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...Windsor and Maidenhead scraps cultural budget in wake of similar moves in Suffolk, Bristol, Nottingham and Birmingham
The chill blast of damaging cuts to provincial arts venues has returned to Berkshire this weekend as the cash-strapped local authority becomes the latest to scrap its cultural budget.
Local MP and former prime minister Theresa May was among those to salute a reprieve back in February. But theatre lovers in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead now fear their venues are in jeopardy again, since no cultural funds appear in the next budget.
Continue reading...Peak arts body Creative Australia agrees to extraordinary acknowledgment and six-figure payment in settlement with Casey Jenkins
A performance artist who had federal government funding cancelled after a backlash against a work involving their self-insemination says the national arts advisory body is still being run by the people who led the “ridiculous charge” against them.
Casey Jenkins has settled a federal court case against the Australia Council, now known as Creative Australia, for withdrawing $25,000 in funding for the exhibition Immaculate, in which they intended to livestream their monthly attempts to become pregnant.
Continue reading...National Theatre and Royal Ballet among 21 groups to receive grants from new fund
Vogue World will donate £2m to London-based arts organisations through a newly established fund, Condé Nast has announced.
The star-studded event at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Thursday night was masterminded by the Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, and the Bafta- and Olivier-winning director Stephen Daldry. Its aim was to celebrate London’s heritage as a cultural powerhouse and to raise money for the UK’s cash-strapped performing arts scene.
Continue reading...UK capital as ‘huge generator of wealth’ under threat as a third of visual artists struggle to pay for studios
What makes Britain’s capital city so magnetic? Familiar landmarks? The nightlife? Or its financial, fashion and art trades? Maybe. But behind the glamour and money a network of artists is giving London the crucial appeal of a place where new things happen, while working on the edge of poverty.
A survey released on 13 July is to reveal just how close many of London’s visual artists are to giving up on a career that has pushed them to the bottom of the pile. Close to a third of those asked said lack of funds might force them out within five years. And just under half said they cannot afford to build savings or pay into a pension plan.
Continue reading...Almost £150m to be spent on research labs to help future-proof industry and lift creative economy
Ministers are seeking to future-proof the UK’s multibillion-pound film and TV production industry by investing almost £150m in a network of research labs across the country tasked with developing the next generation of special effects using tech such as artificial intelligence.
The scheme aims to build on Britain’s reputation for producing hi-tech hits from Star Wars to Harry Potter, and is part of wide-ranging plans to drive the UK creative economy. The government has earmarked millions to support grassroots music venues hammered by the Covid pandemic, and is tripling a fund designed to find and support the next generation of homegrown superstars like Adele and Ed Sheeran.
Continue reading...Stuart Murphy says other cities in running but stresses chances of either northern city hosting opera company
Liverpool and Manchester are “really strong contenders” to be the new home of the English National Opera (ENO), its chief executive has said, after the cultural body was forced to leave London.
Stuart Murphy, who steps down later this year, said three potential bases would be selected by the end of May and a winner chosen by the end of this year.
Continue reading...Photography space that inspired Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall launches fundraising campaign with aim of reopening in 2024
A small and much-loved photography gallery that has punched well above its size for more than 45 years will close this weekend because of funding cuts and cost-of-living pressures.
The Side Gallery, near the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, was opened in 1977 by a collective championing positive images of working-class life.
Continue reading...Theatres such as now-closed Oldham Coliseum vital for northern working-class people, says actor
Christopher Eccleston has said it would be impossible for him to become an actor in today’s world, in an impassioned interview after the closure of Oldham’s Coliseum theatre.
The British actor spoke about how the closure of the historic theatre would affect the acting community and people from working-class backgrounds.
Continue reading...Exclusive: report describes culture of low fees and exploitation as research finds median hourly rate of £2.60 an hour
Artists working in the public sector are struggling to stay afloat amid a culture of low fees, unpaid labour and systemic exploitation, research shows.
A survey of people engaged by everything from flagship galleries to smaller projects found an overall median hourly rate of £2.60 an hour, dramatically below the UK minimum wage of £9.50.
Continue reading...Exclusive: head of Aardman studio blames Brexit as UK falls behind on skills and tax relief
The head of Aardman, the Oscar-winning British studio behind Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, has warned that the nation’s animation productions for children’s television will have to be made overseas because acute challenges are taking their toll on the UK sector.
Sean Clarke, Aardman’s managing director, said the company is struggling with everything from serious competition from other countries on tax relief to a dire skills shortage.
Continue reading...Launched by Anthony Albanese at Melbourne live music pub the Espy, the policy offers welcome support for the beleaguered industry
Australia’s arts industry has welcomed the federal government’s $300m national cultural policy Revive, which was launched on Monday by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
Albanese described it as a comprehensive and inclusive way to enhance the lives of all Australians, “from the gallery, to the mosh pit, to your favourite reading chair”. While most of the major policies were released over the weekend, the official launch, held at Melbourne live music venue the Esplanade, revealed a few more details, such as the establishment of a national poet laureate – a position Australia has not had since the convict era – and the commitment to deliver a state of culture report every three years, similar to the government-issued state of the environment report.
