Opera charity closes

02 Jul 2019

Co-Opera, a British opera and training company, is ending after 10 years in operation "due to one thing or another", founder Paul Need has announced. The company was established to fill a gap left by the closures of Kent Opera and New D'Oyly Carte and offer opportunities to young singers.

Festival organisers arrested

02 Jul 2019

Two organisers of Vestiville are being detained in a jail in Lommel, Belgium on suspicion of fraud after the event's last minute cancellation. Lommel Mayor Bob Nijs refused to let the the festival go ahead for safety reasons and headline act ASAP Rocky said he pulled out of the event "due to security and infrastructure concerns".

Merseyside playhouse secures £10.5m

01 Jul 2019

Shakespeare North Playhouse, which is now under construction, is already attracting new businesses and development to Prescot, Knowsley Council Leader Graham Morgan said. A new £4m commitment from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority brings the council's total investment in the theatre to £10.5m.

Ticketmaster Canada fined over pricing

01 Jul 2019

The company has agreed to pay C$4m (£2.4m) after an investigation by the Canadian Competition Bureau found its advertised prices were being inflated with mandatory fees. The 'drip pricing' strategy often increased ticket prices by 20%, with some prices inflated by over 65%, the bureau said.

Classical concert series canned

01 Jul 2019

The 2019/20 season of the London classical concert series Borough New Music has been cancelled. Trustees said the current model needed to be rethought to make the programme sustainable, but since the organisation lacked the capacity to make the necessary changes, they "have been forced to adjourn".

ACE proposes ‘relevance’ in new 10 year strategy

A photo of a Fun Palaces event
28 Jun 2019

Arts Council England’s draft 10 year strategy says “we do not consider that certain types or scales of artistic activity are inherently of higher quality or value than others”.

Deaf musician to sign major concert

28 Jun 2019

Paul Whittaker will become the first person to sign Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in concert at London's Royal Festival Hall on Friday. The Halifax man said the performance is challenging but that it "brings together my musical knowledge and experience, my deafness, my use of sign language, and enables access for other deaf people".

Manchester arena would be 'devastating', says report

28 Jun 2019

The planned 20,000-seat entertainment venue would have a "devastating impact" on local business and could place 2,200 jobs at risk, an independent report has concluded. Manchester City Council supports the proposed Eastlands development as a viable way to grow tourism in the area.

Far-right party wants list of migrant artists

27 Jun 2019

State theatre companies in Germany are reluctantly fulfilling a request from the right wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to disclose the nationalities of their artists. The party's Deputy Leader Ranier Balzer said the question aimed to create "a realistic inventory of the status quo and an assessment of the quality of their own young artists in international comparison".

Education Secretary rejects claim of arts squeeze

27 Jun 2019

Damian Hinds has said that "the creative arts are happening at a large scale in our schools" in response to Labour MP Thelma Walker's claim that a "culture of targets and testing" is squeezing creative arts out of schools. Walker referred to research published in January in which two-thirds of primary school teachers said arts education had declined since 2010.

Tristram Hunt ‘not interested’ in V&A prayer room

A photo of a gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum
27 Jun 2019

The V&A Director is unconvinced by arguments for a dedicated prayer room in V&A East.

Rural museum web tour a hit in China

26 Jun 2019

More than 400,000 people in China watched an online tour of the Ruddington Village Museum in Nottinghamshire, streamed by a student at Nottingham University. The museum, which has received 75,000 visits since opening in 1968, described its popularity as “something of a surprise”.

Music organisations promise 50/50 gender balance

26 Jun 2019

The Royal Opera House and English National Opera are among 60 organisations including venues, orchestras, concert halls and labels who have signed up to the Keychange pledge to achieve gender parity by 2022. 190 festivals joined the project last year, but the scheme’s founder Vanessa Reid said “the gender gap is an industry wide problem, it is not just about festivals”.

Southbank Creative Director warns of 'cultural apartheid' risk

Photo of Madani Younis
26 Jun 2019

Madani Younis said "institutions that have historically not given a shit are saying 'we’re going to start caring'", but called for a faster pace of change.

Shock at closure of specialist dance injury clinic

Photo of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital
25 Jun 2019

The National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science says it is disappointed not to have been consulted about the “accelerated” closure, which is likely to cause delays in rehabilitation.

Job centres to list theatre roles

25 Jun 2019

The plan to tackle a lack of diversity in London theatres will see 50 backstage roles advertised in job centres. Entertainment trade union BECTU said the industry is "waking up to the creative possibilities of a diverse talent pool" in sustaining its future.

Council approves Sherborne arts centre

25 Jun 2019

Plans for the venue in Dorset have now satisfied critics, who had questioned its effect on parking, local visitor numbers and nearby historic Sherborne House. Permission for an arts centre on the town centre site was initially granted in 2011 but expired when funding could not be raised.

$100m case against Universal over fire

25 Jun 2019

Artists who allegedly lost master recordings and other materials in a 2008 warehouse fire will be able to join a class action filed by the estates of Tom Petty, Steve Earle and Tupac Shakur, among others. Legal papers claim Universal was negligent in housing the music in a "known fire trap".

New Business School for the Creative Industries delayed

Photo of UCA's Epsom campus
24 Jun 2019

The multi-million pound project’s success depends on internal approvals, increased student numbers and philanthropic support.

Stalemate in Baltimore Symphony negotiations

24 Jun 2019

An ongoing employment dispute between the US orchestra's management and locked-out musicians has deepened, with each party blaming the other for the gridlock. Musicians learned on Friday that their insurance coverage had been cancelled.

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