Independent http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAA8VAAAJ5M
Shakespeare as yoof like it
Director Ed Hall is creating 60-minute productions of Shakespeare classics tailored to teenagers who couldn't care less about the Bard. No mention of Yorick's skull, however.
Independent http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAAA-BgAAJ5M
Guantanamo detainees to have art lessons Terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay are to be offered art classes, Game Boys and film nights to distract them from thoughts of global jihad.
Telegraph http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAABA4wAAJ5M
Rare victory for non-fiction book
Academic Henry Hitchings has seen off the Booker prize winner Aravind Adiga to take the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys prize. His book, -The Secret Life of Words', is about the history of the English language.
Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAABDJAAAJ5M
Spacey's Old Vic hailed
Kevin Spacey's tenure of London's Old Vic has been toasted at the Evening Standard theatre awards with a special prize for his achievements as artistic director.
Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAABFAQAAJ5M
Borgia portrait found in Australian gallery A rare portrait of Italian Renaissance noblewoman and femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia has been uncovered in an Australian gallery, bringing to an end 43 years of mystery surrounding the artwork.
Telegraph http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAABG_gAAJ5M | Guardian http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAABHxgAAJ5M
Artists to offer exclusive songs for anti-Aids music service Artists including Sir Elton John and Jay-Z will offer world exclusive songs through a new music service being launched to help fight Aids in Africa.
Telegraph http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAABJoAAAJ5M | Independent http://artsprofessional.pmailuk.com/bnmailweb/ct?d=cwADAABKjQAAJ5M