Newsreel

The London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3 has won this years Best London Festival Award in the Music Category of the Time Out Live Awards. In 2005, the Festival reached over 60,000 concert-goers with 206 groups playing 165 events in 35 venues.

A public debate exploring the themes included in Strength: Broadsides from Disability, on the Arts, a new book by Paddy Masefield, will take place at Christ Church College Oxford on 25 March as part of the The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival. The debate will be led by author, who will be joined by Dr Tom Shakespeare, chair of Arts Council England, North East, and by John Harris, an access auditor with experience of accessibility issues in historic buildings.
w: http://www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk

Detailed designs are now being drawn up for a theatre (pictured) that will form part of the new Waterside redevelopment in Aylesbury. Theatre design specialists Arts Team have been appointed as architects of the theatre and entertainment centre, which will be joined by a new shopping area and housing development.

A research project by Youth Music and the University of Northumbria has found that children as young as two are able to memorise long sequences of words when they are attached to music, long before they can master the same skill in speech. However, there is no evidence to support the existence of the so-called Mozart Effect, with recent tests carried out on children finding no difference in their ability to carry out tasks before, during or after listening to music.

MusiqTrader, a new classified advertising service, has been launched to help music lovers, musicians, teachers and students to buy and sell musical instruments, sheet music, recordings, music equipment and accessories. Supported by the Princes Trust , the organisation will also be launching a portal for musicians and students to enable them to find out about funding and scholarships within schools and universities.
w: http://www.musiqtrader.co.uk

A new website has been launched by Barbican Education to give teachers new ideas and resources to inspire creative writing in the classroom. Developed in collaboration with the UKs leading poets and local primary school teachers, the site includes newly commissioned poems and writing tips from leading poets, and downloadable work sheets with curriculum links developed by the National Literacy Trust.
w: {canihaveaword.org.uk}

The International Dance Council has issued some suggested ways to prepare for World Dance Day, which takes place on 29 April and aims to attract the attention of the wider public to the art of dance.
w: http://www.cid-unesco.org

Plans are in place for a new £9.2m arts centre for The Old Museum Arts Centre in Belfasts Cathedral Quarter. Funds from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure will go towards the purpose-built 350-seat venue on a site donated by the Laganside Corporation. The building is scheduled for completion in April 2010.