Newsreel

A pop-up gallery has appeared in one of the London Eye’s capsules, showing specially commissioned works by British artist Kate Jenkins. It is organised by Champagne Pommery and the Rebecca Hossack Gallery as part of the Frieze Art Fair. Champagne Pommery sponsors the fair and a £10,000 prize awarded to the gallery with the most innovative display.
 

The Royal Opera House (ROH) has put its plans to open a Manchester base on hold “during this time of economic uncertainty”. In a statement, the ROH insists that it and Manchester City Council (MCC) “remain committed to establishing a production base for the Royal Opera House in Manchester”, but no date is suggested for achieving this. The ROH only states that “the will remains to pursue this ambition at the appropriate time in the future.”

Orchestras make a huge impact across the country, but their funding is delicately balanced and easily upset, according to ‘A Sound Investment: The mixed economy model of UK orchestras’, published by the Association of British Orchestras. Most orchestras are funded by a combination of public and private investment, and self-generated income. Mark Pemberton, Director of the ABO, said: “while private funding is vitally important it cannot be a replacement for public subsidy. The success of our orchestras relies on all three funding streams working together.”
http://www.abo.org.uk

The Harris Museum & Art Gallery, and digital arts organisation ‘folly’, have launched ‘Current: An Experiment in Collecting Digital Art’, a project which aims to encourage debate from visitors, artists and sector professionals about the process of integrating digital artworks into existing permanent collections. UK-based artists working in digital media are invited to propose work for an exhibition at the Harris Museum & Art Gallery. One artwork will then be chosen by an expert panel for acquisition into the Harris’ permanent collection. A public debate will be held in May 2011 to analyse the experiment, share findings and set best practice guidelines in collecting digital art.

Pavilion Dance has opened in Bournemouth as a new venue for dance in the South West. The new building is a partnership between Dance South West, Arts Council England, Bournemouth Borough Council and BH Live, with £3.3m investment from the local authority. Facilities include two dance studios and a 200-seat theatre, but Pavilion Dance also has access to a 1,400-seater theatre and the largest ballroom on the south coast, thanks to an operating agreement with BH Live, the new leisure and cultural trust.
http://www.paviliondance.org.uk

The Clore Leadership Programme has announced 21 new fellows, bringing the total number to 178. Now in its seventh year, the number of applications rose by 40% in 2010. The fellows were chosen from across the creative and cultural sector, and for the first time, include a Heritage and Conservation Fellow following funding from the Mercers’ Charitable Foundation. The UK Fellows are joined by three international fellows, from Hungary and Hong Kong. The new fellows are: Rebecca Ball, Angie Bual, Jessamy Carlson, Ferenc Csák, Kate Fellows, Suzanne Hay, Anna Higgs, Reyahn King, Mai Lin Li, Eva Martinez, Isabel Mortimer, Sarah Punshon, Lalitha Rajan, Michael Sarna, Joshua Sofaer, Sarah Stannage’ Peter Tullin, Tilly Walnes, Chan Woon Wai, Lisa Westcott and Lynn Foon Chi Yau.
http://www.cloreleadership.org

Cultural Trends journal is looking for reviewers for its Policy Review Notes section, to contribute short articles concentrating on the data, methodologies and development of the evidence base for a range of policy documents or programme being considered. It is currently inviting reviews of: Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Arts and Older People Strategy; UNESCO’s Framework for Cultural Statistics; National Endowment for the Arts’s research on informal arts participation in rural and urban areas; and Arts & Business’s Private Sector Policy for the Arts. For further information, contact Dr Ian Baxter, Cultural Trends Policy Review Notes Editor.
[email protected]

Anyone who is interested in arts, culture or the media can now email a brief question directly to Ed Vaizey, the minister responsible for these sectors. As part of ‘Ask Ed Vaizey’, he will be filmed answering a selection of these questions and the film will then be posted on the DCMS website. Ask Ed Vaizey will provide a new way of getting direct answers to questions. It will take the form of a quick-fire Q&A, with each edition lasting no more than a minute or two.
[email protected]

