Newsreel

Starting on the Right Track, a new guide from the Governance Hub, has been published to help organisations plan and carry out the recruitment and induction of a new Chair.
w:http://www.governancehub.org.uk

Cultivate, the East Midlands audience development agency, has teamed up with East Midlands Development Agency and Culture East Midlands to support capacity building amongst rural arts and cultural organisations based in the East Midlands. The new scheme will help up to 15 organisations to develop business skills, facilitate support and identify capacity-building needs.
w:http://www.cultivate-em.com

A new childrens arts venue has been opened in the heart of Glasgows Saltmarket. The Giant Workshop Space will be used to complement the work of Giant, which has been producing inclusive arts programmes for children since 1989, when it was set up to deliver the Children and Young Peoples events as part of Glasgow 1990 City of Culture. The new space will allow a regular programme of creative workshops and exhibitions to take place in a venue designed to be fully accessible and child- friendly.

Arts Council Wales has published online its Disability Equality Scheme, which builds on the objectives and actions outlined in its earlier report Moving Beyond. The scheme describes how the Council will implement the Disability Discrimination Regulations 2005.
w: http://www.artswales.org/viewnews.asp?id=606

Chinese Arts Centre and Arts Council England are launching EAST (East Asian Strategic Training) aimed at encouraging applications from East Asian artists to the funding programme, Grants for the Arts. Upcoming events include a year-long programme of seminars, workshops and networking opportunities.
w: http://www.eastonline.org

Visiting Arts is looking for UK hosts for international artists residencies. The majority of the artists involved will be from Brazil, Columbia and Taiwan over the next three years.
w: http://www.visitingarts.org.uk/news/07mar_ukhosts.html

The government has launched a consultation on changes to regulations on charging for music lessons in schools, following changes to the Education Act last year. Anyone with a view is being invited to comment on regulations to accompany the new legislation to ensure it is implemented effectively. The deadline for comments is 20 June.
w: http://www.musicmanifesto.co.uk

A new social networking site, BritishTheatre.com, has been launched to encourage the British theatre industry to exchange ideas, take part in forums and post notices. The website, designed along the lines of YouTube, also offers the opportunity to take part in debate relevant to those working in the sector.
w: http://www.britishtheatre.com

The fourth World Summit on Arts and Culture will be held in Johannesburg from 2125 September 2009. The event will focus on the role of public arts policies in meeting the wider economic, social and cultural challenges facing the world, and will specifically consider the impact of arts and cultural policies on the developing world. The Summits, run by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, are held every three years, the most recent in Newcastle Gateshead last year, co-hosted by Arts Council England.

The Centre for Cultural Policy Studies at the University of Warwick is offering a scholarship for each of its three MA courses to a UK/EU candidate, equivalent in value to the total course fee payable. The courses are in European Cultural Policy and Management, Creative and Media Enterprises and International Design and Communication.
w: http://www.warwick.ac.uk/culturalpolicy

Further to the recent Court of Appeal judgements concerning Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Longborough Festival Opera, HM Revenue & Customs has published guidelines to help cultural organisations determine whether their managers and administrators will be viewed as having a direct or indirect financial interest in its activities for the purpose of VAT exemption for cultural services.
w: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/vat/brief2707.htm

One hundred thousand beer mats have been circulated to pubs in Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, Derby and Northampton, to encourage the public to engage with Arts Council Englands arts debate. The mats pose a series of questions about contemporary art, theatre, public art, music and dance, with an invitation to participate in the debate on the underside.
w: http://www.artsdebate.org.uk

The Creative Clusters conference, taking place in London in November, has put out a call for speakers who are able to offer the latest insights into culture-led regeneration and the creative economy. The event will be structured under four themes: The Creative Quarter, Opportunity in the Creative Economy, World Creative Hubs and The Creative Crowd. Through these it aims to offer evidence of how creativity is impacting on all areas of economic development and regeneration.
w: http://www.creativeclusters.com