A Drama and Theatre Manifesto is being developed by the National Campaign for the Arts and a number of other stakeholders. It aims to increase the opportunities for children and young people to engage with drama and the theatre, and to ‘catch up’ with other artforms. A feasibility study has been produced and circulated across the drama and theatre sector, and a steering group is currently being elected to create an action plan.
Two organisations have fallen victim to “a very challenging financial and economic period” already this year, and been forced to close. The KUBE gallery will close at the end of the month, following funding difficulties associated with the decision of Bournemouth and Poole College to withdraw revenue support. ArtsMatrix, the skills and enterprise development agency for the South West, has ceased trading and is seeking advice to place the company into voluntary liquidation. A ‘Save the KUBE’ campaign has been launched by local artists, and can be found on Facebook.
The Australia Council has developed a set of resources to help arts organisations define and assess artistic vibrancy. The toolkit is aimed at organisations that are struggling to find meaningful ways to evaluate their artistic impact, and to help funding agencies find ways of assessing artistic merit which go beyond box ticking.http://bit.ly/6ndo8i
A new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between the British Council and Arts Council England (ACE). The MOU defines areas in which ACE and the British Council can work more closely together and recognises that the two organisations cover some of the same ground.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-ace-mou
The Dutch Ministry of Interior has taken permanent custody of exhibits on display at Tate Modern, on behalf of the Dutch Secret Service (AIVD). Jill Magid was commissioned by AIVD to “find the human face of the organisation”, but AIVD decided that Magid’s work revealed too much information, and made redactions a condition of the exhibition. After the exhibition, ‘Authority to remove’ had opened, some parts of it were confiscated.
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern
The recipients of Arts Council England, London’s Older People Development Fund have been announced. The one-off fund of £34,092 aims to highlight the role the arts can play in the lives of older people. Organisations receiving funding include Akademi, which will work in care homes; Greenwich Dance Agency, which will offer dance sessions (pictured); and various projects working with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk
The National Galleries of Scotland has been in discussion with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) following RBS’s decision to make its art collection available to the public. A pilot scheme has also been proposed, to place items from the collection in hospices, hospitals and other healthcare buildings across the country.
http://www.nationalgalleries.org
A set of free guidelines to help artists and commissioners consider how to be more sustainable has been launched by Chrysalis Arts. The Public Art Sustainability Assessment is an online assessment tool which aims to promote sustainable practice in public art.
http://www.pasaguidelines.org
Arts Council England has published two reports on new writing in theatre: one focuses on new writing for small-scale theatre, and the other looks at new writing on the English stage between 2003 and 2009.
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk
Work has begun on the new £10m Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Art (LICA). LICA will house Lancaster University’s Art, Design, Music and Theatre Studies departments, as well as the Peter Scott Gallery, the Nuffield Theatre and the International Concert Series. The building is due to open in September.
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/estates/projects