Creative & Cultural Skills has launched ‘Data Generator’, a searchable database of published data and bespoke reports. It is designed to help individuals and businesses access economic and demographic research and analysis to help with advocacy, strategic decisions, future planning, funding applications and presentations.
{http://www.data-generator.co.uk

Culture Action Europe, the biggest umbrella advocacy organisation for the arts and culture in Europe, has launched a Europe-wide arts advocacy campaign, ‘We are more’. The campaign seeks to mobilise everyone who cares about culture in Europe and will run until 2013. Culture Action Europe currently has more than 100 members who represent more than 50,000 arts and culture players across Europe.
{http://www.wearemore.eu}

Manchester Art Gallery has won Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 2010 at England’s Northwest Tourism Awards. It will now represent the best of the region at the national tourism awards, organised by Visit England in 2011. Other attractions in the running for the title included The Beatles Story (Liverpool), Tatton Park (Cheshire), The World of Beatrix Potter (Windermere) and Blackpool Zoo (Lancashire).
http://www.manchestergalleries.org

The Musicians’ Union (MU) has launched two new projects. The first, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Music’, is a joint initiative between the MU, the NSPCC, Youth Music, and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). It will provide an online resource allowing anyone teaching music to children to gain a better understanding of their child protection responsibilities. The second is a partnership with MusicTeachers.co.uk – the largest online database of UK music teachers – which aims to benefit those looking for an instrumental teacher and promote professional development.
http://www.themu.org

The Mintfest International Street Arts Festival in Kendal at the end of August gave a big boost to businesses in the South Lakes, according to the initial results of a study by the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change at Manchester University. Provisional figures show that Mintfest accounted for about £1.6m of extra spending in and around the town – a £100,000 increase on last year. The research found that about 45% of people at Mintfest had come from outside Kendal and more than a quarter came from outside Cumbria. Eighty-five percent of those surveyed said the event had made them feel more positive about the town. Mintfest is organised by Kendal Arts International as part of Lakes Alive, a four year programme of events being held in Cumbria to celebrate the Olympics.
http://www.lakesalive.org

The Poetry Book Society (PBS) is offering free student membership on its new website, aiming to persuade students to read more contemporary poetry. The new membership scheme will also enable students to order books with a 25% members’ discount. The PBS will also be offering lists of set texts and other tailored material for the student pages, and will host an online discussion forum.
http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk

Arts & Business has opened a free Fundraising Advice Line to offer guidance to the arts sector across England. It will be available from Monday–Friday 10am–4pm for callers from charitable organisations in the fields of arts and heritage. The number is
030 01234 080.

Mission Models Money (MMM) has published a guide to best practice in collaborative activities, showing what can be achieved when public and private funders support collaboration between cultural organisations. ‘Fuelling the Necessary Revolution,’ reflects on case studies from participants in MMM’s recent pilot scheme supporting collaborative activities in Scotland and the North East of England. The report is available on its website.
http://www.bit.ly/d3m23c

The latest statistics for Arts Council England’s ‘A Night Less Ordinary’ scheme reveal that only 72% of the free tickets available to under-26s are being taken up. The figures, for around 200 participating theatres, show that 19,141 tickets have been given away so far, despite nearly 27,000 being made available.
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk

Creative Scotland (CS) will move offices early in the New Year. The new Edinburgh premises will include a public space to showcase the work of Scotland’s artists and creative practitioners. The new 15-year lease includes an initial rent-free period, and CS aims to keep relocation costs to a minimum.
http://www.creativescotland.com

The visual arts sector in London is responsible for more than 200,000 tonnes of CO2 each year. A new guide, supported by the Mayor’s office and the Frieze Art Fair, aims to reduce that figure. Julie’s Bicycle ran Frieze’s first carbon audit in 2007 and identified its diesel generators as a major source of emissions. It now runs on 100% recycled vegetable oil biodiesel, reducing the Fair’s carbon footprint by 60%. Matthew Slotover, Co-Director of Frieze Art Fair, hopes that the guide will help others to do the same.
http://www.london.gov.uk/green-visual-arts

OOPS! In AP227 we mistakenly attributed the report
‘Arts Funding in a Cooler Climate’ to John Holden.
It was written by Martin Smith.