A new report by the Association of British Orchestras documents the impact of school music workshops on children and their creativity. Highlighting the broader education work that orchestras do, and describing more than 50 examples of projects involving young people, the report ‘Unlocking Potential’ also reveals how exposure to orchestral music at a young age can lead to a musical career at the highest level.
The Administrators of Exeter’s Northcott Theatre have announced its sale to Northcott Theatre Company, a company controlled by Exeter University. Assets not included in the sale include its rehearsal space, Emmanuel Hall, which will be sold separately to contribute towards payments to creditors. The Theatre’s current staff of 15 have been employed by the new company, and will go ahead with both the summer festival events and a winter programme.
A new online resource pack has been created by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) to help small voluntary and community organisations find, recruit and induct new members of their governing bodies. As well as advice and suggestions, the pack comprises a range of activities, plans and model policy documents, and links to other help and support related to each topic. The NCVO is keen to hear from arts organisations willing to be featured as a case study.
A guide to the tax implications of charitable trading has been published by the Charity Finance Directors’ Group, as a resource to support charities preparing to raise funds through trading activity. Written by Pesh Framjee, head of not-for-profit at accountants Horwath Clark Whitehill, the guide covers merchandising, shops and cafes, events, services, conferences and exhibition, and looks at tax exemptions and a range of other issues.
Ticket prices, time constraints and lack of interest each deter around one in five people in Northern Ireland from attending arts events, according to the latest figures from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, based on the findings from a nationwide household survey among almost 3,500 respondents aged 16 and over. Two-thirds of the population attend arts events: the most popular artform is film, attended by half the population, followed by theatre/drama (20%). A quarter participate in arts activity, with textile crafts (knitting, sewing and embroidery) being the most popular (7%). One-third has no interest in any form of arts participation.
The Papered Parlour, an emerging contemporary craft venue in Clapham, London is the only arts organisation through to the final of ‘Take One Small Step’, a Barclay’s competition giving organisations a chance to win £50,000 to give their business idea a boost. The organisation is one of just three finalists for the South London region, but depends on public votes to land the prize. Online polling closes on 5 July.
An award scheme designed to recognise excellent work taking place within England’s 50,000 voluntary and amateur art and craft groups has been launched by Voluntary Arts England with support from Arts Council England. The Epic awards invite voluntary and amateur art and craft groups to nominate themselves in four categories: engagement, partnerships, innovation and creativity,
with the winners receiving a package of benefits including training, equipment and publicity.
The UK film industry contributes a total of over £4.5 billion a year to the economy according to the latest independent research into the sector by Oxford Economics. The report, which suggests that the UK film industry is weathering the recession well and is showing a long-term trend of strong growth and expansion, concludes that film tax relief is vital to sustaining current levels of global competitiveness and job creation. The UK film industry directly employs around 36,000 (up by 30% since 2000 and 7% since 2006), and is estimated to support a total of 100,000 direct and indirect jobs (up from 95,000 in 2007).