Springing back into action: new insights

Graphic showing a person speaking into a mic, a meter, tickets, emojis, mobile phone
26 Apr 2023

Most people in the sector don’t need to be analysts but they do need the insight to make changes that speak to audiences. Here, Anne Torregiani shares how this thinking has shaped The Audience Agency’s next-generation suite of audience insight tools. 

Weathering the cost-of-living storm across the UK

Storm clouds and lightning
08 Dec 2022

Research rings warning bells about the potential effects of the cost-of-living clouds rolling in across all four nations. Anne Torreggiani asks how we can brace for impact and support communities? 

Bridging the divide for children in the North

Childwall Academy
17 Nov 2022

At the heart of the cost-of-living and Covid storm, children and young people have fewer opportunities to engage in arts and culture and barriers to access are growing. Hannah Baldwin thinks this is a crisis in the making.

Education in need of a radical rethink 

First Encounters with Shakespeare production photograph
15 Sep 2022

Industry complains of a chronic skills shortage in areas such as communication and creativity. Yet our education system places little value on subjects that hone those skills, says Jacqui O'Hanlon.

‘Make it SO’

17 May 2022

In the last in our series profiling the shortlisted candidates for City of Culture 2025, Claire Whitaker says Southampton has been connecting the UK with people across the globe for thousands of years.

‘We rise together’

Children celebrate Wrexham's City of Culture 2025 bid
04 May 2022

In the third of our series profiling the shortlisted candidates for City of Culture 2025, Ian Bancroft reveals Wrexham as “one of the last punk places in the UK”.

‘Our Time, Our Place’

Young people from Bradford send off for the district's official UK City of Culture 2025 bid
19 Apr 2022

In the second in our series profiling the shortlisted candidates for City of Culture 2025, Shanaz Gulzar shares how Bradford's young people shaped a bid that awakened a sleeping giant of a city.

‘The past we inherit, the future we build’

Durham miners' gala
06 Apr 2022

In the first in a series profiling the shortlisted candidates for UK City of Culture 2025, Alison Clark introduces the county whose bid is inspired by the Durham Miners Association.

What does your pricing say about you?

09 Mar 2022

Pricing is an overlooked form of communication. As soon as a price is placed on something, it sends out a message about the product, says David Reece

The real Big Bang

Poet Scarlett Ward leads a poetry workshop in conjunction with About Us and UNBOXED
22 Feb 2022

About Us* is a dazzling free show combining projection mapping, animation, music and poetry. At its heart, says Maggie Aderin-Pocock, is a simple message: we are all connected. 

Welcome to UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK

people looking at an art installation
21 Oct 2021

What happens when creative minds from different sectors and disciplines come together to imagine and design bold, large-scale events to reach millions of people worldwide? Martin Green reveals what’s in store for 2022.

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.

More than half of arts audiences are first-time bookers

Audience cheering
05 Mar 2024

Research into the behaviour of new arts audiences post-pandemic found the retention rate of new bookers in 2023 was higher than it has been since 2016.

West Yorkshire launches access scheme for cultural venues

Mayor West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin speaking at an event
21 Feb 2024

The initiative is the first of a raft of measures that form a £2.3m support package for West Yorkshire’s creative sector.

Nearly 50 former NPOs have closed since 2018

Arnolfini Bristol
19 Feb 2024

Research by third-sector financial benchmarkers MyCake has analysed the longevity and turnover of arts organisations that exit Arts Council England's national Funding Portfolio. 

Attendance at Manchester International Festival tops 300,000

07 Feb 2024

Last summer’s Manchester International Festival (MIF23) attracted more than 325,000 visitors to the city, according to a new report.

The report, by Manchester City Council’s Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee, found the amount of money spent by attendees at the ninth edition of the biennial festival totaled £39.2m.

Almost half (47%) of visits to MIF23 were by first-timers to the festivals, compared with 36% in 2019 and 40% in 2021.

A total of 428 volunteers contributed 9,000 volunteer hours during the 18-day event. Meanwhile, 178 artists benefited from a development opportunity at MIF23, and more than 1,164 children were involved in creative activities.

