Young Vic arts education scheme helps ‘plug gaps’ in schools

Two pupils sit at computers for a lesson, a teacher leans forward to speak to them
16 Jan 2024

Young Vic's Innovate programme embedded six artists into two local schools to help teachers deliver creative activities as part of the core curriculum.

Artwork proposed for Leeds park to make it feel safer

15 Jan 2024

Creative lighting and public art are to be designed by community groups for a park in Leeds to try to make the space more welcoming for women.

Wow Park - a co-creative public art and lighting project to make Woodhouse Moor feel safer - is being developed by the University of Leeds after a study of women and girls from across West Yorkshire found that most feel unsafe in parks in some situations.

The study, carried out by researchers in the university's School of Law, concluded that feeling vulnerable in parks is a barrier that needs to be urgently addressed to ensure that women and girls feel able to use, enjoy and benefit from them. 

Woodhouse Moor is an open space that borders the university and is used by thousands of students and local residents as a social space to walk to and from campus. Research in 2016 showed it is the city’s most popular park, hosting more than three million visits annually.   

The University’s Cultural Institute will use the study's findings to explore whether creative solutions can help transform the park to make it feel safer, more inclusive, and welcoming for women, girls, and local communities.   

Professor Ben Walmsley, Dean of Cultural Engagement and Chair of the Cultural Institute’s Steering Group said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to explore and showcase the powerful role that arts and culture can play in animating places and making them safer and more inclusive, as well as more attractive. 

“This project shows how the University of Leeds can work across its diverse Schools and Institutes to translate research into action and make a positive difference to people’s lives through sustained community engagement."

Study on future of arts festivals launches 

15 Jan 2024

British Arts Festivals Association (BAFA) will undertake a UK-wide research study to assess the future of arts festivals.

Supported by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales and Creative Scotland, BAFA is commissioning BOP Consulting to research issues including sustainability, equality, diversity and access. 

The data will be used to benchmark the sector, quantifying its contribution to the economy and the places festivals serve. BAFA said it hopes the findings will demonstrate the challenges and opportunities for the sector in the wake of Covid and Brexit.  

Fiona Goh, Director of BAFA, said: “There’s never been a more critical time for BAFA to be able to capture the size, scale and impact of this extraordinary range of cultural events in the arts festivals sector, taking place across the UK.  

"This vital research will not only help us understand the scope of work currently happening in the sector, and to pinpoint the impacts of the pandemic and Brexit, but also help us see how festivals are responding to the challenges of sustainability, the cost of living crisis and social justice movements. 

"We’re delighted that investment from three national arts councils will provide the data that we need to support the sector in shaping a better future together.”

Findings from the survey, which can be accessed here, are due to be shared in the autumn.

Smaller NPOs urged to establish university links

A dancer leaning back on a stage lit in vivid blue
15 Jan 2024

National Portfolio Organisations with the highest levels of public funding three times more likely to be working with universities on arts and culture research than those with lower levels of subsidy.

What’s in store for 2024?

Graphic of maybugs sitting on pebbles in a river, holding the date 2024
11 Jan 2024

Anne Torreggiani and colleagues at The Audience Agency share their predictions and top tips for success.  

Providing evidence for cultural policymaking

Person checking a film shot on a monitor
10 Jan 2024

The Creative PEC works closely with industry, government and the third sector to build evidence to support the development of better policy, writes Bernard Hay.

Legacy income 'growth area for arts charities'

View inside the Royal Opera House
21 Dec 2023

Only five arts and culture organisations feature among the top 1,000 UK charities by legacy income, but experts highlight potential for significant growth in this field. 

Cultural rights are the cornerstone of equitable arts access

13 Dec 2023

When did the idea of cultural rights emerge? And how is it being put into practice? Nicholas Burman has been researching various schemes across Europe. 

Positive early findings for Ireland's basic arts income pilot

Creative team two woman working with computer in modern office
12 Dec 2023

Study finds artists receiving a weekly stipend of €325 were less likely to experience anxiety and depression.

A trailblazer over four decades

Image of Pauline Tambling
06 Dec 2023

Pauline Tambling, who played a huge role in the arts education and training world for four decades, has died. Her friend and colleague Sally Bacon pays tribute to her. 

Power in partnerships

Image of a man using a video camera
06 Dec 2023

In their latest collaborative research project, Euella Jackson and Jess Bunyan of Rising Arts Agency have been exploring the unequal balance of power inherent in partnership working. 

Creative corridors 'a growth engine’ for creative industries

View of Cardiff Bay
06 Dec 2023

Following plans for a Northern creative corridor, research identifies six more areas of the UK that could adopt the model to stimulate growth of the creative industries.

