Arts funding

Derbyshire County Council has set aside £1m to boost the county's culture and creative industries.

The money, which comes from the council’s Covid-19 Recovery Fund, will be put towards a series of initiatives drawn up with the county’s Culture, Heritage and Tourism Board.

Council leader Barry Lewis said the funding will support businesses which contribute to the “vibrancy and vitality” of the county.

“The impact of Covid-19 has been devastating to Derbyshire’s creative and cultural economy, with those businesses that rely on attracting audiences and visitors some of the very last to return to normal operation.”

The announcement follows Derby's place on the longlist for UK City of Culture 2025, revealed last month.

The Theatre Artists Fund has distributed grants of £500 to 1,003 theatre freelance workers in its latest wave of funding aimed at those working in the performing arts and facing financial hardship.

It says the £500,000 total grant, its sixth round of funding, was made possible after a donation from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

Since July 2020, the Fund has raised £7.8m in donations from over 3,000 individuals, foundations and businesses. 

To date, 8,294 grants have been delivered to freelancers across 38 performing arts professions.

“Although theatres around the UK can now open to full audiences, uncertainty and financial instability remain a significant issue for the thousands of freelance theatre workers in the UK, and there is still a high demand for Theatre Artists Fund support,” the fund says.

A Medway theatre is one of three local creative sector projects due to share £14.4m in Levelling Up funding.

The first tranche of grants from the Government scheme was released as part of Wednesday's Budget.

Medway Council says The Brook Theatre will be "comprehensively repaired, refurbished and upgraded". More than 400sqm of creative workspace will be added.

Creative workspaces are also a feature of the other two levelling up projects.

The Docking Station, a former police section house, will be redeveloped to house the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries. Artists, graduates and staff at the University of Kent will have access to studios, performance spaces and an interactive digital gallery.

The Fitted Rigging House will be brought "back into effective use" with 1,939sqm of creative-focussed commercial floorspace.

A petition urging the Government to keep manifesto promises around arts funding for young people has received more than 20,000 signatures online.

The petition comes ahead of Wednesday’s (October 27) Spending Review, which is expected to answer questions surrounding a £270m arts premium for secondary schools first promised in March 2020, and Arts Council England's budget.

Former Schools Minister Nick Gibb said last month that £90m of arts-in-schools funding earmarked for 2021 was under review.

Petition leaders Public Campaign for the Arts are also asking the Government to move ahead on a promised £500m Youth Investment Fund.

The group says youth centres and services facing mounting financial pressures are still waiting to receive any of the fund, first promised in 2019.

Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory has announced it will stop producing plays after 21 years.

Sited at Bristol's Tobacco Factory Theatres, the theatre company received £50,000 from the first round of DCMS' Culture Recovery Fund but says can no longer produce without further grants.

The grant enabled the theatre to present a new production of Shakespeare's Sonnets and develop a podcast, What Would Shakespeare Do in a Pandemic?

It will use its remaining funds to establish a small annual bursary for theatre students, expected to launch before the end of the year.

"Whilst it is with a heavy heart that we have taken this decision to bring our touring productions to a close, we are delighted that our new bursary will continue to support actors and creative practitioners in Bristol and its surrounds," Chair of Trustees Kerrie Hunt said.

"We are indebted to the talented and dedicated actors, freelancers and management teams with whom we have worked so closely during this time and proud to have helped to foster the next generation of Shakespearian theatre professionals."