That's the goal of the Arts Council. Achieving great art for everyone. I'm just not sure that they can do it. The good news is that we still have an Arts Council. The bad news is that it exists now to implement cuts.

On the back of a 29.6% cut to the budget announced as part of the Government’s Spending Review what was once £449m will be £349m by ( Read more... )

I am still feeling poorly and still feel very queasy and not really able to eat food.
This means I will be unable to go to Brighton Below this weekend, which is miserable, as I had been looking forward to a bit of a break.

On the plus side, this made me smile:

Bee required for Dance Workshops - Newcastle

This is the kind of thing we can expect to see ( Read more... )

queenspanky asked me to do this, after I whinged on the subject of how arts policy wasn't the hottest topic in town. I thought it was a fair cop, so have put my text where my mouth is and done some research on where the different parties lie on arts, specifically theatre. Part of my problem is with the inherent set up of arts policy within the UK. In that we ( Read more... )

They arrived this morning, ladies and gents - the good people of Magnet Theatre, flying in from a late summer in South Africa to our depressed little island. Lights are going up, red sand has arrived from Argos, set is being taken out of its shipping crates. They open on Wednesday. I haven't been this excited by a show in a long time.

They will be ( Read more... )

Yes. It is snowing.
Yes, the show is going on.

Come along and see us!

*poke*
*poke*
*poke*

So, the lovely ladies in our Arts Ed department have been working with Highshore School on a joint project. I've just been into the auditorium to witness the results, along with some other school kids and parents. There was narry a Star of Bethlehem nor Baby Jesus in sight and I can't remember another school show that I have ever seen that actually ( Read more... )

Of all the places that one might find an article suggesting that the Arts Council should be trimmed, Liberal Conspiracy was the last place I'd look. And yet, there it is. I'm angry. Not just at the tripe splurged on the page by someone with the artistic understanding of a block of tesco value chedder, I'm angry at the tone of the piece, I'm angry ( Read more... )

Some of you might be interested in this. We've published two new pieces of work (free to download, but if you want to support us please buy a copy!) on our work with young refugees. It's one of those times that makes me realise that we really do makes a genuine difference.

It's not all jumping around and playing Zip, Zap, Boing you know...

Hmmm. It is very wet outside. Wet weather is bad for theatres because they tend to be draughty and leaky. I've been prowling around examining potentially leaky areas and glaring at them in the hopes of cowering them into submission. This is because roofers are expensive and we have no monies.

Our Technical Manager returned back from hols today, ( Read more... )

First time back on the internet in ages (mobile internet does not count)  - has anything happened? Edinburgh was marvellous although horribly, horribly damp. It rained a lot, pretty much from arrival in Haymarket to departure, my feet took a long time to dry and I spent a lot of my time in jeans that were soggy to the knee. I should have remembered ( Read more... )