An £80,000 grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation is enabling Creu Cymru to launch a new scheme to support performing arts tours across Wales. The Inventive Promoter project will create a new touring network among some of the least well-resourced venues in Wales, and will support programming, marketing and audience development activity.
A collaboration between TheatreWorks (Wiltshire and Swindon) and Theatre Bath (Bath and North East Somerset) and has led to the establishment of a new website giving details of performances, news, jobs, opportunities, directories of theatre practitioners, venues and forums across those regions.
w: http://www.theatreworks.org.uk
The launch of a new poetry anthology, The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems, has acted as a springboard for two new permanent multi-sensory educational sessions (pictured) at Manchester Art Gallery, which aim to help raise attainment in writing by children at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4. The partnership between Barefoot Books and the Gallery began in 2001, with the aim of demonstrating how art, drama, music and literature are inter-linked. The two organisations won an Arts & Business Award and a Hollis Sponsorship Award in 2005.
The main attraction of this years Classic FM Arts & Kids Week, which runs from 21 to 29 October, will be StoryQuest, a national festival of story-telling. Story-tellers will be telling tales in unusual cultural spaces across the UK, from the smallest theatre dressing rooms, to art gallery print rooms and museum store rooms.
w: http://www.artsandkids.org.uk; www.storyquest.org.uk
A Youth Arts Starter Kit has been launched by Artswork, the national youth arts development agency. The kit provides an introduction to working with young people in the arts and covers issues such as child protection, disability, cultural diversity and funding. It also contains a directory of information about artists, funders, partnerships and training. Contact Jay Barron at Artswork.
t: 023 8063 0960; e: artsplan@artswork.org.uk
Cultural Giving, a practical guide for culture and heritage organisations that wish to create and grow their income from individual donors, has been published by DSC. Written in case study format by Theresa Lloyd, the book explains the experiences of 22 development directors, consultants and donors, and covers a wide range of artforms and organisations from a wide geographical spread.
The merger of Cywaith Cymru/Artworks Wales and CBAT The Arts & Regeneration Agency, Wales has created the largest public art company in the UK, currently known as Public Art for Wales. Wiard Sterk, Director of CBAT since April 2003, has been appointed as the first Executive Director of the organisation.
Arts & Business is inviting nominations for its annual awards celebrating the best partnerships between arts and business organisations where both parties can demonstrate real value to the organisation. Nine awards are on offer and any business and UK-based arts partnership or sponsorship that has taken place between April 2005 and September 2006 is eligible for nomination. The deadline for nominations is 31 October, with judging taking place on 24 November.
w: http://www.aandb.org.uk/awards; e: awards@aandb.org.uk
Audiences at Scottish Opera are being given the opportunity to support the company by sponsoring one of the roles in its latest production of Der Rosenkavalier (pictured). The fundraising scheme, Play a Supporting Role Bringing Der Rosenkavalier to the Stage set levels of giving according to the type of role that is sponsored ranging from Octavian at £1,000 to personages of suspicious appearance at £25. The campaign aimed to raise £10,000, but has succeeded in raising £44,000.
A new website is aiming to provide a centralised and comprehensive online resource for artists, arts professionals and arts enthusiasts in the Leeds area. The site, launched by the Leeds Visual Arts Forum, will include information relating to a wide spectrum of visual arts activity, including galleries and museums, artist-led initiatives, further education initiatives and community projects.
w: http://www.lvaf.org.uk