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Out of 468 applications, 34 artists have been selected for the 2021 Unlimited commissions.

The commissioning programme for disabled artists has overspent this year in an effort to support as many of the 77 shortlisted projects as possible.

All art forms will be represented in the commissions and 70% of the £717,000 in awards are going to artists who haven't been supported by Unlimited before.

This year's winners include projects exploring scent (The Scent of Insulin by Clara Weale) to the rainforest (Cân y Coed: Empowering the Rainforests of Wales by Cheryl Beer) and brotherly bonds (Brotherly, Otherly, Disorderly by Vijay Patel).

Others focus specifically on the experience of disability and impairment such as  Do I Look Okay To You? By Jameisha Prescod and Deviant by Emily Beaney, which explores experiences of endometriosis.

Glyndebourne’s 67 metre wind turbine generated its biggest output to date last year, producing 1,820 megawatt-hours (MWh) with an average annual wind speed of 6.4 metres per second (m/s), beating the previous record set in 2015.

With reduced on site activity during lockdown, Glyndebourne used less electricity itself last year and sent excess electricity generated by the turbine to the National Grid to provide a source of green energy for the local community.

Glyndebourne is the first UK arts organisation to generate its own power using a large scale wind turbine. It was commissioned in 2012 after analysis revealed it was the single largest financially-viable initiative that could reduce the organisation's carbon footprint.

Since then it has generated the equivalent of 105% of the electricity used by the company, beating the 90% annual target and leading to a 50% cut in carbon emissions.

A historic cultural centre that fell into disrepair under council ownership could be given new life.

Stewart Wellington, a child of Jamaican immigrants, plans to reopen a 1980s cultural centre in Wood Green, London as the African Caribbean Cultural Centre.

He and his partners have acquired the land in Haringey and plan to build a 14-storey building, as well as 30 new affordable homes.

Haringey Council says it wants to redevelop the former West Indian Cultural Centre (WICC) itself, but admits it failed to maintain the building.

But Wellington told The Guardian its refurbishment would cost at least £250,000.

"The council may say it’s committed to redeveloping the centre with the WICC. But the WICC is already committed to partnering with our venture. We own a contiguous site, which the council doesn’t own, which forms part of our proposals."

There is concern that vaccine passports to return to cultural activity could be discriminatory, excluding disabled artists and audiences.

A consultation on a potential system is under way, with recommendations expected to be made to the Prime Minister in April.

Outgoing Disability Champion for Culture Andrew Miller says disabled people are "deeply troubled" by the integration of health data into cultural participation.

"We feel alarmed by the introduction of additional barriers and any shift in policy away from the social towards the medical model of disability. I cannot see how any Covid status certification system can avoid being discriminatory and ableist."

The Disability Arts Alliance argues that making Covid status certification a condition of entry or even employment "might encourage a relaation of existing protocols and create a false sense of security".

"This could then make events and workplaces more unsafe for those who are susceptible to the virus, reducing opportunities for disabled people to engage with culture or to secure employment in the sector," the group says.

It recommends any certification scheme be subject to an equality impact assessment and adhere to its seven inclusive principles.

The luxury French fashion and fragrance brand Chanel has pledged to support the contemporary arts as they emerge from the pandemic. 

The Chanel Culture Fund is committing to long-term partnerships with leading cultural institutions around the world to create new programmes supporting innovation in creative and cultural thinking. In the UK, the National Portrait Gallery will be backed to develop the exhibition ‘Reframing narratives: women in portraiture’. 

A team led by art historian and curator Dr Flavia Frigeri will research and highlight the representation of women in the collection and within the gallery's displays generally when it reopens in 2023 following refurbishment. She told The Guardian: “When it reopens in 2023 the walls will be noticeably more balanced”.

Others receiving awards include the Los Angeles Underground Museum and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

In another strand of work, the CHANEL Next Prize, will make ten individual awards of €100,000 to artists in music, dance, performance and the visual arts who are radically redefining their fields. An international advisory board will nominate and shortlist the recipients of the inaugural awards.

These initiatives will be led by Global Head of Arts and Culture at Chanel, Yana Peel. For three years she was CEO of the Serpentine Galleries until she resigned under controversial circumstances in 2019.  

Regal Entertainments, the operator of St Helens Theatre Royal for 22 years, has taken over its ownership.

The Theatre Royal Charitable Trust handed over the deed for an undisclosed fee.

Mother and daughter team Jane Joseph, the theatre's Creative Director, and Chantelle Nolan, who is its General Manager, took over the venue's tenancy in 1999. The change in ownership means they will be entirely responsible for the building, first opened in 1901.

Regal Entertainments launched a new membership scheme in July 2020 that has provided a new and much needed income stream during lockdown.

It staged a socially distanced pantomime during December before live performances were shut down again.

The trust will remain active to fundraise for the St Helens Theatre Royal and develop arts in the Merseyside community.