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Bolton Octagon has announced that it will offer £4 tickets to local residents on Universal Credit, Pension Credit or living in low-income households who want to attend the theatre.

Launching this month, the scheme will see 1,000 tickets each year made available at £4, in addition to the venue's existing offer of £15 tickets on 10% of seats for Octagon shows.

“Our audiences tell us what fantastic value for money the Octagon is, but we know that for some people, the price can still be a barrier and especially during the cost-of-living crisis,” said Octagon Chief Executive Roddy Gauld.

“With this new scheme, fantastic seats will be available for just £4. We want as many people as possible to enjoy the magic of live theatre, and this is just one of the many ways we’re working to enrich our communities with fun, creativity and excitement.”

Several art groups are among 28 community projects to share in more than £480,000 of government funding as part of the Windrush Day Grant Scheme.

Administered by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Community, the fund, established six years ago, supports community-led arts, educational, and sporting events across England that highlight the legacy of the Windrush generation.

Funded organisations include Sudden Productions, which will provide a platform for the Windrush Generation and their descendants to share their experiences through a stage production and drama workshops, and Island Movements, which will create a 30-minute ballet telling the story of a Caribbean family whose parents came over on the Windrush.

The Brixton Project, which promotes community cohesion through a carnival of art, theatre and music, will also receive a grant, as will Voyage, a project bringing young people and community elders together to produce a book and exhibition. 

The full list of recipients includes Northampton Theatres Trust, BLACK* artists on the move, Oxygen Arts CIC, Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museums, the London Borough of Newham, and Oxford City Council.

Funding cuts are destroying Britain’s “top-notch” classical music organisations, according to the new chief conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Antonio Pappano.

Speaking at the launch of LSO’s new season, Pappano said: “Do you want to see them die little by little? Look at the struggles, look at the ENO, the WNO. These places are in trouble, and it is not acceptable.”

He said that concerns around whether classical music was “specialist, elitist”, distracted organisations “when they should be concentrating on making good work and quality performances”.

Pappano also criticised Arts Council England, saying the funding body “did not seem to be supporting" classical music organisations and only held “discussions focused on community, diversity, and all those social aspects."

“It is not the LSO or Royal Philharmonic or London Philharmonic’s ­responsibility to educate children. It is the government’s job to start educating children and creating not only talent for the future but also audiences," said Pappano.

“The amount of responsibility given to organisations to correct something that should be done by the government is unfair, frankly.”

LSO, an ACE National Portfolio Organisation, has seen its annual investment from the funding body drop from £2,246,641 to £1,977,044. Pappano joins the orchestra from the Royal Opera House, which has seen its own annual investment from ACE - the largest grant awarded to any single organisation - fall from £25,211,186 to £22,268,584.

Art therapy is associated with positive outcomes for children and adolescents in a hospital-based mental health unit, a new study published in the Journal of Mental Health has found.

Researchers, led by Sarah Versitano, examined more than six years of data from a child and adolescent mental health hospital ward in Australia to understand if the use of restrictive practices, such as seclusion or physical restraint, was lower during the periods when art therapy was offered compared to times when it was not available.

The findings showed "a clear association" between the availability of art therapy and reduced frequency of seclusion, physical restraint and injection of sedatives in mental health units.

Researchers suggest that the trend could have emerged as art therapy may decrease severe distress levels among patients, reducing the risk of harm to themselves or others.

In forthcoming research, the same team aims to understand better young people's experiences of art therapy and why it appears to reduce distress.

Plans to switch library provision in Birmingham to a mixture of council and community-run hubs to save money have been put out for consultation.

Launching the exercise, Birmingham City Council said that, based on current information on community interest and co-location opportunities, it estimates this combination of provision could allow for 25 building-based library services. 

"For more than a decade, tightening budgets for maintenance, staffing and technology have made Birmingham Libraries’ current delivery model inefficient and not effective," a statement accompanying the consultation said.

"The current budget challenges mean that library budgets have been further reduced. 

"In that time we have also seen the way people use libraries has changed with a reduction in people accessing library buildings, yet the need for free and facilitated access to information, culture, and advice is high in the city. 

"Public libraries in Birmingham have a long and strong track record of adapting to new demands and changed circumstances, therefore, an essential review and redesign of the way we provide information and library services in Birmingham offers the best route towards a long-term, effective and sustainable solution."

The consultation on the plans is open until 17 July.

Two of Belfast’s biggest outdoor music events generated £30.8m for Northern Ireland's economy, a study has found.

According to an independent report, the 2023 editions of Belsonic Festival at Ormeau Park and Emerge Music Festival in Boucher Fields, also created nearly 6,000 paid employment opportunities.

Northern Ireland's Economy Minister Conor Murphy said: "Events such as Belsonic and Emerge are considerable economic drivers providing a much needed boost for our local tourism and hospitality industry.

"Employing thousands of people each year, they also engender a feel good factor and a sense of pride that shouldn’t be underestimated."