Cross artform

Creative Scotland has opened applications to its Radical Care Fund, a £75,000 project aiming to improve working conditions for creatives with caregiving responsibilities.

Grants of between £3,000 and £15,000 are available to creative organisations and businesses looking to support these creatives.

Creative Scotland’s Ashley Smith-Hammond says the fund will address challenges including unsocial working hours, fluctuating patterns of work and higher than average levels of freelancing.

“All of these elements combine to create barriers for people working in the arts, screen and creative industries to manage work and care responsibilities. We hope that this fund will help to rethink fair working systems and improve peoples’ work/life balance.” 

Applications close on 26 November, with between five and fifteen projects to be chosen for funding in the week commencing 20 December.

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.

A report into worldwide royalties estimates collections in music, visual arts, drama and literature could decline by up to 35% this year.

The annual Global Collections Report, published by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), cites Covid-19 as the reason for the decline.

The report also shows the US to have the highest market share of royalty collections, followed by France, Japan and Germany.

The UK ranks fifth, with a market share of 8.4%. Its year-on-year growth in collections is 12.3%, meaning the UK is currently outperforming the global market.

CISAC Director General Gadi Oron attributed the UK's growth in royalty collections to copyright collective PRS for Music’s investment in systems and networks.

"It’s the UK talent, it’s the fact that collections around the world are improving and more royalties are repatriated."