Croydon allocates £850k for Borough of Culture legacy

Croydon city centre 2017
18 Mar 2024

The money will go toward projects in the city centre, including an annual festival event and new signage to promote cultural venues.

Bristol Beacon reports post-renovation ticket sales surge

An event being staged at Bristol Beacon
18 Mar 2024

Nearly 100,000 tickets have been sold for forthcoming shows at the recently reopened venue, following a £132m renovation.

Rising number of performers seeking mental health support

View from behind a clinical specialist speaking to a patient
18 Mar 2024

Calls for sector focus to reduce high levels of poor mental health among performers following a 'destabilising and challenging' five years.

Community culture in Bradford gets £1m boost

14 Mar 2024

Scores of community-led arts, culture and heritage initiatives in Bradford will get combined funding of £1m, it has been announced.

As part of a programme funded by Arts Council England and Bradford Council, Creative People and Places organisation The Leap will share the money between around 140 new projects run by individuals and groups across Bradford and Keighley.

The BBC reports that each project will get between £250 and £10,000 to spend on creative schemes and events.

Shabz Musaji, from The Leap, said: "We want to inspire the next level of young people as well as all other groups to come forward to engage with The Leap," he said.

"We're looking forward to promoting arts and culture, because there are a lot of beneficiaries to this. We have projects that address mental health; we have projects that address heritage. These are really good things to talk about and to celebrate."

Starmer pledges arts education overhaul

Keir Starmer speaking at the Labour Creatives Conference
14 Mar 2024

Labour leader sets out his plans for creative education, improving conditions for freelancers, and his hope to boost funding for arts and culture organisations across the country.

Creative Scotland withdraws 'sex project' funding

14 Mar 2024

Creative Scotland has withdrawn funding for a project featuring participants engaging in "non-simulated" sex and "hardcore" acts.

The funding body had previously agreed to award £85,000 for the development of the Rein project, a 45-minute film by director Leonie Rae Gasson that was initially presented as “an exploration of dyke sexuality”.

But concerns were raised after the project's website advertised for people to take part in "non-simulated" sex, including "hardcore" acts for a fee of £270 per day.

A statement issued by Creative Scotland today (14 March) said the latest phase of the project "represents a breach of the conditions of funding award, as the nature of the project has changed". 

"The central role that ‘non-simulated’ (i.e real) sex acts now play in the project, marks a significant change to the nature of the work presented in the original application which was assessed for funding," the statement said. 

"Following a review of the application, assessment, and contractual agreement regarding the project Rein, Creative Scotland has made the decision to withdraw support for this project and will be seeking recovery of funding paid in respect of this award to date."

Earlier this week Scotland's Culture Secretary Angus Robertson told the Scottish parliament that Rein should not have received public money and that he “shared the concerns that have been raised”.

Vault Festival closes after funding for new venue falls through

14 Mar 2024

London's Vault Festival of theatre and performance has announced its closure after funding for its new venue fell through.

Council rent subsidy saves Bath arts charity from closure

14 Mar 2024

A charity providing affordable artist workshop space in Bath has been saved from closure thanks to a local council rent subsidy.

44AD, which is based in premises on the city’s Abbey Street, has agreed a three-year lease extension for £10,000 per year, well below what Bath & North East Somerset Council believes is the market value of £40,000 per annum.

The decision is part of the council’s plan to establish the city’s nearby Milsom Quarter as a fashion, art and design destination. 

Paul Roper, Cabinet Member for Economic and Cultural Sustainable Development at Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “Thriving creative arts charities like 44AD have many social and economic benefits and enable more people in our communities to access the arts.

“Making sure established art spaces such as this one can keep providing affordable, creative workspaces for start-ups and small businesses is key to positioning this area of Bath as a leading arts and fashion destination.”

He added that the council’s support “will also help the charity stay financially resilient by allowing it to access grant funding”.

Katie O’Brien, 44AD Project Director, said: “To have security of tenure will enable us to access funding streams, plan ahead and develop more arts projects which champion the creative expression and ideas of young people, students, graduates, local artists, along with our many visitors.”

British Library shares learnings from cyber attack 

Exterior of the British Library
13 Mar 2024

The institution says its reliance on legacy infrastructure has impacted its ability to restore services quickly in the wake of a major ransomware attack last October.

Shropshire yoga centre gets ACE grant

13 Mar 2024

A yoga centre in Shropshire has been awarded a £22,000 Arts Council England grant for a community project that will combine creativity and wellbeing.

Jenna Blair Yoga in Shrewsbury will deliver a series of workshops aimed at community engagement that will target those who wouldn’t usually have access to the yoga studio’s facilities.

The Creative Awakening project hopes to engage with refugees, people experiencing physical and mental health challenges, young carers and the homeless. 

Blair said she was “blown away” to have been awarded the grant, which follows a recent £10,000 National Lottery award.

She continued: “I am hugely passionate about the power that both creative practices and yoga can have on our lives – the two are so connected and help us to find opportunities for self-expression, relaxation and mindfulness, as well as being invaluable in supporting our wellbeing.”

Blair added that the ACE funding would enable the studio “to offer a breadth of enriching creative experiences that support people’s wellbeing, as well as helping to develop new skills”.

Workshops will also be delivered in partnership with local mental health charity Shropshire Mind and the national brain injuries charity Headway. They will take place in Shrewsbury and be open to people across Shropshire.

Tate Britain seeks to contextualise 'offensive' mural

13 Mar 2024

Tate Britain has unveiled a new video work made in response to a 1927 mural that has been closed to the public since 2020 due to its offensive imagery.

