News

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has been gifted £1m from American playwright Ken Ludwig, the largest private donation in the trust’s 177-year history.

The trust has described the donation as “transformative”, adding it will go towards conservation works at Grade-I listed building Hall’s Croft, once home to Shakespeare’s daughter.

An audit of the conservation requirements of the 17th Century property is currently ongoing, with University of Staffordshire archaeologists mapping the building’s exterior to create a 3D model of the building.

“Our conservation work is a central part of our work as a charity and it enables our visitors and audiences to place Shakespeare in time and space as they explore his life story and his work, which continues to speak with profound meaning and relevance today,” said Tim Cooke, CEO of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

“Shakespeare is the great foundation for all of us who work in the theatre, and it's an honour to support the preservation of Shakespeare's legacy in Stratford-upon-Avon,” Ludwig added. “As a playwright, restoring Hall's Croft is a way of giving back for the lifetime of joy and inspiration I've derived from the British theatre.”

The National Trust has "much more" to do in order to ensure it has a diverse workforce, according to the organisation’s annual report.

The report states that the trust's ambition “is for a broader diversity of people to be represented in the demographics of our staff and volunteers as well as our visitors". 

As part of its Everyone Welcome initiative, last year the trust published The Everyone Welcome Inclusion and Diversity Progress Report.

This showed that 3.8% of staff were disabled people, 3% were people of colour and 6.9% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and other minority sexual orientations.

Staff numbers in all these categories were increasing.

The annual report said that although the Inclusion and Diversity Report showed that workforce diversity is gradually increasing each year, "we have much more to do, especially when it comes to recruiting people of colour and disabled people”.

The Everyone Welcome programme is also focusing on broadening the range of people who visit trust venues. 

According to its annual report, in 2023/24 the trust spent £5.5m on improving physical access for disabled people.

An independent review has found "significant failures" in the governance of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, the National Theatre of Ireland, between 2019 and 2021.

The report found significant payments were made to former co-directors Neil Murray and Graham McLaren during this time. Each received redundancy payments of more than €63,000, while McLaren received a further €110,000 following a bullying and harassment inquiry against him.

The investigation found the theatre paid more than €1m in direct costs to the former directors, legal fees and its human resources investigation. The country’s arts council withheld part of the theatre’s annual €8m budget due to the handling of the case.

Abbey Theatre has only recently published part of the report, which was commissioned as a condition of funding from the arts council, although it was completed last year. The theatre says "some key actions" have already been taken to implement its recommendations.

"The board is mindful of its responsibility to provide accountability and transparency in its governance arrangements and their application, and of its obligation to correct course and make changes when that responsibility has not been met," a statement from the theatre said.

"The board acknowledges that the review process has been constructive on both fronts."

The V&A has completed a move of over 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and nearly 1,000 archives into a new purpose-built home.

The V&A East Storehouse is a 16,000m2 space located at Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Billed as the first storehouse of its kind in the UK, it will open to the public next year, providing public access to collections through self-guided tours.

V&A says the move has been five years in the making, representing its largest since World War II.

“The completion of this monumental move, which has been years in the planning, marshalling expertise from across the V&A, represents a huge milestone in our mission to radically transform access and remove barriers between the public and their national collections,” said Tim Reeve, the V&A’s Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer.

Bristol Improv Theatre says it has been saved from closure after exceeding its £20,000 fundraising target.

The theatre started a crowdfunder after revealing rising costs and a reduction in audience spend amid the cost-of-living crisis had put its future at risk.

An update from the theatre confirmed surpassing the target means its doors will remain open. It says the money will go towards planning for the long-term and making the building fully accessible.

“Words aren't enough to say how grateful we are for the immense amount of support we have received over the past seven weeks. To everyone who has donated, bought a ticket to our events or spread the word of the campaign, thank you,” the theatre said.

The crowdfunding campaign remains open, with £25,536 from 299 donors to date.

Bath & North East Somerset Council has launched a new scheme to enable more school children from across the country to visit the city's Roman Baths and Victoria Art Gallery for free.

Free visits and learning sessions will be available to state-funded primary and secondary schools across the UK, where 30% or more of pupils receive free school meals. 

The scheme is in addition to a current provision offering all school groups in Bath & North East Somerset free entry to both sites, with no additional eligibility criteria.

"High-quality, immersive school trips should be accessible to all students," Paul Roper, Cabinet Member for Economic & Cultural Sustainable Development at the council, said.

"We understand that cost can be a significant barrier for schools, and we hope that our new offer of free entry and free learning sessions for eligible schools will make a difference.

"We are committed to sharing Bath’s rich heritage, and through this new initiative, we aim to ensure that more children can experience the excitement of learning in an unforgettable setting."

Lindsey Braidley, Learning and Participation Manager at Bath’s Heritage Services added, "Experiencing history and art firsthand is invaluable for young learners. Not only do school visits enhance learning, but engaging with heritage also provides significant benefits for health and well-being.

"For many children, a school trip to a museum or gallery might be their only opportunity to discover heritage and culture, and we want to ensure this is available to as many students as possible.

"As well as offering a memorable way to discover history, a visit to the Roman Baths can inspire conversations around culture, science, lifestyle, engineering, health, and other subjects across the curriculum. We look forward to hearing from eligible schools to arrange their free visit.”

The Dorset Museum & Art Gallery is hosting a private event where naturists can view its collections while naked.

Organised by British Naturists and open to both members and non-members, the evening event on 17 September is priced between £16 and £20, which includes a beverage on arrival, changing facilities and a locker for clothes. A standard adult entry to the museum is £14.

With a collection including the archive of novelist Thomas Hardy and exhibitions covering art, archaeology, history and the natural world, Dorset Museum & Art Gallery is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation as part of Wessex Museums Trust. Following a £16.4m overhaul lasting over two years, it reopened in 2021.

The £50m redevelopment of a theatre in north Wales is expected to create 100 jobs and generate more than £20m annually for the local economy. The new Theatr Clwyd in Mold, Flintshire, will reopen next year.

Chief Executive Liam Evans-Ford said research showed the venue’s current turnover generated £10m a year for the area’s economy, commenting: "That’s estimated to double if not treble when we’re open with all the extra people we’ll be employing."

Evans-Ford said the theatre was one of four in the UK with "all the making departments in-house”, employing staff such as costume makers, scenic artists, welders, carpenters and technicians.

The new venue will reduce its carbon footprint by 80% through approaches such as solar panels, air source heating and rainwater harvesting.

Evans-Ford said the building would be carbon neutral "on the right days” and that “with the right weather and plenty of sunshine, we can be carbon positive”.

The theatre, which opened in 1976, has hosted performances by actors including Sir Anthony Hopkins and Dame Vanessa Redgrave.