In his budget speech, Chancellor Gordon Brown confirmed that Treasury spending allocations to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for 2008 to 2011 will be published in the autumn, not in July as previously announced. The DCMS will then allocate funding to Arts Council England which is planning a number of scenarios so that it can minimise the time it takes to notify regularly funded organisations of funding arrangements.
Bash Street Theatre is the first British recipient of a major annual international street theatre prize, awarded by an international panel of judges at the Fira de Teatre in Tàrrega, Spain. The Penzance-based company won the award for best street theatre show with its silent movie-style production Cliffhanger!
A Family Friendly Toolkit has been published by Arts Council England to support arts organisations wishing to make it easier for families to take part in the arts as audiences and participants. Aimed at arts professionals and drawing on extensive research and interviews, the toolkit includes an audit to assess how best to support families, and a set of ideas to help organisations develop their work.
w: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publications/publications.php
Eastern Orchestral Board, which since 1965 has been the development organisation for professional orchestral work across the Eastern and East Midlands regions, has ceased to be a membership organisation of local authorities. It has renamed itself as Orchestras Live, and re-launched as an independent charitable company, working more widely across the country, working through strategic local partnerships with local authorities and promoters.
The Shakespeare Youth Festival (SYF) is looking to recruit up to 8,000 1621 year-olds offering the opportunity to set up their own theatre company and stage an abridged Shakespeare play in a professional theatre. SYF, working in partnership with 40 professional theatres, will provide mentoring, scripts, workshops, and interactive and online resources to help young people to stage, direct, design and perform their show.
w: http://www.syf.uk.com; http://www.myspace.com/uksyf
Players from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra are performing in China at the invitation of the Nanjing Automobile Corporation, which is preparing to start UK production of the MG TF sports car at the former Rover plant in Longbridge later this year. The musicians are helping the company to celebrate its 60th anniversary, and the beginning of MG production for the Chinese market.
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