News

Professional artists will work in classrooms at 11 schools in Northern Ireland as part of two-year programme serving urban areas in Belfast and Londonderry.

Under the scheme, backed with £15,000 of funding from Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Executive Office’s Urban Villages Initiative, each school will devise its own individual project, working with professional artists to help students develop skills such as script writing, musical composition and performance. 

Roisín McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented: “Since the Creative Schools Partnership Programme was first piloted in 2017, we have seen the enormous impact it has had on participating schools and the individual students who have had the opportunity to take part in projects.

"For many, this creative approach in the classroom has had a long-term educational and social impact, opening up their minds to new creative ways of thinking and learning, as well as building confidence and self-belief."

A cultural programme covering Bath, Bristol, North and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire is set to go ahead after securing investment.

Bath Spa University partnered with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (WECA) to secure funding through Arts Council England’s (ACE) National Lottery Place Partnerships Fund for Culture West, a two-year, region-wide programme aiming to enable every child and young person access to cultural experiences.

It plans to commission two new festivals, support and provide work for 425 creative freelancers and engage over 109,000 people in arts and cultural experiences with live audiences of more than 270,000.

Other initiatives include a new residency scheme for low-income artists and makers at Bath Spa University’s creative practice studio, while a new arts space will open in Radstock early next year.

Bath Spa University will also support the delivery of a new regional Creative Agency, creating employment guidance and networks for those entering the creative industries.

WECA has invested £1.5m in the programme, ACE has provided a £1m grant and local partners have given a combined £640,000.

Professor Sue Rigby, Bath Spa University Vice-Chancellor said the shared ambition is “to create a step change for the region by increasing access to arts and culture in every place for all communities and creatives.”

“Through this, we aim to improve lives, support local economies, help regenerate neighbourhoods and bring people back into work in the creative industries, post-pandemic.”

The Theatre Green Book has announced a partnership with the UK’s three national theatres.

Together, the coalition will form an association to drive change and push for net zero across the sector.

Part of the work includes the formation of a steering group featuring the national theatres, the Association of British Theatre Technicians, the Society of London Theatre, UK Theatre and the Theatres Trust. 

The steering group is involved in work on the second edition of the Theatre Green Book, scheduled for release next summer.

The first edition, which was published during the pandemic, is now used by all large subsidised theatres, the UK’s three national theatre and all UK opera houses.

Paddy Dillon, one of the Theatre Green Book’s authors, told The Stage the second edition is “our chance to accelerate theatre’s momentum even further”.

Lisa Burger, who co-authored the book, added: “We’re excited that the Theatre Green Book is now permanently rooted in Britain’s theatre community. 

“Alongside the dramatic progress of sustainable working with the Green Book across the world, theatre is making real progress towards net zero.”

A  private box at the Royal Albert Hall (RAH) has been listed for purchase at £3m.

Marketed by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, box 14 in the hall’s grand tier has been in the same family for several generations and has 843 years remaining on its lease.

When the hall opened in 1871, it was part-funded by people who were allocated seats in return for their initial investment. Today, 319 people own 1,268 of the hall's seats on 999-year leases. 

A new bill, debated by the House of Lords in October, would give the hall’s governing body the authority to sell an additional 52 seats to investors.

Seat holders must also support the hall financially by paying an annual levy called the “seat rate”, which for box 14 will cost £13,795, including VAT. They must also forgo their tickets for some 100 days each year, known as exclusions, so the hall can sell more commercially to non-seat holders.  

Seat holders who do not wish to use their seats for a concert or event can return them to the hall’s box office for the face value of the ticket less 10%. But it’s widely understood that some resell their tickets through third-party websites for profit.

The practice was recently condemned by Ed Sheeran after tickets for his November show at RAH were listed at up to £6,000 on the resale website Viagogo, prompting him to write a letter of complaint to the board of trustees.

During a debate on the second hearing of the Royal Albert Hall Bill, former Charity Commission Chair Baroness Stowell reiterated the Commission's long-held objection that more than 75% of the organisation's board of trustees are seat holders who can lawfully profit from ticket resales, should they wish.

Seven music projects will receive funding for collaborative commissions that will tour the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The support comes from the PRS Foundation’s Beyond Borders programme, run in partnership with Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Arts Council of Ireland.

Established in 2010, Beyond Borders aims to support co-commissions and tours that “stimulate collaboration between composers, performance groups and music organisations” across the UK and Ireland.

Funded projects in the latest round include a commission for new music performed by brass bands all over the UK commemorating 40 years since the miners' strikes. 

Elizabeth Sills, Grants & Programmes Manager at PRS Foundation, said: “It's great to see the fantastic collaborations between organisations across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to bring these exciting new music projects from talented music creators to audiences across five nations.  

“I know all the Beyond Borders partners are very much looking forward to each project coming to life next year and seeing the impact these supported projects will have on the music creators, musicians and organisations involved.”

A third of UK primary schools are not teaching dance, despite it being part of the National Curriculum, a report has found.

Ofsted’s latest subject report on PE also found that in two-thirds of the schools, dance is not taught to all pupils or that the dance content is “not well organised”. 

In its recommendations, the regulator advised schools to include “carefully sequenced and taught” dance lessons in both primary and secondary schools.

Eve Murphy, Founder and CEO of Dance to School, said: “Dance is a statutory requirement of the National Curriculum at both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, yet a worrying proportion of primary school teachers identify dance as an area for development in their school."

A survey conducted by Dance to School has found that 83 per cent of teachers lack the confidence, subject knowledge, and resources to deliver dance as part of the curriculum.

“We know from research that dance is linked to and can impact wider cross-curricular themes, as well as helping children to build confidence, creativity, and relationships," said Murphy.

"I see some incredible examples of dance in practice and the joy it brings to children. However, in those schools that aren’t teaching dance, it’s a negative spiral with teacher confidence continuing to waver.”

Three towns in North Yorkshire have been awarded £350,000 in funding from Arts Council England (ACE) to stage cultural events over two years.

The BBC reports that the Now Then! project will see arts events and activities staged in Selby, Tadcaster and Sherburn-in-Elmet between April 2024 and March 2026.

North Yorkshire Council's Executive Member for Culture and Leisure Simon Myers said it was an "exciting and ambitious" project that would focus on people's pride in where they live.

"Visitors will see our towns as places of singular cultural experiences, and local people will see where they live through fresh eyes," he said.

In Selby, new commissions will be based in the town's abbey and its surroundings, including music, dance, writing and performance.

In Tadcaster, members of the community arts company ARCADE will work with children and young people to create a programme of new work, while in Sherburn-in-Elmet, the community will select creative practitioners they would like to work with to co-devise and deliver activities there.

The programme has been given a Place Partnership award from ACE through the National Lottery.

Pete Massey, ACE's Director for Northern Economy and Partnerships, said they were delighted to fund the project.

"It's great to see so many partners working collaboratively on a project that will tell the stories of places and people as well as offer children and young people in Selby, Tadcaster and Sherburn the opportunity to get involved and develop their artistic skills," he said.