Friday, 08 February 2019
The City Council has given the green light for proposals for a Transient Visitor Levy, which is expected to charge tourists £2 per room per night for a maximum of seven nights. The funding will be used to support growth in the city and ensure future investment in culture, heritage, arts and sport.
Edinburgh will be first with the tourist tax (The Edinburgh Reporter)
Thursday, 07 February 2019
Festival Fringe Chief Executive Shona McCarthy – under fire since claiming a campaign to ensure the living wage is paid in all venues put the entire festival at risk – has refused to ban producers and venues accused of exploitative pay practices from appearing on the official Fringe website. She said the Fringe would instead work with people to “find solutions” and “support and improve”.
Wednesday, 06 February 2019
68-year-old Gary Crofts is suing the venue for £200k in compensation after a section of the stage curtain, weighing half a tonne, nearly crashed down on him in November 2016 during a ballet production. Crofts’ lawyers say he had not recovered from a different workplace accident, which occurred at the venue two years earlier, and therefore suffered a “disabling deterioration of his prior... read more
Royal Opera House stage manager sues for £200k after he is almost crushed in curtain fall (London Evening Standard)
Wednesday, 06 February 2019
£1.4m will be withdrawn from a fund open to volunteer groups and charities, Greenwich Council confirmed in a recent meeting, as a result of cuts in direct Government funding.
Greenwich Council confirms charities face £1.4m cut in funding (London News Online)
Wednesday, 06 February 2019
Help Musicians UK (HMUK) has partnered with the British Tinnitus Association to assess the effects, management and prevention of the condition among those working in the industry. Over half of respondents to a HMUK survey in 2015 said they live with Tinnitus.
Help Musicians UK to conduct research into tinnitus (Classical Music Magazine)
Tuesday, 05 February 2019
The council’s previous proposal to slash arts funding by £1m, which was met with vociferous protests from the local arts sector, have been scaled back to a new total of £500k. The council has also created a new £2m fund to support arts organisations in the city.
Budget U-turns on rat charges, cuts to crossing patrols and arts funding (Birmingham Mail)
Tuesday, 05 February 2019
£220k has been set aside for an overhaul of the 55-year-old venue, which will include improving the café and lengthening its opening hours, as well as extending the arts centre’s theatre space.
Major renovation of Aberdeen Arts Centre announced (Press and Journal)
Tuesday, 05 February 2019
The dance company is working alongside Theatr Clwyd, Pontio, Taliesin Arts Centre and Dawns i Bawb on the extension of a programme it has previously trialled in England, aiming to attract new audiences and participants in regions across Wales.
Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Site operators Today’s Community Church say The Edge, which also boasts a 300-capacity studio space, will be mainly focused on music, but may book theatre in the future.
New 1,000-seat venue launches in Wigan (The Stage)
Monday, 04 February 2019
Demand for tickets to Verdi’s La Forza del Destino at the Royal Opera House (ROH) has led them being sold at up to fifteen times the face value on secondary ticketing website Viagogo. A pair of tickets in the orchestral stalls with an original price of £570 is on offer for £6,869 while a seat with “limited or restricted view” in the auditorium, originally £125, is going for £1,872.
A spokesperson... read more
Monday, 04 February 2019
Midlothian Council is to stop providing musical instrument tuition in schools, except for pupils studying for Higher or National Five exams in music. The authority has informed its instrumental music service staff that nine of 12 full-time equivalent posts will be axed as part of plans to address budget cuts.
Friday, 01 February 2019
During DCMS questions in the Commons, Arts Minister Michael Ellis denied his party had a “contemptuous attitude” towards the arts, saying "We now want to focus on arts subjects as well [as STEM], including music."
Friday, 01 February 2019
Plans to redevelop the site of the derelict grade two-listed building in Eccles are being supported by Historic England, which recognises the loss of the theatre’s auditorium as causing “a high level of harm” but classes this as “less than substantial” in planning terms.
Eccles theatre redevelopment moves forward after 10-year wait (Place North West)
Thursday, 31 January 2019
The streaming giant will produce a version of Broadway play American Son, which has just finished a run in New York’s Booth Theatre. It is expected to be a “movie/play hybrid”.
Thursday, 31 January 2019
The school has responded to the Scottish Parliament's Culture Committee, addressing comments by a fire safety expert who questioned the removal of a mist-suppression system in the wake of the 2014 Mackintosh building fire. It states that replacing the system during the construction period would have been impossible, and that new security cameras and fire detection systems had been installed ahead... read more
Glasgow School of Art issues new response to fire safety criticism (Herald Scotland)