Robert Macfarlane, Feargal Sharkey and Matt Haig are among artists to react with fury to message about funding risks
Artists, writers and musicians have reacted with fury to an Arts Council England (ACE) warning that “political statements” could break funding agreements.
In a series of updates recently made to its policies, ACE advised the organisations it funds to be wary of “overtly political or activist” statements made in a personal capacity by people linked to them.
Continue reading...Carved wooden figure at Venice Biennale aims to spark debate about colonial blindspots in the art world
A statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during a 1930s uprising in the Congo will go on display at the Dutch pavilion of this year’s Venice Biennale, seeking to spark a debate about colonial blindspots in the art world – and the Belgian pavilion next door.
The carved wooden figure of colonial administrator Maximilien Balot will not be physically present at the world’s largest art event: a screen will show a livestream from a gallery in Lusanga, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the artefact will be on display for the six-month duration of the festival.
Continue reading...R&B superstar married Jenn Goicoechea, his partner since 2019, at Vegas Weddings hours after half-time headline appearance
Usher and his longtime partner Jenn Goicoechea married in Las Vegas just hours after the R&B superstar’s headline appearance at the Super Bowl half-time show, according to officials and documents.
The officiant who wed the pair is known to dress as an Elvis Presley impersonator.
Continue reading...Popular British comedy ended in 2019 with unanswered marriage proposal
The beloved British TV sitcom Gavin and Stacey is reportedly set to return to the BBC for a Christmas special, five years on from a dramatic cliffhanger, according to reports.
Created by James Corden and Ruth Jones, the comedy followed the two titular characters, played by Matthew Horne and Joanna Page, as they pursued a relationship across Essex and Wales.
Continue reading...Rijksmuseum director general makes plea for artwork taken from Leerdam in August 2020 before new exhibition in Amsterdam
The director general of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has appealed for the return of a stolen Frans Hals painting as he prepares to open a major exhibition devoted to the Dutch master without the “amazing” €15m artwork.
Two Laughing Boys With a Mug of Beer was stolen from the Museum Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden in the Dutch town of Leerdam in August 2020. Unlike a Van Gogh painting believed to have been taken by the same gang and recovered last year, the Hals appears to have vanished into the criminal world.
Continue reading...Writers including Roxane Gay have called on the organisation to ‘wake up from its silent, tepid, self-congratulatory middle of the road and take a stand’
An open letter from writers and literary professionals to PEN America calling on the organisation to take a stronger stance on the Israel-Gaza war has reached more than 500 signatories, including writers Roxane Gay, Maaza Mengiste and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.
The letter, dated 3 February but still open to signatures, condemns PEN America for being “silent” about “Palestinian journalists, writers, and poets murdered by Israel” outside of “press releases buried on its website”.
Continue reading...British Land and AustraliaSuper want to create cultural venue that will include offices and shops
Printworks London, the 6,000-capacity post-industrial superclub, could reopen by 2026 after property developers that own the site filed their plans to Southwark council.
British Land and its partner AustralianSuper, one of the country’s largest pension funds, submitted a detailed proposal to the council on Monday to redevelop the site in Rotherhithe into a permanent cultural venue just over a year after the cavernous club shut its doors.
Continue reading...Audiences should be ‘shocked and disturbed’ by the impact of theatre, says Schindler’s List and Harry Potter actor
Trigger warnings for theatre audiences should be scrapped because people should be “shocked and disturbed” by what they see, the actor Ralph Fiennes has said.
The warnings are issued before the beginning of a performance to alert audiences to upsetting or distressing content and have become increasingly commonplace in theatres.
Continue reading...Will Stewart’s satire still cut through in a post-pandemic world of disinformation, polarisation and fragmented media?
Barack Obama was US president. Britain was a lynchpin of the European Union. Harvey Weinstein was a powerful movie mogul. Meghan Markle was starring in Suits. “TikTok” did not mean anything and fake news meant a satirical TV program with pretend reporters.
That was the world Jon Stewart left behind when he hosted his last episode of The Daily Show on the Comedy Central network on 6 August 2015, denying a legion of fans his lacerating take on the election, presidency, impeachment, defeat, impeachment again and comeback of Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Cake depicts Swift wearing a sweatshirt of the Kansas City Chiefs – her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team
A baker who has created a lifesize Taylor Swift cake for Sunday’s Super Bowl said it was the “perfect opportunity” to finally get around to making it.
The cake sculpture by Lara Mason, from Walsall in the West Midlands, has racked up more than 3m views on TikTok.
Continue reading...Tributes paid to 66-year-old musician after Hertfordshire police confirmed he died in collision last week
The bassist Derrick McIntyre, who was part of the band Jamiroquai and lent his strings to songs by Emeli Sandé, Will Young and Beverly Knight, has died in a car crash aged 66.
