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First designs have been released for the “centre for music”, including a 2,000-seat “acoustically perfect” concert hall for the London Symphony Orchestra, a pedestrian plaza, a restaurant, commercial space and smaller venues for jazz. Organisers hope to raise the entire funding for the venue – which will be on the current site of the Museum of London – from private donations. The City of London Corporation revived the project after it was ditched by the Government in 2016, saying it did not offer the taxpayer value for money. 

In a scheme run by casting site Audition Oracle, singers will perform from behind a screen to representatives from organisations such as the Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, and English National Opera. The approach aims to remove unconscious bias from the auditioning process.

Figures provided by the online funding platform to the BBC reveal there has been a 33% drop in giving to arts and culture, and a 10% increase in donations to poverty and health-related charities. Head of Business Intelligence at JustGiving, Natalie Stroud, told the BBC this may be because people are “looking at the cause types that have got more urgency”, and that the arts are possibly perceived as a luxury.

The venue has dropped five-year old plans for a £6m refurbishment – saying they were too ambitious in the current climate – and is seeking options for a smaller, phased extension, focusing on the introduction of new studios and creative office space.

Manchester Museum, the Horniman Museum in London and Carlisle’s Tullie House are among the institutions receiving grants in the latest round of the DCMS Wolfson fund, a joint initiative between the government department and the Wolfson Foundation. The Horniman has been awarded £90,000 for a music-making project in which artists will take inspiration from its collection.

Classical sales and streams increased by 10% in 2018, making it the year’s fastest-growing genre. Sales of classical CDs increased by 7%, in contrast to the decline in this format for rock and pop recordings.