Category Archives: Arts Council England

Joanna Scanlan among actors backing gender equality push in theatre

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Women in Theatre Lab will act as incubator for playwriting and acting talent and address gender inequality

Gemma Arterton, Joanna Scanlan and Stella Kanu are some of the figures backing an initiative to promote women in the theatre, who are being overlooked across the industry, according to the project’s founder.

Women in Theatre Lab will primarily act as an incubator for playwriting and acting talent. Its founder, Jennifer Tuckett, said the group would also put pressure on Arts Council England (ACE) to launch a review of gender inequality across the arts.

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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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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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Export ban on Coleridge anti-slavery manuscript as British buyer sought

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Handwritten poem in Greek from his undergraduate years has recommended sale price of £20,400

A handwritten manuscript containing a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge railing against the slave trade has been temporarily barred from leaving the UK in the hope that a British buyer can be found.

The poem, written in Greek by Coleridge across six mottled pages, attacks the horrors of slavery and condemns those who overlooked the conditions of enslaved people on the Middle Passage transportation route in the late 18th century.

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English National Opera to receive £11.46m from Arts Council England

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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”.

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Tory MPs balk at ‘patronising’ bid to rebrand culture funding

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Revolt over ‘levelling up’ label on Arts Council cash for established institutions, while projects for disadvantaged children are cut

A Tory revolt has emerged over “patronising” claims that funding for established cultural institutions contributes to the government’s levelling up pledge, amid concerns from ministers and MPs that “real levelling up” projects for the underprivileged have been slashed.

Rishi Sunak is expected to be confronted this week over the issue during prime minister’s questions.

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‘We needed to rescue the nation from despair’: culture’s year of Covid

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Comedians went virtual, Ai Weiwei went to Portugal – and Bake Off pledged the show would go on. In the first of a two-part series, cultural figures look back on a year that shook their industry

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Covid-19 prompts all major British theatres to close doors

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Fifty London theatres and 250 throughout UK to close, says industry body

All major British theatre will cease and several cultural institutions will close or postpone shows as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK’s arts and culture sector grows following the government’s call for “drastic action” to halt its spread.

The Society of London Theatre (Solt) and UK Theatre, the industry body that represents nearly every British theatre, announced that, as of Monday night, all its members would close their doors. The groups represent about 50 London theatres and almost 250 others throughout the UK.

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