News

'Parasite' has made history as the first foreign film to win a Best Picture Oscar, as well as the best international film and original screenplay categories.

The South Korean satire from Bong Joon-ho, who won Best Director, also won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. It is the first time a film has achieved both honours in 65 years, the last one being Delbert Mann's 1955 romantic drama 'Marty'.

Only 10 foreign-language films have previously been nominated for best picture.

The win was a surprise in an otherwise predictable ceremony, and may mark a shift in the academy's approach following debate over the awards' inclusiveness in recent years.

Activist group BP or Not BP? has placed a giant 'Trojan Horse' scultpure inside the courtyard of the British Museum.

The action, which signifies an escalation in the group's campaign against oil company BP's sponsorship of the museum, precedes a 1000-person protest planned for Saturday.

Group member Helen Glynn said the horse is "the perfect metaphor for BP sponsorship".

"On its surface the sponsorship looks like a generous gift, but inside lurks death and destruction."

Though the group snuck the sculpture inside early Friday morning, it has requested the museum leave it there overnight: "We do not want to block any entrances or cause any disruption to the flow of people coming in or out of the museum.

"We acknowledge that this is an unusual request, but as your chairman has said, climate change is 'the great issue of our time'. Business as usual must change."

Battersea Arts Centre will become a fully relaxed venue from Friday.

Artistic Director Tarek Iskander said spaces at the south London centre have been made more accessible for disabled guests, and that audiences will be permitted to talk and move around during performances. The organisation believes this makes it the first relaxed venue in the UK.

"The fear was that it would be hard to manage or be disruptive, but it hasn't. You can feel the audience give out a sigh of relief," Iskander said.

Though there was some scepticism from artists about how relaxed performances would work in practice, Iskander said the change hasn't felt like a "trade off".

"I think particularly for young people who don't come to the theatre often, the relaxed methodology can be really helpful for them.

"We all have the right to participate ... as long as it's respectful. It's one of the things we have to address otherwise we'll just keep turning people away."

Scotland's Government is yet to release its new Culture Strategy, despite the document having been ready to publish months ago.

Government officials said last month that the strategy would be released "as soon as is practical" after the General Election. It had feared the document would "fly under the radar" if released before December 12.

But the Scottish Government was unable to provide a date for its release this week. A spokesperson said it was "in its final stages of development and we will publish it soon".

Sheffield will receive a new arts centre as a London-based organisation relocates to the area.

Arts Catalyst, a charity that commissions science and technology-based work, is moving from King's Cross to Sheffield later this year.

Artistic Director Laura Clarke said the city has "an amazing DIY ethos and quite an exciting, growing cultural landscape at the moment".

"If you think about the ways we work, and the subjects we're interested in, Sheffield feels like it has a lot of synergies."

Its team is looking for a suitable building in which to set up the new centre, which will have a gallery, research area and possibly creative workspaces.

An actor is suing the Royal College of Music (RCM) for £125,000 for breaching health and safety regulations after he was injured during rehearsals.

Arthur Chaill was practising a prison escape scene at the college in 2015 when he fell four feet through a projection screen, leaving him with spinal injuries, chronic pain and numbness in his hands. He claims the accident was caused by RCM's failure to carry out a risk assessment for such a scene.

RCM has argued in court that the London Armenian Opera, which Cahill was rehearsing for, was responsible for his safety; the opera in turn argues it had "no effective control of the premises" it was hiring.

A civil trial of Cahill’s claim will take place at a later date.