AI: Opera in a contemporary format

A performance of OpeRAVE: ARia at Milton Court
29 Nov 2023

A recent project at Guildhall School of Music & Drama explored the intersection of traditional opera with evolving creative technologies, as visual artist Dan Shorten explains.

Coalition forms to develop cultural devolution proposals

29 Nov 2023

More than 20 sector organisations join forces to consider the impact of increased local level decision making on arts and culture policy and develop proposals for how it could best work.

Badenoch criticises 'unreliable' Museum of London research

27 Nov 2023

Business and Equalities Secretary Kemi Badenoch has dubbed research from the Museum of London “unreliable”, accusing the organisation of using statistics to “whip up tensions around history and racism”.

Posting on X, Badenoch said that by publishing a study that suggests black women were more likely to have died during an outbreak of plague in the 14th Century, the museum was “undermining social cohesion in our country”.

Badenoch criticised the sample size and methods used by researchers, as well as comparisons made between the Black Death and the Covid pandemic. 

In a letter to the museum seen by The Times, she said: “It is imperative that ethnic minorities feel able to trust our healthcare institutions and that they are given accurate information about health outcomes based on robust evidence.

It is also important that evidence, be it historical or current, is not presented in a way that is misleading or that implies that the information is reliable when it is not.”
 

AHRC funds facilities to research stage and screen technologies

23 Nov 2023

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has launched a UK-wide network of creative technology labs to provide researchers and companies with innovative facilities to develop screen and performance technology.

Established with £75.6m of AHRC funding, the CoSTAR national network comprises a National Lab, three Network Labs and a Foresight Lab.

The National Lab is led by Royal Holloway University of London with partners including Pinewood Studios and the National Film and Television School. It will contain a dedicated stage and studio space, with a motion capture rig and a creative artificial intelligence computer facility accessible across the UK. 

Led by Goldsmiths, University of London with partners including BFI and the Creative Policy and Evidence Centre, the Foresight Lab will collect and analyse data to better understand the impacts of emerging technologies.

The three Network labs are: Screen Lab, led by Ulster University, with BBC Northern Ireland; Realtime Lab,  focusing on video games development and led by Abertay University; and Live Lab, led by the University of York with Opera North, which will develop technologies for live performance.

“The way we experience live performances will be completely transformed over the next decade”, said Professor Helena Daffern, Live Lab Co-Director and Professor of Music Science at the University of York.

“Imagine a live concert of your favourite artists where every member of the audience can shape their own unique audio-visual experience. You’ll have the ability to engage with every aspect of a production wherever you are, be it in the arena or the comfort of your own living room.”

“The Live Lab is poised to be at the forefront of innovation for live events,” added Professor Gavin Kearney, Lab Director and Professor of Audio Engineering at the University of York.

“We’re combining York’s research expertise with industry, public and third-sector partners who are all dedicated to innovation in live performance.”

Early career musicians struggling with mental wellbeing

A music stand and close up of a violin player's hands
23 Nov 2023

New data suggests that musicians reporting low mental wellbeing are leaving the music industry over time. 

Big drop in arts and humanities PhD students

Oil painting restoration expert repairing damage on the canvas
21 Nov 2023

Concerns raised over future diversity and vitality of arts and humanities research as the number of UK-based doctoral students being funded nearly halves in the space of four years.

Co-creating public space: How can we thrive?

Delegates at conference
14 Nov 2023

Public art is an opportunity for collective expression of identity. In his reflections on a recent conference, Woodrow Kernohan says co-creation offers the potential to realise more equitable futures together.

Natural History Museum's plan to split collection criticised

14 Nov 2023

The Natural History Museum's plans to relocate millions of specimens, including mammals, corals and worms, from London to Reading have been criticised by experts.

In a letter to The Times, seven former researchers at the museum and 23 international experts argued that the move would be detrimental and lead to a loss of expertise.

“While most biological research can be pursued on any university campus,” they wrote, “only natural history museums with their collections and experts located in intact and cohesive institutions can lead in this arena.”

The museum announced last year that it would move 28m of its 80m objects to a new facility at Thames Valley Science Park, on land owned by the University of Reading, constituting the most significant move of its collections since the 1880s.

The museum says the move will offer more space for the collection to grow and better opportunities for analysing and digitising specimens. In their letter, critics of the plan questioned why a London-based university could not be found to house the specimens.

Fred Naggs, a former staff member, said: “My take is they considered the collections and the scientists to be occupying prime real estate and that they could simply be moved out of London."

A museum spokeswoman said: “We’re moving some of the collection to Reading to make it easier for us to take care of it, digitise it and share its data with scientists all over the world who are finding solutions to problems like climate change, biodiversity loss and food security.

“We came to this decision by listening carefully to our colleagues and the wider scientific community. As a leading scientific research centre, we think it’s important to unlock and share the value of all natural history collections.”
 

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