Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Valence House Museum and Gardens in Dagenham will undergo £800k improvement works after securing external investment.
The restoration is backed by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England’s Museum Estates Development Fund, with match funding from Barking and Dagenham Council.
The project includes conservation works in the medieval moated enclosure to restore natural habitats and... read more
£800,000 restoration works underway at Valence House (Barking and Dagenham council)
Wednesday, 24 January 2024
A new cultural festival in Broxtrowe, Nottinghamshire, has received £30,000 of Arts Council England (ACE) funding.
Running throughout June, the festival will offer indoor and outdoor events, including a mix of theatre performances, art workshops, film screenings and live music.
The bid to ACE was made through a Community Committee comprising Broxtowe Borough Council members and officers as well... read more
New festival in Broxtowe receives £30k from the Arts Council (Broxtowe Borough Council)
Wednesday, 24 January 2024
An employment tribunal has ruled 17 members of a former ensemble, which became insolvent suddenly last year, are entitled to a share of £30,350 compensation.
The Nevis Ensemble, which had a total of 19 fellows who regularly performed in care homes, prisons, schools and recovery groups, announced sudden insolvency in January 2023.
The charity, which launched in 2018 and gave almost 700... read more
Tuesday, 23 January 2024
Administrators investigating a charity's spending have been given another year to continue their work.
Since Coventry City of Culture Trust collapsed in February 2023 with debts of more than £4m, administrators have been working to sell off assets to try to pay back creditors while investigating the circumstances of the collapse, with forensic accountants being hired to assist.
The appointment of... read more
Tuesday, 23 January 2024
Chatteris Museum in Cambridgeshire is reopening in a former Barclays bank branch two years after moving out of its old premises, having outgrown it.
The former museum building, shared with the town council offices, closed in 2021. The BBC reports that the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority purchased its new home for £770,000.
An official opening has been planned for May, but it is... read more
Monday, 22 January 2024
An initiative to perform live classical music shows in school playgrounds will tour schools and venues nationwide this year after being given further funding by Arts Council England (ACE).
Inspired by the BBC's Promenade Concerts, Playground Proms were initially developed by comedy string quartet Graffiti Classics in 2021 as a way to perform during COVID social distancing restrictions. They... read more
Monday, 22 January 2024
Peterborough's Cresset theatre has closed for a month to allow all of its 876 seats to be replaced as part of a £5m refurbishment.
The BBC reports that the work is now underway to upgrade the venue to "modern standards" after owners, YMCA Trinity Group, were awarded £5.1m to develop the work it does with young people from the government-funded Youth Investment Fund for capital spending.
Work will... read more
Monday, 22 January 2024
Woking Council will ask the government if it can use money provided for digital strategy to keep an arts centre open.
The BBC reports that the cash-strapped local authority was given £1m as part of the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2022 but now wants to reallocate £600,000 of that for other purposes, including £130,000 to keep The Lightbox museum and gallery open.
Under the plans, £30... read more
Monday, 22 January 2024
Environmental campaigners are calling on architects not to take part in a contest to redesign around a third of the British Museum following a controversial £50m sponsorship deal with BP that will fund the redevelopment.
The boycott is backed by the Architects Declare network, the Section of Architectural Workers trade union, now part of Unite, and Future Architects Front (FAF).
A spokesperson... read more
British Museum revamp contest faces boycott over BP backing (Architect's Journal)
Friday, 19 January 2024
The introduction of admission fees at all national museum sites in Wales due to “critical” financial pressures has an “air of inevitability”, a government committee has heard.
Deputy Minister for Culture Dawn Bowden told the Senedd’s culture committee that ending free entry was being considered as a way to generate income in the face of budget constraints.
In December, the Welsh government... read more
Thursday, 18 January 2024
V&A Dundee will reduce the number of major exhibitions it stages each year as part of “mitigating measures” to cut costs.
The move means the Scottish design museum will host only one annual paid exhibition.
A new report sent to the Scottish government by the organisation confirmed that the programming change, first introduced on a trial basis in 2022 in response to the impact of the Covid-19... read more
V&A Dundee cuts major shows to one a year as costs soar (The Art Newspaper)
Thursday, 18 January 2024
The majority of UK artists want the government to introduce legislation to protect their work from being used to train AI, according to a new survey.
Conducted by Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), the study found 89% would like to see the introduction of more robust safeguards and regulations around AI, with 94% saying they should be compensated financially when their work is used to... read more
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Arts Council of Northern Ireland has named 292 artists awarded funding from a £1.04m National Lottery fund as part of its Support for Individual Artists Programme.
The scheme provides artists working across all disciplines with grants of up to £6,000 to develop new creative projects, purchase equipment, and support international performance opportunities and residencies.
Recipients include a... read more
Arts Council announces £1.04 million National Lottery investment to support individual artists (Arts Council of Northern Ireland)
Tuesday, 16 January 2024
Hyndburn Council has backed a motion to save Oswaldtwistle's arts centre and theatre, which has been closed for six months.
Hyndburn Arts Limited managed the Lancashire venue for 13 years before the company filed for insolvency in August.
At a full council meeting, a motion was backed to recognise the building as a "vital asset". Hyndburn Council will now explore "options which will lead to the... read more
Tuesday, 16 January 2024
Broadway Theatre in Barking has announced its immediate closure after a building survey revealed the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
The building will remain closed while further investigation and essential repairs are carried out.
RAAC was used extensively in the construction of public buildings between the 1950s and the 1970s. It is described as “much weaker” than... read more