‘Vive Voce’, a two-screen 20-minute video by Keith Piper, is installed next to the Rex Whistler painting, ‘The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats’, in what was formerly the London gallery’s restaurant.

The film depicts an academic challenging Whistler about the mural, which includes offensive depictions of black slaves on a leash and caricatures of Chinese people.

Tate said the film explores "the social and political context of 1920s Britain”. It includes archive footage of black soldiers in World War One and the ‘Races in Residence’ pavilion at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition.

Piper said he wanted "to give a sense of how and why the mural exists” and defended Tate Britain’s decision to keep the work rather than remove it.

He said: "I know there is an argument among young people now that these images re-traumatise, but I think we either look or forget.

"We are very good at forgetting nowadays and things that are out of sight go out of mind. To keep a clear sense of history we need to see these things.”

Stone theft from heritage sites on the rise

13 Mar 2024

Calls for co-ordinated response to heritage crimes from police forces across England as study highlights impact of opportunistic offenders and organised crime groups on the sector.

Police investigate vandalism of portrait by activists

13 Mar 2024

Police are investigating an incident of vandalism at Cambridge University which saw two pro-Palestine protesters spray paint on then slash a portrait of former Conservative Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour.

On 8 March the group Palestine Action posted a video online of an unidentified person defacing the 1914 painting, which was on display at Trinity College.

Sally Davies, Master of Trinity College, said in a statement: “I am shocked by [the] attack in our college on our painting. I condemn this act of vandalism. We are cooperating with the police to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Palestine Action said in an online statement: “Arthur Balfour, then UK Foreign Secretary, issued a declaration [in 1917] which promised to build ‘a national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine, where the majority of the indigenous population were not Jewish.

"He gave away the Palestinians’ homeland – a land that wasn’t his to give away. Britain’s support for the continued colonisation of Palestine hasn’t wavered since 1917.”

Others have interpreted Balfour's declaration differently. The full declaration states that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.

Charity challenges legality of Birmingham library closures

12 Mar 2024

The Library Campaign says Birmingham City Council’s plan to close 25 of its local libraries as part of far-reaching budget cuts would breach the Public Libraries and Museums Act.

Fitzwilliam Museum’s painting galleries to reopen

12 Mar 2024

The Fitzwilliam Museum’s five main painting galleries will reopen entirely on Friday (15 March).

The galleries at the Cambridge-based museum have been closed for a major refurbishment and redisplay project.

Built between 1837 and 1843, the galleries, located in the Fitzwilliam’s original Founder’s Building, have been equipped with better lighting, new silk wall coverings and new glass in the ceiling domes.

The refurbished space will feature over 190 works of art dating from the 1600s to the present day and from across Europe. The museum says each of the five galleries will be focused around a theme that brings the historic, modern and contemporary together.

“This redisplay juxtaposes historic and contemporary works to offer a narrative that links past and present,” said the museum’s Director, Luke Syson. 

“We can do this so well because of the depth and range of our magnificent collection and because of some exceptional new acquisitions. Many of our most famous works of art now take their place alongside more unfamiliar pieces in a rich array that deliberately leaves space for a range of responses and asks us all to think anew.”

The refurbishment and redisplay has been supported by the Albert Reckitt Charitable Trust and the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.

Frazer interview: Trigger warnings + ACE plans

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer
12 Mar 2024

Culture Secretary doubles down on previous comments around trigger warnings and speaks about forthcoming review of Arts Council England during interview with Arts Professional.

Trip Advisor analysis ranks London first for culture

11 Mar 2024

A tour operator company has ranked London the best city in the world for museums and galleries.

Audley Travel’s analysis revealed which cities have the highest number of five-star rated museums and galleries on Trip Advisor.

There are over 170 museums and galleries in London, enough to visit a new one every week for over three years, and 97 have a five-star rating on Trip Advisor.

London outranked Prague for top position, with Paris, Istanbul and New York rounding out the top five.

Jacqui Kaliouby, a UK specialist at Audley Travel, said London’s museums and galleries are “constantly changing with fresh exhibitions, new talks and innovative interactive experiences”.

She added that many of the city’s biggest and most renowned museums being free and easy to access helps strengthen its position.

Oldham Coliseum announces pop-up theatre plans

The interior of the Roundabout pop-up theatre
11 Mar 2024

Details of an artistic programme to be staged at mobile venue from next month coincide with push by opposition politicians on Oldham Council for the theatre company to return to its former home.

Another theatre to stage 'Black Out' nights

Exterior of Seven Dials Playhouse
11 Mar 2024

News that another theatre will stage performances  exclusively for Black, Indigenous and People of Color-identifying audience members follows criticism of the concept by Downing Street last month.

Starmer: Working class children 'denied arts opportunities'

11 Mar 2024

Working class children are being denied the same opportunities to become actors or musicians that private school pupils are afforded, Labour Leader Keir Starmer has said.

The Independent reports that analysis conducted by the Labour Party found that although 94% of children go to state schools, just 60% of British actors, directors and musicians nominated in the last decade for major film, TV and music awards were state-educated.

“It is short-sighted and frankly immoral, to allow arts and culture to become the domain of a few privileged pupils," Starmer said.

“Britain is a world leader in music and film, but we are holding back masses of potential because the Conservatives’ creativity crisis is shutting kids out.”

Starmer's comments follow on from a speech made by Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debbonaire last week in which she said creative education would be at the heart of the school curriculum under a Labour government.

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