News

A 'partnership gallery' at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery will open in 2024, the British Museum has announced.

The museum's Bronze Age displays will be "redeveloped" to make better use of gallery space and create narratives about historical local life.

Three 12,800-year-old woolly mammoth skeletons - the most complete sets in northwest Europe - will be the draw card of the gallery.

The British Museum says the partnership will allow more of Shrewsbury's nationally significant geology and archaeology collections to be shared with the public

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has made £50,000 available for a new programme supporting artists from a minority ethnic background.

The mentoring and residency programme will offer grants of up to £5,000 for research, learning, networking and cultural exchange opportunities.

Applications are open until October 4, with artists at every stage of their career encouraged to apply.

Chief Executive Roisin McDonough said the programme seeks to address the "numerous and complex barriers to access, progression and representation in the arts" that minority ethnic artists face. 

The council is in the process of establishing a Minority Ethnic Deliberative Forum to strengthen diversity within the sector and inform future decision making.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating Sony Music Entertainment’s acquisition of two Kobalt Music Group subsidaries, AWAL and Neighbouring Rights.

The watchdog believes the £312m deal, completed in May, could limit competition after an initial investigation.

The CMA found evidence AWAL was "well-placed" to compete with Sony in the future, recognising the music distributor as "one of few suppliers outside the major labels that succeeded in gaining a meaningful foothold in the market".

CMA's Senior Director Colin Raftery said the merger could worsen deals for many music artists in the UK, leading to less innovation across the industry.

Sony has said it is "perplexed" by the findings. The industry giant has until September 14 to address the CMA's concerns, before the deal is referred for an in-depth Phase 2 investigation.

Irish deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar has been criticised for attending a music festival in London whilst his government maintains restrictions on live events.

Ireland’s largest music festival Electric Picnic - cancelled this year due to capacity restrictions - was scheduled for the same weekend Varadkar was spotted at Mighty Hoopla.

The Event Industry Alliance (EIA) said it was “glad” to see Varadkar trust the UK’s safety measures and demanded a full reopening of Irish venues.

“It has been repeatedly stated and acknowledged by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister Micheál Martin) and the Tánaiste (Varadkar) that the commercial event sector requires 100% capacity to be viable,” the EIA added.

Ireland authorised indoor events to resume at 60% capacity and outdoor events at 75% on Monday (September 6). A return to full capacity events has been earmarked for October 22.

Nearly 29,000 people have signed a petition in support of Roy "Chubby" Brown after a performance in Sheffield was cancelled.

Sheffield City Trust, which runs Sheffield Town Hall, says the comedian's humour does not reflect its values.

It has issued refunds to all 300 ticket holders. The venue's capacity is more than 2,300.

Petitioners are fighting back with a freedom of expression argument: "If you don't like it, don't go watch."

The trust's decision follows a pre-pandemic pattern of regional venues cancelling the comedian's shows.

ArtsProfessional reported in 2019 that the boss of Middlesbrough Town Hall, a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England, resigned after the local council overrode her decision not to book Roy Chubby Brown.

Sheffield receives less arts funding than Manchester despite having a larger population.

Analysis by The Star found that Manchester and Leeds get four times as much from Arts Council England.

Organisations in Sheffield have received £37.8m in grants since 2017/18 - the equivalent of £64.77 per person.

Leeds received the equivalent of £166.94 per person over the same period, while Manchester got £274.78 per head of population.

City Council Deputy Leader Julie Grocutt said Sheffield "punches above its weight" culturally.

The Sheffield Culture Collective launched its first strategy for regional growth in June.

"We are keen to strengthen relationships with major funders to redress the geographical imbalance in funding... and are working with partners in the Culture Collective to do just that," Grocutt said.

"We now need to make a determined effort together to bring in greater investment in to Sheffield and tackle this unfairness."

An open letter to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) board says it "stands in solidarity" with its ex-Director Sarah Frankcom following her resignation in August.

More than 100 signatories shared their disappointment. They said their trust in the board has been damaged and that Franckom has not "been supported as she should have been".

The letter alleges a lack of accountability in the ongoing investigation into Frankcom's leadership.

It says interviews with internal staff have begun "without an adequate, transparent record of minutes" and alleges Chairman Shaun Woodward has called up staff off record.

At the time of publication, the letter had been co-signed by 24 of LAMDA’s permanent staff, 43 of its freelance practitioners, associate artists and visiting directors and 33 industry professionals. 

LAMDA, which is conducting an inquiry into claims against Franckom, declined to comment.