News

Plans for a new arts and cultural quarter in Essex have been give the green light by a council planning committee.

Harlow Council secured £19.6m of government funding in 2023 to be spent regenerating the town centre's Playhouse Square and College Square.

The plans include major improvements to the Harlow Playhouse, which will be extended.

Land to the west of the theatre will be redeveloped to create a new live performance and music venue with a music school and recording studio.

A public square for events, outdoor performances, a cinema and outdoor dining will also be created.

Council officers described the planning application as "exemplary" and praised its "high-quality" design.

Harlow Council said the redevelopment will "bring people to the town".

A crowdfunding appeal to buy and deliver a mobile library to Ukraine has been launched by the charity representing public libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Libraries Connected hopes to raise £10,000 to purchase a decommissioned mobile library and deliver it to Ukraine. 

The charity said that with more than 600 public libraries and 2,000 school libraries damaged or destroyed by Russian forces, communities in the worst affected areas of Ukraine are unable to access a library at all. 

Isobel Hunter, Chief Executive of Libraries Connected, said: "When our Ukrainian colleagues asked if we could help source them a mobile library, we were only too happy to help. 

"We’ve heard such heartbreaking stories from Ukraine – of libraries destroyed, collections burned, and library workers killed. 

"This may be a relatively small gesture, but it will make a big difference to our partners in Ukraine and the communities they serve."

The crowdfunding appeal will run for eight weeks until 7 June.

Museum workers in Liverpool will take part in 30 days of strikes over the summer as part of an ongoing dispute over pay.

The BBC reports that walkouts by members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will affect National Museums Liverpool (NML) sites from next month.

A total of 56 days of action have already taken place in a dispute over a cost-of-living payment.

The PCS union says NML is the only government employer not to pay its staff an agreed-upon £1,500 cost-of-living payment. 

However, Laura Pye, Director of NML, recently claimed that 10 out of 15 National Museums services could not fulfil the payment.

An offer by NML for a £750 one-off non-consolidated payment, an increase in annual leave to 30 days plus Bank Holidays alongside other measures, was previously rejected.

The Museum of Liverpool, the World Museum, the International Slavery Museum, the Maritime Museum, the Walker Gallery, and Sudley House are among the sites affected.

PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote said members love their jobs but "are angry and feel undervalued".
 

University museums and collections from 21 higher education institutes will receive a share of £14m of Higher Education Museums, Galleries, and Collections funding each year until 2029/2030.

The funding from Research England - part of United Kingdom Research and Innovation - has been raised from £11.7m and will go to 40 higher education museums, galleries, and collections, compared to 33 in previous rounds.

Among those receiving the multi-year grants are nine museums and collections at Cambridge University, which will share more than £2.9m, and four at Oxford, splitting more than £4m.

Three Birmingham University collections will share £400,000, while the Royal College of Music Museum and The Courtauld Institute of Art will get over £221,000 and £696,000, respectively.

Dr Liz Hide, Director of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University, which has been awarded £210,000 a year, said the funding would go toward “[ensuring] researchers can fully utilise our new Collections Research Centre, and enabling our outstanding collections to inspire many new avenues of research across both the sciences and the humanities.”

Income generated from the use of recorded music in public places topped £283.5m last year, up 4% from 2022 - the highest level ever recorded by music licensing body PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited).

PPL said the increase was driven by an uplift in income from using recorded music in public places such as shops, bars, nightclubs, offices, and factories, which was up 11% to over £111m in 2023.

Meanwhile, international revenue collected by PPL for the use of members’ music worldwide reached £75.4m.

After operating costs and other deductions, the amount passed on to PPL members and other Collective Management Organisations grew by 5% year on year, with the cost as a percentage of revenue reducing from 13.3% to 13% in the previous year. 

Peter Leathem, CEO of PPL, said: "In these somewhat precarious times for performers, we are proud to deliver a consistent stream of income for them and recording rights holders - over £1bn distributed in the past five years alone. As the world leader in international collections, we will continue to advocate for neighbouring rights in new markets to maximise revenue opportunities for all our members.”  

A 19th-Century Hampshire windmill that houses a display of historic farming artefacts has closed following the withdrawal of council funding from its operator.

Eastleigh Borough Council terminated its funding agreement with Hampshire Culture Trust (HCT) in February last year.

The trust then requested that Hampshire County Council (HCC) allow it to end operations at the Grade II-listed Bursledon Windmill.

HCT has been responsible for providing the council’s museum and heritage services since 2014, the same year that the windmill had its wind shaft and sails replaced following a £94,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

A report found that the trust had made efforts to keep the windmill open by diversifying revenue through grants, donations or commercial opportunities but said it would not be "sufficient to support the financial viability of the venue".

The historic items displayed at the windmill may now be transferred to the authority or a new operator.

Earlier this year, HCT warned that five more venues, out of the 24 it operates, face closure after HCC, its primary funder, proposed reducing its annual funding from £2.5m to £1.9m by 2027.

The trust, an ACE National Portfolio Organisation, said Ashcroft Arts Centre in Fareham, Westbury Manor Museum and Eastleigh Museum are expected to shut early next year, while Curtis Museum in Alton and Andover Museum and the Museum of the Iron Age are facing withdrawal by 2026.

An exhibit at a Tasmanian museum must allow men admission following a court ruling in a gender discrimination case.

The Ladies Lounge at Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) has been open since 2020 and houses some of the museum's most acclaimed works.

Playing on the concept of Australian pubs, which were historically male-only spaces, the exhibit only offers women admittance. 

After being turned away from the exhibit last April, Jason Lau, a New South Wales resident, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit.

Representing himself, Lau argued the museum violates the state's anti-discrimination act by failing to provide "a fair provision of goods and services in line with the law" to ticket holders who don’t identify as female.

The museum defended its position, saying Lau's feeling of rejection was part of the artwork and that Tasmanian law permits discrimination "designed to promote equal opportunity" for historically disadvantaged people.

In his ruling, Judge Richard Grueber said it was not apparent how preventing men from seeing the artwork artworks achieved that goal.

Following the verdict, "persons who do not identify as ladies" will be allowed to access the exhibit in 28 days.  

A spokesperson for Mona has previously said the artwork would be "untenable" if the ruling was not in their favour. 

The representative said: "We are deeply disappointed by this decision," adding that the Mona would now consider its options.