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A new inquiry has been launched to consider Government policy that supports the survival and return of music festivals in 2021.

The DCMS Committee has put out a call for evidence amid concerns the majority of festivals face "real risks surrounding their future viability," Chair Julian Knight MP said.

Festivals are theoretically able to take place provided they comply with Covid-safe guidelines, but social distancing requirements and uncertainty about the changing public health situation make planning such events nearly impossible.

"We have so many legendary festivals that have given the UK a worldwide reputation – it would be devastating if they were unable to come back with a bang, or if smaller festivals that underpin the talent pipeline disappear entirely," Knight said.

"We want to hear from festival staff as they face huge pressures, fans who’ve missed out, as well as musicians on the contribution that festivals make to our culture and economy."

The committee recently launched a separate investigation into the impact of streaming on the sustainability of the music industry.

The University of Roehampton has announced plans to cut £3.2m from the budgets of the schools of Arts and Humanities. Significant redundancies are expected in Drama, Theatre and Performance, and Dance.

An international coalition of dance, performance and theatre associations has condemned what the University is calling a ‘rebalancing’ exercise, describing the plans as “ideological in nature, pandering to the current government’s short-sighted bias against the arts and humanities and instrumentalisation of higher education”.

Roehampton attracts around 60% of its performing arts students from Black or other minority ethnic background and the group, is calling on the University to preserve and support its work in these areas amid concerns that the proposed cuts will “further exacerbate the exclusion of traditionally under-represented individuals in the arts and creative industries.”

A Change.org petition has been set up on behalf of students, staff, alumni and members of the wider community, asking Vice-Chancellor Jean-Noël Ezingeard to “work with us to find another way forward.”

London's Enfield Council has approved plans to demolish a local theatre against the objections of the Theatres Trust.

The trust says that local arts provision will suffer if Intimate Theatre, a repertory theatre since 1935, is redeveloped into a parish hall and residential accommodation by its operator, St Monica's Church Parish.

The parish says the building is no longer fit for purpose, and Enfield Council has supported its application as meeting planning law requirements.

The Theatres Trust says "demand is still evident" for the venue, which used to host the St Monica's Players and other groups. 

It is one of 30 theatres in the UK considered by the trust to be "at risk", and was recently listed as an Asset of Community Value.

A recent policy change to protect cultural venues affected by the lockdown from demolition and redevelopment does not apply here: St Monica's Church Parish has been pursuing the change in use since May 2019.

The centrepiece of a £1bn commercial redevelopment of an area in central London will be 2,000 sq m of 8K resolution, 360-degree screens, which will show a programme of public art “similar to the ambition and excitement of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.” The development, around Tottenham Court Road tube station, will also include a 2,000-capacity underground music venue – the biggest live music space created in London since 1940.

101 members of the Black Writers’ Guild have condemned claims by Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch that some authors of best-seller anti-racism novels “actually want a segregated society”. The authors have signed a letter saying the allegation is “not only clearly false but dangerous” and poses a risk to the personal safety of anti-racist writers. They call on government to “ensure ministers are responsible with their language, avoid spreading misinformation and apply better judgment in order to protect the lives and freedom of minorities”.

Artists have reacted angrily to comments by Turner Prize-winner Grayson Perry, who claims a side-effect of Covid-19 will be clearing galleries of “dead wood”. Perry’s comments that “some things needed to go” have been widely condemned at a time when many arts workers are struggling to survive. Perry tweeted that his remarks, made in an interview with Arts Society Magazine, have been taken out of context, and clarified that he was not referring to the loss of people’s jobs and opportunities in the arts.