The council’s report also found more than 300,000 visitors have passed through the doors of Manchester’s Aviva Studios since it opened last summer, with almost a third (32%) from Manchester.

Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Manchester City Council Deputy Leader, said 2023 "was without doubt a stand-out year for culture in Manchester and MIF23 had a big part to play in this".

"From visitor spend and audience numbers, to volunteer hours and the number of amazing opportunities for local artists, residents and young people to get involved, together with a world-class programme of new work to see and enjoy, the festival delivers on every front. 

"And now with the opening of Aviva Studios, the country's landmark new building for the arts, it's very clear that Manchester is the cultural place to be."

Delay to guidelines on AI data and text mining

06 Feb 2024

The UK government has delayed guidelines outlining rules on the training of AI models with copyrighted materials.

The delay follows talks between the UK Intellectual Property Office, representatives from AI companies and arts and news organisations, which were arranged to produce a code for the use of AI data and text mining, including the use of work copyrighted by creators.

The group failed to agree on a set of guidelines, with the responsibility now returning to the Department for Science Innovation and Technology.

The delay will likely concern parts of the creative industries. Leading organisations including UK Music and DACS are among those that have warned leading politicans against the use of unregulated AI and the negative impact such practices will have on creators and the creative industries.

In January, the UK government said it is prioritising the development of a regulatory framework for AI technologies.

The comment followed a report from the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee calling for a proposed AI copyright exemption to be scrapped to protect creatives.

A white paper setting out more AI proposals is expected to be published by the UK government in the coming days.

Coventry Culture Trust administration extended

23 Jan 2024

Administrators investigating a charity's spending have been given another year to continue their work.

Since Coventry City of Culture Trust collapsed in February 2023 with debts of more than £4m, administrators have been working to sell off assets to try to pay back creditors while investigating the circumstances of the collapse, with forensic accountants being hired to assist.

The appointment of an administrator automatically ends one year after the date it takes effect.

But a notice filed with Companies House states that, with creditors' consent, the administration period will now run until 27 February 2025. Any further extensions are only possible by court order.

Meanwhile, a senior Conservative MP said they want to "get to the bottom of what went wrong".

Speaking to the Coventry Observer, Conservative Party Chairman Richard Holden said he and his party’s local candidates for the next general election were "very keen" for the full legacy of the City of Culture year to be realised.

“Millions was given by central government to fund the City of Culture year and I know there is a big desire in Coventry to get to the bottom of this issue.

“I know [our local candidates] are very passionate about this issue and want to see a real legacy of the City of Culture.

“This includes getting to the bottom of what went wrong but also to work towards building on the positive as there was so much money and goodwill invested into the year.”

Artistic Director of Manchester's SICK! Festival stands down

I Am, commissioned by SICK! Festival is a public exhibition in St Peter's Square, Manchester.
21 Dec 2023

Move comes little more than two months after entire board of National Portfolio Organisation quit their positions.

Green light for West of England cultural programme

20 Dec 2023

A cultural programme covering Bath, Bristol, North and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire is set to go ahead after securing investment.

Bath Spa University partnered with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (WECA) to secure funding through Arts Council England’s (ACE) National Lottery Place Partnerships Fund for Culture West, a two-year, region-wide programme aiming to enable every child and young person access to cultural experiences.

It plans to commission two new festivals, support and provide work for 425 creative freelancers and engage over 109,000 people in arts and cultural experiences with live audiences of more than 270,000.

Other initiatives include a new residency scheme for low-income artists and makers at Bath Spa University’s creative practice studio, while a new arts space will open in Radstock early next year.

Bath Spa University will also support the delivery of a new regional Creative Agency, creating employment guidance and networks for those entering the creative industries.

WECA has invested £1.5m in the programme, ACE has provided a £1m grant and local partners have given a combined £640,000.

Professor Sue Rigby, Bath Spa University Vice-Chancellor said the shared ambition is “to create a step change for the region by increasing access to arts and culture in every place for all communities and creatives.”

“Through this, we aim to improve lives, support local economies, help regenerate neighbourhoods and bring people back into work in the creative industries, post-pandemic.”

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