Monday, 10 June 2019
Letters from eight artists and a judge said a sponsorship deal with the oil and gas giant provided "a veneer of respectability to one of the world’s worst polluters". The gallery said BP had sponsored its annual portrait award for 30 years, and that the company's support brought artists' work into the public eye.
Thursday, 06 June 2019
The sudden closure of the city’s Guild Hall, which contained two performance venues, has left large shows in the lurch. Owner Simon Rigby now intends to bring in administrators, but has said the building will reopen “within weeks” and that all staff wages will be paid.
Thursday, 06 June 2019
The 15 metre high portrait of Greta Thunberg in Bristol was unveiled last week. Artist Jody Thomas said he was inspired by his subject’s “fearless style”.
Wednesday, 05 June 2019
A Devon theatre director called the Brexit Party MEP’s comment - that science might “produce an answer” to being gay - “vile”. Widdecombe was due to appear at Ilfracombe’s Landmark Theatre in a one-woman show in March.
Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Henry Hitchings and Fiona Mountford have lost their contracts after 10 and 17 years’ service respectively. The newspaper plans to produce more arts criticism in-house to cut costs.
Tuesday, 04 June 2019
A Scottish committee investigating the destruction of the school’s Mackintosh building says it is “extremely disappointed” the school has questioned the credibility of some witnesses. The committee has questioned whether the school did enough to prevent the blaze.
Glasgow School of Art sought to undermine Mac fire evidence, MSPs claim (Architects' Journal)
Tuesday, 04 June 2019
The ticketing platform’s managing director has apologised to the Government for failing to attend a 2017 hearing into its business model. But he said “we fundamentally believe if someone buys a ticket they have the right to resell it”.
Tuesday, 04 June 2019
A project led by Anglia Ruskin University has received a six-figure grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to investigate the benefits for school children of creating art in nature. The initiative has found that working with artists improved pupils’ confidence and independence, particularly among children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Art in schools project recieves six-figure grant (Cambridge Network)
Tuesday, 04 June 2019
Young refugees living in the UK can now apply for paid apprenticeships with Good Chance Theatre. The three-month scheme will give up to six trainees experience in writing, directing, producing and fundraising.
Tuesday, 04 June 2019
Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre in York is taking shape, with plans to perform Hamlet, Henry V, The Tempest and Twelfth Night this summer. The organisers hope to replicate the success of last year’s season, which drew about 78,000 people to the site.
Shakespeare's Rose Theatre preparations 'on track' (The York Press)
Tuesday, 04 June 2019
A motion passed at the annual conference of trade union Equity says reductions in funding and “theatre mismanagement” are affecting work opportunities at five theatres in Lancaster, Manchester, Liverpool, Keswick, and Oldham. The performers claim austerity and poor leadership could drive talent from the industry, but the venues’ managers say they are adapting to a “challenging” financial... read more
Tuesday, 04 June 2019
Former Director of the National Theatre Sir Richard Eyre has said swapping the genders of characters in the playwright’s classics ruins the flow of his work. Eyre is also concerned that iambic pentameter is not being taught in schools.
Monday, 03 June 2019
The Bureau, which was left homeless after a blaze destroyed the Church of St John the Evangelist in April, has found a new base in the former visitor centre for the Thwaites brewery. The arts centre previously housed an art gallery, cafe, cinema, darkroom, studios and a live music venue. It will lease the site for six months while repairs at the church are completed.
Blackburn Arts Centre brews up temporary new home (Lancashire Telegraph)
Friday, 31 May 2019
Richard Demarco, a prominent Scottish arts figure and co-founder of the Traverse Theatre, said while Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe lifted Scotland's spirits following the second world war, they now merely served to “reassure 2,000 stand-up comics they have a future”.
Arts festivals ‘are money‑making machines’ (The Times)
Thursday, 30 May 2019
Researchers monitoring the progress of a Youth Music programme linking community music organisations with school music departments has concluded that students are being "taught in a way that does not connect with the music they’re actually interested in". Evidence that children’s experience of music at school is “often disconnected from their musical lives” outside the lessons has prompted Youth... read more