Category Archives: Arts funding

Looming crisis for NSW’s regional galleries averted with $15.4m in state arts funding

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Labor announced on Thursday Create NSW’s Arts and Cultural Funding Program will provide financial assistance for 62 organisations statewide

Arts organisations and galleries across New South Wales have voiced their relief after the state government announced $15.4m funding over two years, allaying worries of a looming crisis for NSW’s regional galleries.

Sixty-two arts organisations across NSW will receive $15.4m funding for the next two years through Create NSW’s Arts and Cultural Funding Program (ACFP), the state government announced on Thursday, with $7.5m going to 31 regional arts organisations, including 10 regional galleries.

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Notting Hill carnival came ‘very close’ to not happening, says chair in funding appeal

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Ian Comfort calls for government to recognise cultural importance of event and guarantee its sustainable future

About 2 million people are expected to take to the streets this weekend at the annual Notting Hill carnival for its mix of music, food and Caribbean culture, but for the man who runs it, there is a sense of relief to see it taking place at all.

The chair of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, Ian Comfort, told the Guardian that the event needed to secure a sustainable future after a year of funding rows, public disagreements with the Met police, and negative press after violence last year.

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Netherlands museum rethinks lending works to US amid Trump arts cuts

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Mauritshuis in The Hague says guarantees would be needed of artworks’ safety amid uncertainty caused by US funding cuts

A leading museum in the Netherlands has said it is reconsidering lending works from its collection to museums in the US amid the uncertainty wreaked by Donald Trump’s funding cuts and ideological impositions.

Martine Gosselink, the director of the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, whose collection includes Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, said the turmoil had left her team wary of lending pieces to the US.

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Lesley Manville calls for better funding for UK regional theatre

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Actor, who won an Olivier for Oedipus, says her ‘bugbear’ is that venues outside London do not get enough money

Lesley Manville has called for better funding for theatres around the UK, saying her biggest “bugbear” with the stage industry was “there is not enough money thrown into regional theatre”.

Manville was speaking on Sunday night at the Olivier awards in London, where she was named best actress for her performance as Jocasta in Oedipus at Wyndham’s theatre.

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Lesley Manville calls for better funding for UK regional theatre

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Actor, who won an Olivier for Oedipus, says her ‘bugbear’ is that venues outside London do not get enough money

Lesley Manville has called for better funding for theatres around the UK, saying her biggest “bugbear” with the stage industry was “there is not enough money thrown into regional theatre”.

Manville was speaking on Sunday night at the Olivier awards in London, where she was named best actress for her performance as Jocasta in Oedipus at Wyndham’s theatre.

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US arts funding agency sued over Trump order targeting LGBTQ+ projects

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Groups sue National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) after president bars funds for promotion of ‘gender ideology’

Several arts organizations are suing the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) over its new requirements following Donald Trump’s executive order barring the use of federal funds for the promotion of “gender ideology”.

The groups, which are seeking funding for projects that support art about or are made by transgender and non-binary people, say they have in effect been unconstitutionally blocked from receiving grants from the agency that was built to promote artistic excellence, despite having received funds for similar projects in the past.

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Wales trails behind most European countries in arts and sports funding, report finds

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Cross-party Senedd report finds Wales is third from bottom in spending on culture and sports, with Iceland biggest spender

It is known as the land of song and as one of the world’s most passionate sporting nations.

But a report has concluded that despite its proud heritage, Wales is languishing behind almost all other European countries in terms of spending on recreational, sporting and cultural services.

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Protests held on stage at Edinburgh festival over Scottish arts funding cuts

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Anger grows over proposed cuts of up to £10m for Creative Scotland affecting freelance artists and performers

Actors and directors have protested on stage during the Edinburgh festival after anger about proposed cuts to Scottish arts funding escalated into open revolt.

Protest messages were read out after performances, including at the Traverse, Lyceum, George Square, Summerhall and Church Hill theatres, to loud applause from audiences, as thousands of artists and performers signed an open letter calling for the cuts to be reversed.

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Dreams and jobs slowly fade away as Bristol bears brunt of arts cuts

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In the shadow culture minister’s seat, there is a degree of hope a Labour government might bring change

“I felt like Bristol was one of the best places in the country to make theatre,” says writer and performer Amy Mason, who’s lived in Bristol for most of her life. “It was quite punk. It was this very well organised, inclusive and active system of getting work on stage. People could make a living out of theatre.”

Mason left school at 16 and worked in retail, but a community theatre project not far from the colourful house we’re sitting in on the edge of the city offered her the chance to attend a playwright workshop and put on a small show. “They liked it, they gave me a commission, I was like: Oh my God, I could be a writer!” From there, she started writing short stories, went on to stage three shows with Bristol Old Vic, and has grown a career as a TV writer and standup comedian.

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Ron DeSantis strips more than $32m in Florida arts funding

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Political allies are also surprised at move, which cancels nearly entirety of state’s funding and will affect economy

Ron DeSantis stripped more than $32m in arts and culture funding from Florida’s state budget over his hatred of a popular fringe festival that he accused of being “a sexual event”, critics of the rightwing governor say.

DeSantis justified his unprecedented, wide-ranging veto of grants to almost 700 groups and organizations by saying it was “inappropriate” for $7,369 of state money to be allocated to Tampa fringe, a 10-day festival that took place earlier this month with a strong message of inclusivity, and its sister event in Orlando.

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ACE’s ‘political statements’ warning to artists came after government talks

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Exclusive: FoI request reveals Arts Council updated guidance after discussing Gaza conflict with DCMS

Arts Council England (ACE) issued a warning that “political statements” could break funding agreements after discussions with the government about artists speaking out over the Israel-Gaza war, newly released documents suggest.

A freedom of information request made by the actors’ union Equity has revealed that the conflict was discussed in a meeting between ACE and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in December.

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Arts Council England mired in row over ‘political statements’ warning

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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.

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‘A national emergency’: UK theatres fear closure after more local funding cuts

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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.

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Self-insemination artist ‘vindicated’ after settling legal case over withdrawn Australian government funding

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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.

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Vogue World to donate £2m to London-based arts organisations

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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.

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‘It’s like a hostile environment’: London’s creative core at risk as artists in poverty quit

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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.

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UK government to invest in film and TV AI special-effects research

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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.

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ENO chief says Liverpool and Manchester ‘strong contenders’ for new home

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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.

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Newcastle’s Side Gallery to close after funding cuts and energy bills rise

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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.

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Christopher Eccleston: it would be impossible for me to become an actor today

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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.

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