The second round of the UK Government culture recovery fund has today shared £261 million across 2,272 projects. The first round of awards, made last July, were focussed on survival while this round is geared towards reopening and recovery. Cambridge Junction, Londons Roundhouse and Electric Ballroom, Brightons Pheonix and Komedia …

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in this weeks UK budget that a further £390m will be invested in supporting arts venues in England, with £300m allocated to the existing Culture Recovery Fund. Other measures such as extensions to furlough, SEISS [Self-Employment Income Support Scheme] and the VAT cut on ticket sales …

The recent announcement by the UK Government of a roadmap to bring England out of the grips of COVID-19 lockdown has led to Festival Republic announcing that the Leeds and Reading festivals will be held this year, while a Facebook post on the Bloodstock Festival page, also due to be …

The UK Government (and many UK tabloid newspapers) have been using the Fishing industry as a popularist stick to batter through the basic agreement for the UK-EU trade deal. Musicians and other creatives have largely been ignored and were not included in the visa free short term business trip provision negioations. …

The Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has distanced himself from the “crass” Government campaign which aims to encourage people to retrain to a career in cybersecurity. This comes on a day where the Arts Council have announced the 1,385 English venues which will share £257 million distributed by the Culture Recovery …

Rishi Sunak, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been under fire over the last couple of days, as his recent message seemed to suggest that those in the creative industry should retrain and find other jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. The message from ITV News on Twitter …

In disturbing Concert related news, Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds – Alive On Stage will now tour the UK in 2022. Originally planned for March/April 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed for the rescheduling and it remains to be seen how this will affect …

The UK Government has split the £3.36m portion of the Culture Recovery Fund allocated to grassroots venues between 135 venues, with four companies receiving the maximum £80,000. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are managing their own emergency funding, with £188m to be divided across the entire arts sector. The news …

With 2020 marking ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris’ 50th year in broadcasting, the legendary presenter is to gather a group of musicians together to record his favourite single ‘Stand By Me’ in a fundraising move supporting the charity Help Musicians. The original track was recorded by Ben E. King on 27th October, 1960 …

Status Quo have this morning issued a statement confirming the cancellation of almost all of their 2020 tour, originally planned for the last quarter of this year. The only dates to survive are the three French November dates, though these must be in serious jeopardy too. The statement reads: “It …