Continue reading...Investment will sustain its work in London for another year after ENO was removed from ACE’s national portfolio
The English National Opera (ENO) has announced it will receive an £11.46m investment from Arts Council England (ACE) to sustain its work in London for another year.
The ENO is one of a number of organisations that have been removed from ACE’s national portfolio, losing its £12.8m annual grant and told it must move outside London if it wants to qualify for future grants. ENO chiefs have said the 100% funding cut would decimate the 100-year old company, while many big names across the arts world called the decision a “simplistic move”.
Continue reading...The ultimatum to English National Opera was attacked as ‘cultural vandalism’, but raised some hopes nearer Manchester
When the Arts Council halved English National Opera’s funding earlier this month and made its new £17m grant contingent on the company leaving London – possibly for Manchester – the diktat was greeted as “madness” by the London Evening Standard, “cultural vandalism” by Melvyn Bragg and an order which would kill off the institution by April by the company’s chair, Harry Brünjes.
The battle over ENO’s future soon became the latest frontline in the culture wars as debate raged over what it meant to “level up” culture.
Continue reading...Branch Hill pond dried up in the 1880s. Now it will teem with wildlife again, as it did in the artist’s heyday
It was a view that John Constable sketched and painted dozens of times. From the top of Hampstead Heath, London’s highest point at 134 metres (440ft), the artist would look west and north towards today’s suburbs of Willesden, Edgware and Harrow. About 100 metres away, down below, was a beautiful natural pond.
But in the 1880s, Branch Hill pond dried up. Now, nearly two centuries after Constable immortalised on canvas his favourite landscape in the capital, the pond has been recreated.
Continue reading...Lawyers for Casey Jenkins, who alleges council’s withdrawal of funding was discriminatory, says ‘security for costs’ order is ‘cynical’
The Australia Council is attempting to get a court order that may force an artist to stump up a down payment on its sizeable legal costs, in a two-year court battle over the national arts funding body dropping its support for a performance documenting self-insemination.
Lawyers for the performance artist Casey Jenkins told the federal court the council’s application for a “security for costs” order appeared to be based on a cynical and misguided premise, and the body was covered by commonwealth government insurance to fight the case.
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Continue reading...Ways With Words, the organisers of Words by the Water in Keswick, say low ticket sales mean it is not viable to run next year’s event
Ways With Words, which runs literary festivals in the Lake District, Suffolk and Devon, has cancelled its forthcoming festival, saying it is not “currently viable” because of the UK’s cost of living crisis.
The organisation had been due to put on Words by the Water, a 10-day event in Keswick, in March 2023. But after experiencing low ticket sales for its festival in Dartington, Devon, in July this year, the decision was made to cancel the Lake District gathering and cease planning events for the foreseeable future.
Continue reading...Royalties company PRS for Music has announced a major funding cut for its charitable arm. Artists such as Black Country, New Road explain why it could damage the UK music scene
One of the UK’s biggest funders of new and emerging music, responsible for fostering the careers of artists including Sam Fender, Little Simz and 2021 Mercury prize winner Arlo Parks, has this week seen its budget slashed by 60%.
The PRS Foundation, which funds hundreds of aspiring artists and music organisations across the country – including a number of artists from groups underrepresented in the music industry – announced on Wednesday that its income would be cut from £2.75m to £1m from 2024 onwards, citing financial necessity. The decision was taken by its parent company and primary funder PRS for Music, which collects royalties for musicians when their music is streamed or played in public.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Maria Adonyeva, who gave arts centre at least £380,000, also steps down as Tate patron
The wife of a Russian businessman who at one stage pleaded guilty to defrauding the Kazakh government out of $4m (£3m) has stepped down as a patron of the Tate and from a prestigious advisory board at Somerset House, where she was a major donor.
Maria Adonyeva, who has a London-based charitable foundation and has been pictured as recently as 2018 on her husband’s yacht with close friends, including the actor Melanie Griffith, has given at least £380,000 in the past two years to Somerset House, where she sat on the arts centre’s development advisory board.
Continue reading...Award-winning artist Maqbool Jan is one of a handful still practising the ancient artform, but without government help he fears it could be lost
Kashmir’s ancient papier-mache artworks are famous throughout the world. The art form is a staple of the luxury ornamental market, and has a rich and long cultural lineage. It is closely associated with the advent of Islam in Kashmir, and depicts scenes from the Mughal court, Arabic verses from the Qu’ran, Persian poetry, as well as Kashmir’s iconic tourist attractions.
However, this ancient art form is vanishing, with only a handful of artisans left practising.
Continue reading...