News

The Musician's Union's visa taskforce is consulting with key industry bodies to push against "prohibitive cost increases and unfair practice" in relation to US visas. All visa filing fees administered by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are being increased, but there are also specific plans to limit the number of artists that can be included on a single work authorisation petition to 25. The MU is concerned that large ensembles, including orchestras and theatre companies, will be required to file multiple petitions to cover all their artists.

Dave Webster, Chair of the taskforce said: "As if it isn’t already hard enough for artists to perform in the US, this increase in fees just adds to that. Musicians are faced with great uncertainty right now, so it is important they have all the right information to hand. Some musicians will feel this increase more deeply than others, and it’s certainly a further blow to cultural exchange. However, this increase is only a part of the problem, especially in light of the overall costs and administration placed upon artists when obtaining a visa."

Manchester City Council is pressing Culture Minister Caroline Dineage to see for herself the scale of the problems still facing the cultural sector in the city. Their invitation to her follows letters sent in July to the Secretary of State for Culture and Chancellor of the Exchequer asking for additional support for the culture sector in Manchester, to which no direct response was received. Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure, and Skills, said the city's cultrual organisations "need direct intervention and additional support right now to keep them breathing until they’re allowed to open up their doors to audiences again, as well as a proper plan put in place that tells them when they can do this, and under what terms. "

The Mayflower Theatre Trust is to take over the Studio 144 building in Southampton, formerly home to the Nuffield Theatre which went into administration earlier this year. Southampton City Council is granting £500k over two years and a new 35-year lease to Mayflower Academy Limited, the company created to operate the theatre, which is now named MAST Mayflower Studios. The move coincides with the commercial launch of Southampton's bid for the City of Culture 2025 title, which aims to "finally give people a reason to come to Southampton rather than go through it".

An open letter protesting that “multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multilingual workers from low-income backgrounds” are about to be cut out of the arts sector has been signed by 300 artists, including several former Turner prize winners. The letter, in support of  Tate workers who are on strike over the 313 job cuts across Tate Enterprises, is demanding that the organisation uses 10% of the £7m it received from the government to stop redundancies.

Dance group Diversity, which won the talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2009, has attracted 15,500 complaints to Ofcom, the communications regulator, for a TV performance based on the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in the US. Ofcom told The Guardian: “We are assessing this content against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”

Train operating company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the UK’s biggest rail franchise which operates the Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express services, has unveiled 'Affirmation Art’ clusters across some of its busiest stations to raise awareness of the company’s ongoing support and understanding to those who may be feeling vulnerable. The initiative has been launched to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day.

GTR is the only train operating company to have appointed a Suicide Prevention Manager, and its consumer-facing campaign involes a team of artists spraying motivational messages across station entrances and exits. Manager Laura Campbell said: “It is important to raise awareness of the support that is available to those that may need it and educate the wider community about the complexities inherent in mental health as well as suicide. The Affirmations Art campaign looks to do just that, in a subtle and visual way.”