News

A Spanish language theatre in London has closed due to “a lack of financial support".

Performing in English and Spanish, the Cervantes Theatre showcased works by Spanish and South American artists. Since opening in Southwark in 2016, the venue has staged over 100 events, including theatre productions and concerts, and has been attended by over 11,000 Spanish students.

The company’s founders and directors, Jorge de Juan and Paula Paz, announced on 11 September that the 100-seat performance space “has to close its doors due to lack of financial support” with immediate effect. 

They said: “We have worked endlessly, we have lifted this project on our shoulders. Unfortunately, it has not been enough.

“The Cervantes Theatre needed fundamental institutional support that fell through. Like many other cultural institutions in the United Kingdom, we are in such a fragile state that any change or delay in funding can be deadly.”

In its most recent accounts, the Spanish Theatre Company, the charity that ran the Cervantes Theatre, said it “heavily relies” on public grants to fund its operations, mostly received from public bodies associated with the Spanish government. 

The accounts noted: “Given the climate of political instability in Spain, there is a concern among trustees and directors regarding the likelihood of receiving these grants from the Spanish government in 2024, and their timing. This represents a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

In 2022, the charity’s income from charitable activities totalled £62,063, derived entirely from Arts Council England, but it received nothing from the funding body in 2023, reporting a drop in grant income to £37,156.
 

Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester has cancelled all performances of its production of A Midsummer Night's Dream after “a number of issues”.

Due to run from 12 September to 12 October, the production, set in the “vibrant tapestry of Manchester’s contemporary rave scene”, was initially postponed due to “ongoing technical reasons”.

Manchester Evening News also reported that an injury to a cast member contributed to the decision.

In an email to ticket holders offering them a refund, the Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation said, "There have been a number of issues with the production.

"Every effort was made to get the show on. We apologise to all customers who had bought tickets and will issue immediate refunds."
 

A digital platform that will bring together more than 100 million object records from 1,750 accredited museums and other collections across the UK has launched today (13 September).

Created through a collaboration between Art UK, Collections Trust and the University of Leicester and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Museum Data Service (MDS) is a single, unified resource for researchers, educators, curators and content developers.

Allowing organisations to upload and securely manage their object records easily, MDS has been designed to be accessible for all museums, regardless of size, while making it easy for users to search and retrieve records across multiple collections and diverse databases.

The platform will also be a backup resource, especially for smaller collections lacking robust digital infrastructures.

MDS is primarily designed for institutional use and does not include images, but it allows onward users to incorporate visual content.

Its initial collection will comprise 3,129,798 records from 21 museums, with another nearly two million records in the pipeline. Art UK, the first major user of MDS, aims to double the number of artworks on the platform from 300,000 to 600,000 by the end of the year.

"The launch of the Museum Data Service is a landmark achievement for the cultural and academic sectors, offering a powerful new tool for researchers and curators," said Professor Nishan Canagarajah, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester. 

"By centralising millions of museum records in one accessible platform, we are not just preserving history, we are making it easier to explore, study and innovate."

Kevin Gosling, MDS Managing Director, added: “The website view of the data is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more going on in the back end, with innovative features that allow museums to manage their data securely and share it in a controlled way. Building trust across the sector is key, and the MDS is designed with that in mind.”

Professor Christopher Smith, Chair of the AHRC, said: “This major milestone in the full integration of modern technology and our rich cultural heritage will create a place where anyone can access the immense resources held by our museums.

“Not only will this open these resources up to the public in ways that would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago, but it will also enable museums to manage and share their data securely and sustainably."

Arts Council England has opened the application process for the next three-year round of its Creative People and Places funding programme, which focuses on parts of the country where involvement in creativity and culture is significantly below the national average.

Groups of organisations in 142 previously announced locations are eligible to apply for between £750,000 and £1m for the funding period.

The application process opened today (12 September) on Grantium with a deadline of midday on 16 January 2025.

ACE previously extended its 2022-25 Creative People and Places (CPP) for one year in response to "challenges facing organisations following the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living".

A collection of artefacts of significant cultural importance to the Aboriginal Warumungu Community in Australia's Northern Territory have been returned by the Horniman Museum in London.

The items, including a Wurtil (water carrier), Ngurrulumuru (pick), Marttans (knives), Murkutu (sheath), Warnanja (axe) and Wartilykirri (hooked boomerangs), were returned on Wednesday (11 September) at a formal handover ceremony at the museum.

​The Horniman said the return took place after a formal request for the Warumungu materials was received on 3 May 2023.

Michael Jones Jampijinpa, Senior Warumungu Elder, said: “Because it’s been taken away from here, we would like to see all those things come back to the area where they were collected. 

"They are Warumungu and they need to come back to Warumungu country. I want to thank them [Horniman Museum] for sending those things back to us. They’ve made a choice to send them back to where they belong. 

"It wasn’t them who collected it, it was their ancestors, so I want to thank them.”

​Michael Salter-Church, Chair of the Horniman Museum and Gardens, said the return of the objects will support the passing on of Warumungu culture and lore to future generations. 

"The trustees of the Horniman Museum and Gardens are very pleased to enable their return and are honoured to welcome community elders to Forest Hill for the ceremony. 

"Throughout the return process, the Horniman has enjoyed a warm and collaborative relationship with all representatives from Australia. We look forward to continuing this into the future as we connect our visitors and community with global cultures and the natural environment, encouraging us to shape a positive future for the world we all share."

The General Secretary of performers' union Equity has urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to forget the creative industries in his plans for a “decade of national renewal”.

Speaking to Left Foot Forward at the TUC congress, Paul W Fleming said: “If a decade of national renewal doesn’t include an industrial plan for the creative industries, then there’s not going to be a decade of national renewal.”  

To do this, Fleming said Labour would need to "return arts funding to where it was".

“We do creative industries very, very well," he said.

"We’re the second largest producer of film and TV in the world. We’re the second largest producer of video games in the world.

"Creative industries are worth more to the economy than banking. Without a sectoral plan and without an industrial strategy, we’re not going to maximise the potential.”