News

The Freelands Foundation and race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust are working in partnership to examine access to art education for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse students in the UK.

Runnymede Trust will deliver a wide-ranging two-year research programme, exploring issues ranging from the early engagement with art in schools to the makeup of the professional art sector.   

Current information reveals that by ‘A’ level, Black and Asian students select art courses at less than half the rate of their white counterparts. 

The research will focus on children aged 11-16 (Key Stages 3 and 4), covering the transition from compulsory art education in schools to art as a chosen subject.

An initial review will be published in Autumn 2021, mapping the representation of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse artists, curators and leaders of  organisations.

This will be followed by an investigation into art education in secondary schools, which will gather data on racial inequalities among both students and teachers. There will also be a consultation with art teachers, academic leaders, exam boards, students, artists and cultural organisations.

The final research report will be published in Autumn 2022, revealing how and why young people from non-white backgrounds are excluded from art education and publishing recommendations on how to address the issue.

Announcing the project, the partnership described the aim of the research as to catalyse "long-term structural change in a sector where, despite the success of individual artists such as Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Himid, Steve McQueen and Chris Ofili, only 2.7% of the workforce are from a Black, Asian or ethnically diverse background". 

Dr Halima Begum, Director of Runnymede Trust, said it is imperative school students "see and appreciate diversity in art".

She added: "We believe that the impact of this research will resonate beyond a single generation and provide the foundation for developments in the teaching of art in our nation’s schools, and in turn help to inspire new generations of children who value, appreciate, and indeed fall in love with art in all its forms."

Doncaster’s new Danum Gallery, Library and Museum has celebrated its opening with a virtual tour of the building to mark the completion of the town’s new cultural and learning centre.

The new building in the Civic and Cultural Quarter has retained and restored the central frontage of the former Doncaster High School for Girls, encasing it within a larger glass structure.

As well as being home to Doncaster Libraries and Heritage Doncaster, the building will provide space to display exhibits which have previously been locked away from public view.

Due to Covid restrictions it will be at least May 17th until it can open to visitors.

V&A Dundee will be enhancing its role as Scotland’s design museum by developing a national remit as the centre for design.

The museum will be working in partnerships to develop Scotland’s design capacity as a nation and embed the role of design in its long-term economic and social recovery from the pandemic.  

New partnerships will be formed with businesses, charities, universities and secondary schools to develop design skills, offer community outreach activities and address social and business challenges, including the crisis of waste in the fashion industry.

The Scottish Government is providing additional funding of £2m a year for three years to support these ambitions, in addition to its current commitment of £1m a year.

More than a million people have visited the V&A since it first opened in September 2018, bringng an estimated £75m economic boost to Scotland in its first year. The new funding will provide long-term financial sustainability for the organisation and protect museum jobs.

Basingstoke Council has given Anvil Arts 90 days’ notice of its intention to cut the organisation’s funding by at least 50% as its five-year funding agreement comes to an end.

The Anvil Trust charity, which runs the town’s Anvil and Haymarket theatres, described the move as “short sighted” and “entirely unreasonable”, and has pointed out that Council funding for the venues had already fallen by 40 per cent over the past seven years.

The main impact of the cut will be on the Anvil’s non-commercial activities, including work in schools, with young performers, and with people with special educational needs, dementia, autism and other disabilities.

The organisation has lost around £1.4 m of income due to closure during the pandemic and had offered to take a further 25 per cent cut in 2021/22 - worth £200k - but the council had rejected the offer.

The council claims that the Trust’s business plan is not fit for purpose – a claim that is described by the organisation as “categorically untrue”.

A Trust spokesperson said: “Every business plan that the Trust has produced since it started in 1993 has been approved by the Council and the Arts Council… Like all organisations, we have updated the business plan for 2021-23 in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is currently being assessed by consultants employed by the Council.”

The legacy of the UK's arts programme commemorating the First World War centenary is being harnessed through a £2m fund that will enable 20 more artists to produce work that reveals experiences of conflict.

14–18 NOW commissioned new artworks inspired by the war years from 420 contemporary artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers and performers, including Academy Award winner Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old.

Project leaders IWM have earmarked a share of the royalties from that film to build upon the impact of 14-18 NOW and will be making the legacy fund available for new art commissions in 2021.

The money will distributed between fully funded commissions ranging from £20,000 to £250,000 and will be awarded for artworks from world-leading artists. These will be displayed around the UK and, where possible, as part of IWM’s future public programme

Five organisations will be appointed by IWM as co-commissioning partners, with a further 15 selected from the 525 members of IWM’s War and Conflict Subject Specialist Network.

The city of Liverpool will be among the test-beds for the Events Research Programme (ERP) that will inform the government’s Roadmap out of Lockdown.

The Government is working with organisers to invite spectators to test events including small and large-scale music, comedy and outdoor performances. Local authorities will be involved in decisions on the number of spectators allowed into the pilot events.

The research, due to take place in take place in April, will determine when venues and events can reopen safely without social distancing. It will test elements such as layout of the venue, face coverings and ventilation.

Current social distancing measures will remain in place until the outcome of that review are known.

Liverpool’s Director of Culture, Claire McColgan, said: “Our experience as the pilot city for mass testing means we have the knowledge and infrastructure in place to deliver complicated projects safely, and we really hope we can help provide the evidence needed to ensure the wider sector is able to open across the country in the coming months.”

A digital collage by artist Beeple has sold for a record $69.4m in an online auction, paid for using the cryptocurrency Ether. It is the first time cryptocurrency has been used to pay for an artwork at auction; the highest price achieved in an online-only auction; and the highest price for any winning bid placed online.

The work, Everydays: The First 5,000 Days, was started on 1 May 2007 when Beeple, posted a new work of art online,something he did every day for the following 13-and-a-half years. The sale has has placed him among the top three most valuable living artists.

The sale marks the first time a major auction house has offered a purely digital work for sale with a a unique non-fungible token (NFT), issued by digital marketplace MakersPlace as a guarantee of its authenticity.

The Jerwood Foundation has announced the launch of its Blue Sky Fund, a £1m donation to the Theatre Artists Fund and Help Musicians.

The donation will fund small grants for freelancers in the arts who are unable to secure other forms of financial support during the Covid pandemic and, as a result, are suffering significant hardship.

The Theatre Artists Fund was set up last year with the express purpose of providing emergency support for theatre professionals.

Help Musicians is an independent charity supporting professional musicians at crucial stages of their careers and in times of crisis

Both organisations will administer the distribution of the Blue Sky Fund.