Tributes have been paid to the musician after Hertfordshire police confirmed that McIntyre died in a collision involving five cars on 2 February. Police said McIntyre died at the scene and that two people were taken to hospital.
Continue reading...Critics say dance event sends message that ‘Christians do not take their faith or their holy places seriously’
From south London’s Ministry of Sound to Ibiza’s legendary superclub Pacha, everyone has a favourite venue for dancing the night away. And now a rave in the nave may be about to join that illustrious list.
More than 3,000 people were expected to take to the floor across four sessions of Canterbury Cathedral’s 90s silent disco to dance to the likes of the Spice Girls, Vengaboys and Eminem, in an event that officials hope will serve to attract a new generation of worshippers to the building’s hallowed cloisters.
Continue reading...Guinness World Records initially said 7.2-metre structure made from more than 700,000 matches broke rules
A man has been awarded the Guinness world record for creating the tallest structure using matchsticks, after his Eiffel Tower replica was initially rejected.
Richard Plaud, from France, said he had been on an “emotional rollercoaster” this week, after spending 4,200 hours building his model from more than 706,000 matches and 23kg of glue. “For eight years, I’ve always thought that I was building the tallest matchstick structure,” he said.
Continue reading...Group known for hits like It’s a Shame and Could It Be I’m Falling in Love were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023
Henry Fambrough, the last surviving original member of the iconic R&B group the Spinners, whose hits included It’s a Shame, Could It Be I’m Falling in Love and The Rubberband Man, died on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the group said. He was 85.
Fambrough died peacefully of natural causes in his northern Virginia home, the spokesperson, Tanisha Jackson, said in a statement.
Continue reading...Australian artist Archie Moore will draw from his personal history – and databases including Guardian Australia’s Deaths Inside – to create a ‘site for quiet reflection’
Queensland-based artist Archie Moore has unveiled his intention for Australia’s national pavilion at the Venice Biennale in April: to transform it into an examination of the impact of colonisation and incarceration on the country’s First Peoples and a celebration of their resilience.
Moore is only the second First Nations artist to make a solo presentation in the 25-year history of Venice’s Australian pavilion, following Tracey Moffatt in 2017. While key details of the exhibition were still being kept under wraps at the press briefing on Thursday, Moore said in a statement that his exhibition – titled kith and kin – would be a “site for quiet reflection and remembrance”. It will draw on his Kamilaroi, Bigambul, British and Scottish heritage and present his family story as a distillation of Australia’s 254-year colonial history.
Continue reading...London MC wins best male and song of the year, while Potter Payper beats stiff competition to win album of the year
Central Cee has topped the winners at the 2024 Mobo awards, winning best male for the second year in a row, and best song for Sprinter, his collaborative track with Dave, that dominated the summer months with a 10-week run at No 1.
Elsewhere the awards, which celebrate black musical artistry in the UK and globally, spread the garlands across a diverse range of music, with no one artist dominating.
Continue reading...Public opinion divided over lyrics to Zorra, usually used to mean ‘bitch’, by electropop duo Nebulossa
It has been criticised by some as insulting to women, but hailed by the prime minister as provocative – in a good way.
Days after Spain selected its entry for this year’s Eurovision song contest, the electropop tune Zorra has rocketed to the top of the country’s music charts and divided public opinion.
Continue reading...Rappers entered breakfast market with Snoop Cereal in 2023, and allege conspiracy between manufacturer Post Consumer Brands and supermarket chain Walmart to ‘choke’ startup brand
Rappers Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing US supermarket chain Walmart and food manufacturer Post Consumer Brands, claiming that the two companies conspired to sabotage the success of the pair’s new breakfast cereal enterprise.
Snoop Cereal launched last summer, with Master P hailing parent company Broadus Foods as the first Black-owned cereal company in the US: “This has been going on for over 100 years, that we’ve been consumers and never owners, so we’re changing that game.” The rappers partnered with Post to produce the cereal itself.
Continue reading...Investigation under way as unidentified worker dies after falling from the rafters at CBS Radford Studios
A crew member on the upcoming Marvel TV series Wonder Man has died following an on-set accident.
The unidentified worker, a rigger at CBS Radford Studios, died after falling from the rafters on Tuesday morning. The accident did not occur during filming, but the rigger was working on the set of the Marvel television series, which resumed production in January after several strike-related delays.
Continue reading...Actors say non-specific categories benefit men as industry still offers them more interesting roles
The Flemish film and television awards are facing calls to temporarily do away with gender-neutral categories amid concerns that the switch has left women routinely shut out of the top awards.
At the Ensors awards on Saturday male actors cleaned up the categories for best lead and supporting actors. It was an echo of 2022 – the first year that the awards ceremony axed gendered categories – when men also walked away with each of the four awards recognising the best actors.
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