Regeneration

Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre will close in April to undergo a £29m renovation.

The project will see the venue equipped with a new cinema, dance studios and a new circle area added to the main performance space, increasing capacity from 622 to 900.

Redevelopment works are expected to last a year, after being approved by South Somerset District Council.

The council’s portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, Mike Best, commented: "The redevelopment will better enable the arts to reach out into the community".

"And there will be opportunities to develop a more considered culture offer across the county."

Plans have been put forward to turn a former warehouse in Whitehaven in Cumbria into a new music and arts venue.

The redevelopment of the building in the North West port town will provide spaces for recording, rehearsing, workshops and performance.

The proposals, which have been put forward by developers BEC (Britain’s Energy Coast), working in collaboration with local music charity Soundwave, include using recycled shipping containers within the building to create a variety of new spaces.

David Roberts, Soundwave director, said: “We believe this new creative space could be the catalyst for bringing about a change of attitude towards music, arts and culture in West Cumbria.

“It’s a huge step forward for local young creatives and the wider community, a safe creative space where people will be able to discover, explore and perform.”

BEC Chief Executive Michael Pemberton said: “It’s really important that we build a community where people feel welcome, supported and encouraged to grow their skills, showcase their talent, have fun and be part of something special.”

“We’re passionate about making West Cumbria a better place to live, work, visit and ‘play’ and we believe this creative proposition will bring this space back into the spotlight.”

A two-day public consultation about the plans for the building on Bransty Row in the town centre will take place on 27 and 28 February.

The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has announced details of a £6m refurbishment project that will see it closed to the public for a year from June.

The “radical, once-in-a-generation” work will create two new "object-rich" galleries that will draw on the museum's diverse collection of 3.2 million objects.

Exhibits at the venue, which is part of the Science Museum group, range from the first photographic negative to the original puppet of Zippy from the 1970s kids TV show, Rainbow.

National Science and Media Museum director Jo Quinton-Tulloch said: “It is a fantastic moment for the museum. We are going to be transforming the visitor offer and it will be here for decades to come."

The refurbishment will remodel two floors and open up unused spaces in order to reimagine “the display and interpretation of the core collections”.

Quinton-Tulloch added that the changes, which will also include a new liftand improvements to the entrance, will allow the museum to “welcome many more visitors”.

Work will begin from February, prior to the closure, with displays on levels three and five of the building being gradually removed.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £4.9m for the restoration of historic buildings at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

The work, which will be overseen by Barts Heritage will focus on conservation of the Great Hall and the Hogarth Stair, a staircase featuring two seven-foot-high canvasses painted by William Hogarth, depicting stories from the Bible.

The paintings require specialist cleaning and conservation, and the hall is also set to undergo extensive restoration work, including the repair and strengthening of the timber staircase and conservation work on an 18th Century chandelier. 

“We’re thrilled that our funding will be used to conserve these unique examples of Hogarth’s work and revitalise the stunning stair Hall for more and more people to appreciate and enjoy when visiting the historic buildings,” said Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive at The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The project includes an outreach component via a programme offering cultural and educational activities such as therapeutic artmaking courses, sensory heritage walking tours and mindfulness activities. 

Young people interested in heritage conservation can apply for placements, apprenticeships and volunteering roles.

Will Palin, Chief Executive of Barts Heritage said the project combines “the much-needed restoration of the one of the most important historic hospital buildings in the UK with a pioneering heritage and health programme”. 

“We are thrilled to have secured this transformative grant from the Heritage Fund and look forward to welcoming the public both during restoration works and after the project is complete,” he said.
 
 

Plans for a multi-million pound transformation of one Sunderland’s main cultural attractions have moved forward after funding was secured from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens has secured £299,425, which will be matched by the City Council, to further develop proposals for a major revamp of the venue. This will include moving the museum’s main entrance, and a redesign of  the ground floor to include a central atrium, new galleries and a learning and engagement zone.

Meanwhile, programming will be adapted towards more family-focused activities and exhibitions, including a programme complementing the Winter Gardens with a focus on the natural world, biodiversity and climate change. 

Sunderland City Council says it is aiming to apply for a full National Heritage Lottery grant of £5m in 2024 to carry out the work..

“This is all about transforming, re-energising and rejuvenating Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens in line with what our residents and visitors have told us they want to see,” said Linda Williams, Cabinet Member for Vibrant City at Sunderland City Council.

“We want to make sure that the whole museum is a modern, accessible, bright and innovative space that shows off our rich and vibrant stories to everyone near and far.”

She added that a major part of the project will involve updating the story of Sunderland to “better reflect our communities, who we are, and where we come from”.

Rebecca Ball, Chief Executive of Sunderland Culture, said the work “will help ensure the museum is able to continue to develop new and innovative ways to both safeguard and share the city's stories for all our communities”.

The British Council has announced £14m of funding to protect international heritage at risk from factors including conflict and climate change.

The funding will be distributed among 17 new projects over two-and-a-half years, through the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The projects receiving funding include a plan by Egyptian NGO Megawra to revive and protect two Islamic monuments in Cairo, where rising temperatures and excessive flooding are damaging buildings and infrastructure. 

“From the conservation of 13th century manuscripts in Gaza, to preserving buildings in Cairo, it is vital we do our utmost to protect precious global heritage at risk due to climate change and conflict,” said Arts Minister Lord Parkinson.

The British Council received an unprecedented level of high-quality proposals for funding, said Stephanie Grant, Director of the Cultural Protection Fund.

“The selected projects represent a diverse range of approaches to protecting cultural heritage, but with a shared motivation to safeguard cultural heritage for future generations, tackle urgent global challenges and deliver positive societal and economic impact for local populations,” she said.

The British Council also announced that it will fund two year-long research fellowships on cultural relations and climate action, in partnership with the American University of Cairo, the Indian Institute of Technology and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh.

Two early-career researchers from the global south will receive funding to undertake fellowships at the University of Cambridge.

A Grade II listed theatre building in Cambridge has unveiled plans to build a new 200-seater rooftop studio theatre.

City centre venue the Cambridge Arts Theatre also plans to refurbish its main 666-seat auditorium.

In planning documents submitted to Cambridge City Council, the theatre said that the new space will enable it to increase its repertoire of incoming shows.

It will also provide "the opportunity for a variety of different endeavours, including in-house productions, collaborations with university and educational faculties, as well as facilitating a more diverse range of shows and performance types".

The studio will replace a disused restaurant. Proposed building work will include the demolition of a sloping glass roof to be replaced by a flat roof with solar panels "sited where practical".

The plans state that the new rooftop venue will have "a distinctive chimney and modelled brick facade", with bricks of a "warm grey hue" in order to "sit comfortably with the historic Cambridge gault bricks".