News

The Afhganistan National Institue of Music is believed to have closed.

Established in 2010, the school is home to Zohra, the country's sole female orchestra. It performed at the British Museum in 2019.

Little has been heard from the institute since the Taliban's takeover. Its Founder, Dr Ahmad Sarmast, said the militant group has been searching for the keys.

Sarmast expressed hope the building would be able to reopen:

"Music is fading away from the air of Afghanistan so we need to keep an eye on what is happening and then act unitedly with the rest of the world," he told the BBC.

Trafalgar Entertainment has acquired Helen O'Grady Drama Academy, extending its empire further into children's drama.

Trafalgar will run the business alongside Stagecoach Performing Arts, which it already owns. The UK's largest network of performance schools for children has 350 franchises in eight countries.

Helen O'Grady has branches in 16 countries and provides extra-curricular tuition to some 100,000 students each week.

Trafalgar's Joint CEO Rosemary Squire said it hopes to add more franchises to the brand.

"Sadly, arts education funding is being squeezed from the national curriculum, so it is vitally important that a drama provision like this is made available to everyone."

Academy Music Group (AMG) has acquired the Edinburgh Corn Exchange.

The 3,000 capacity venue, set to become the 20th owned and operated by AMG across the UK, will be renamed 02 Academy Edinburgh from today (September 1).

AMG Chief Operating Officer Graham Walters says the venue fits with the company's ethos of investing in heritage buildings.

"It has a number of diverse secondary spaces, flexible formats and configurations that we’ll be looking at over the coming months to complement programming and events in the main auditorium."

Gareth Griffiths, Head of Sponsorship for 02, said the acquisition "demonstrates O2 and Academy Music Group’s commitment to enhancing the live industry in Scotland".

The UK's creative and cultural industries generated £150.4bn in 2019, according to new data.

DCMS figures show the industries' value grew by 8.3% in the year from 2018, adding £11.5bn to the economy before the pandemic hit.

While the creative industries' value continues to dwarf the cultural sector's at £155.8bn, cultural businesses generated nearly £36bn in 2019 - more than gambling and sport combined (£8.3bn and £16.9bn respectively).

Among all DCMS sectors, culture drew the largest proportion of its value from London. Activity in the capital added £2.2bn more to the economy in 2019 - a 10% rate of growth.

The sector's gross value added grew by 6% in all other regions except the West Midlands, where it fell by about £1m.

Two owners of a London flute shop have been banned from trading for the rest of the decade.

Fred Patrick Onn and Andrew Thomson admitted to allowing Top Wind to sell over 20 musical instruments owned by third parties after the retailer went bust in July 2019.

An Insolvency Service investigation found proceeds worth more than £33,000 were not passed onto the owners.

Top Wind entered into liquidation in March 2020 after its accountant was jailed for malpractice.

The Insolveny Service's ruling determined Onn and Thomson cannot become involved with the promotion, formation or management of a company for nine years.

Scottish Culture Secretary Angus Robertson has urged the UK Government to negotiate visa-free travel for the creative industry by the end of the year.

In a letter addressed to Oliver Dowden, Robertson calls for cooperation between the two Governments to “minimise barriers to recovery”.

He adds that touring visas and work permits are creating “insurmountable obstacles” for artists.

“Ultimately this could jeopardise the ability of some to continue working in the sector altogether”.

The letter follows a UK Government announcement that 19 EU countries have agreed to short term visa-free tours, an update condemned by music industry leaders as “nothing new”.

Northern Ireland's arts sector is feeling the effects of Brexit more than most.

A report by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) warns the country's arts and artists are becoming "less visible" internationally as companies struggle to tour, British arts suppliers are unwilling to ship to Northern Ireland and the small sector's voice is lost in cross-national negotiations.

It notes "anecdotal evidence" that arts organisations with the means to do so are establishing themselves in the Republic of Ireland to circumvent some of these issues and remain eligible for EU funding.

But ACNI says it has no way of substantiating how many organisations might be doing this - or whether they are at all. 

"The most we can say is that this is potentially more likely as a consequence of Brexit and the third party status of Northern Ireland-based arts and culture organisations.

"Creative Europe funding, in particular, has been an important source of funding for a number of organisations in Northern Ireland – especially touring and production organisations who will now find it more difficult to form creative partnerships across Europe.  This will impact on the diversity of product audiences will be exposed to and participants will be able to engage in."

The National Theatre of Scotland has launched an online education portal.

It launches with a full version of Hannah Lavery's Lament for Sheku Bayoh, filmed at the Lyceum Theatre, alongside educational resources.

The theatre has made access free to schools to spark "an anti-racism conversation in response to the production".

Further productions staged at the theatre will be added, including forthcoming productions of The Enemy and Enough of Him.

Head of Creative Engagement Paul Fitzpatrick says the portal will "facilitate access to the arts, learning and discussion" across Scotland.