Cross artform

The Art Fund is opening applications to two funding streams this summer, with more than £2m available in total.

The charity’s Reimagine grants programme, designed to increase stability as the sector navigates its post-Covid recovery, opens from 4 July until 12 September.

Arts organisations will be eligible to apply for grants between £10,000 and £50,000 for projects focused on remimagining approaches to engagement. Of the £2m available in total, £200,000 will be distributed by Museum Development UK towards small to medium sized museums for reset grants and resilience programmes.

Meanwhile, applications to The West Loan Programme with Art Fund, which enables museums to borrow works from major lending museums and galleries, will open at the end of June until 12 August. 

According to Art Fund's recently published annual report, the charity delivered more than £5.8m in grants across all its funding streams last year.

Director Jenny Waldman said this was made possible by the 130,000 Art Fund members who have purchased the National Art Pass and donations from trusts, foundations and donors: “Thanks to the generosity we have been able to step up to help museums through the challenges of the pandemic and into an exciting future”.

By the end of the year, the charity expects to have delivered over £6m in Covid-19 response funding.

Children could benefit from an average of 65 minutes dedicated to the arts each day, according to new research.

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for the arts was built using insights from 504 primary school teachers surveyed across the UK and guidance from child psychologist Laverne Antrobus.

It is published by Sky Arts to coincide with the launch of Access All Arts week, a nationwide arts initiative for primary schools taking place until June 10.

The RDA breaks down to 17 minutes dedicated to literature, 14 minutes to art, 12 minutes to music, 11 minutes to drama and 11 minutes to dancing.

Antrobus says the RSA for arts is a "brilliant way to put a simple framework around the importance it holds for children and their development".

"Having the opportunity to paint, to dance, to write poetry has huge wellbeing benefits for a young child, helping them to develop self-confidence and a positive self image.

"Access to the arts helps to build creative skills which are likely to be in demand later in life – for example, problem-solving and imagination."

More than one million people attended events in Coventry during the city’s stint as UK City of Culture, according to analysis from organisers.

Coventry’s year-long programme came to an end last Tuesday (31 May), after 709 events took place across the city, including Radio 1’s Big Weekend and the 2021 International Booker Prize.

More than 389,000 tickets were issued for live events, with a further 137,000 attending unticketed live events. The programme’s online audience, which pulled focus for events affected by lockdown, is estimated to have reached over 516,000.

The initial results do not include visitors to the public art programme, participation and workshop activity figures, or the creative programme funded by Coventry City of Culture Trust but delivered by partner organisations, which will be reported in the final evaluation.

Coventry secured more than £172m of direct investment to support its programme of events. City Council leader George Duggins says the calendar succeeded in bringing people together to help build a lasting legacy.

“The people, firms and organisations of Coventry will be feeling the benefits of our year as UK City of Culture for a long time to come – through improved prosperity, greater access to the arts, and a better quality of life.”

Live entertainment marketing platform Activity Stream has acquired mobile ticketing specialists crowdEngage and event and venue management firm Yesplan.

Activity Stream said the move will strengthen its offerings to the live entertainment and experience sector, creating the first company to offer solutions across the life-cycle of an event, from event planning, marketing, communications, sales management and customer engagement through to event delivery.

The new company now has a client base of more than 450 organisations around the world in 20 countries.

Einar Saevarsson, founder and Chief Executive of Activity Stream, said: “Our mission when we founded Activity Stream was to accelerate the digital transformation of the live entertainment industry by offering intelligent tools that any experience brand could master, afford and greatly benefit from.” 

“Our clients want to build stronger, deeper and longer term relationships with each and every one of their visitors. We allow any experience brand to easily join up their many data sets and customer touch points, to produce meaningful, personalised and relevant communications, that drives revenue and loyalty.”

“The addition of Yesplan and crowdEngage places Activity Stream solutions at the very heart of some of the world’s greatest events and experiences.”

Edinburgh Festival Fringe producers have received financial support to help them recover and remain resilient following the Covid-19 pandemic. 

A total of 13 Edinburgh Festival Fringe producers have been awarded a share of £1.275m from the Fringe 2022 Resilience Fund, financed by the Scottish Government and distributed by Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.

Venues in receipt of the money are Assembly, BlundaBus, Gilded Balloon, Greenside, Just The Tonic, Laughing Horse, Monkey Barrell Comedy, Pleasance, Scottish Comedy Festival, Summerhall, theSpaceUK, Underbelly and ZOO.

A further £305k has been allocated to support the ongoing resilience of the Fringe Society, which includes £55k to support the delivery of street events during August.

Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: “It’s fair to say that the last few years have been the most challenging in our festival’s history. 

"Now, as we prepare to enter our 75th anniversary year, creatives across the Fringe landscape are working hard to ensure that this incredible festival not only survives, but continues to work hard to be the best version of itself.

“This support from Scottish Government is absolutely vital in helping us to achieve that goal: allowing producers and creatives across the landscape to not only recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic, but to offer enhanced support to artists, workers and volunteers; to continue to programme creative and innovative work; to improve accessibility; to tackle affordability and to ensure that this festival remains true to its founding principles of openness and inclusivity.”

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has announced that it will continue to fund the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) for a further five years and is seeking a new host organisation.  

Since its inception in 2018 PEC, which comprises a consortium of universities from across the UK, has been hosted by innovation foundation Nesta, which led on its establishment.

The AHRC has issued a call for expressions of interest from research organisations who are interested in hosting the PEC and its core team from June 2023 for a further five-year period.

Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair at Arts and Humanities Research Council, said: “The Centre balances robust academic research with agile, reactive policy and industry priorities. 

"[This] announcement is good news for the sector and we very much look forward to finding the right host organisation to work with for the exciting next stage of development and reinforce the PEC’s position as a vital research and innovation infrastructure for the creative industries."