Ammonite Studios today announces Soho Green Rooms, a brand-new three-day festival, which will bring together key players and creatives in the theatre and live event industries to explore the future of live entertainment. From 16 – 18 July at the Boulevard Theatre in London’s Soho, Soho Green Rooms will present three individual spaces for keynotes, panel discussions, product demonstrations, audience Q&A and networking. Tickets are on sale now and available here.
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The creative industries are today urged to get behind a careers week designed to lift the lid on jobs and pathways to encourage more young people to join the sector – and help fix a growing skills shortage.
Discover! Creative Careers and Creative UK are calling on employers in the creative industries to support more young people into the sector in the run-up to the 2024 careers week in November. It will see thousands of students paired with businesses across the creative industries, so they get a taste of possible careers through encounters with workplaces and employees. Its aim is to support the sector to attract more young people from all backgrounds into the creative industries, especially those from disadvantaged families, developing in turn a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
Government figures show that the sector is growing at more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy over the past decade, with the sector’s Gross Value Added standing at an estimated £125 billion in 2023. However, because of some misperceptions of the sector, general inequality of access and limited opportunities in some schools, the creative industries are often overlooked as a viable option for young people when considering their future careers.
Despite the clear economic value of the creative industries to the UK, the sector is also facing significant skills gaps and shortages, with almost half of creative employers reporting skills issues. Research by TIGA in 2023 revealed that 68% of games development studios found it difficult to fill vacancies in the workforce due to skills shortages, impacting on sector growth and delaying new releases.
The UK creative industries are a success and writers are central to that. As the UK faces a General Election on 4 July, WGGB has today (6 June 2024) launched a manifesto which calls on whoever forms the next Government to implement our recommendations around four key areas, which we believe will protect, nurture and support UK writers.
Writers create the stories which form the bedrock of our world-leading creative industries, currently worth over £124 billion to the UK economy. Yet they are often underpaid, unprotected and their vital contributions overlooked.
Currently, whole sections of our industry are struggling to survive – theatres are closing or ceasing to develop new work, the number of UK independent films has been steadily reducing and our public service broadcasters are commissioning fewer original works.
This is reflected in what WGGB members have been telling us. A poll of WGGB theatre members post-pandemic found that 74% of playwrights had lost income due to the Covid shutdowns and 50% believed they would not be working in two years’ time. And a WGGB survey on writers and AI published in 2023 found that 65% of respondents believed that increased use of AI would reduce their income from writing, while 61% were worried that AI could replace jobs in their craft area. Continue reading
Applications are now open for Overture, the Royal Ballet and Opera’s orchestra mentoring programme, in collaboration with Black Lives in Music and the National Open Youth Orchestra.
Established in 2023 by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Overture provides tailored opportunities for young musicians aged 18-25 years who currently encounter barriers in their musical training.
Each Season musicians are partnered with a member of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera Housein Covent Garden, London, and mentored throughout the 2024/25 Season. Applications are open to those who identify as being from an underrepresented group, including (but not limited to), global majority, Disabled, LGBTQ+, and from a low-socio economic background, and play one of the offered instruments. See the full list on the website. The deadline for the first stage of applications is Monday 1 July 2024.
Lucy Irving, a clarinet mentee in the 2022/23 Season said: ‘When I was accepted onto the Overtureprogramme it gave me a huge confidence boost, and it has been a real privilege to be taught by someone who has been in the industry for so long. Through Principal Bass Clarinet Marina Finnamore’s expert mentorship, I have really developed as a musician. She has made me think more deeply about my breathing and support whilst playing, the shape of the music, and the overall sound quality that I produce. This great advice has led to a really noticeable difference in my playing.’
Due to incredible demand, Chris Stapleton adds final European show to his colossal ‘All American Road Show’ World tour. The newly announced date will take place on 24th October at London’s iconic The O2, tickets go on general sale Friday 7th June at 10am via LiveNation.co.uk
The upcoming performances celebrate Stapleton’s critically acclaimed new album, Higher, which was released last year on Mercury Nashville. (Produced by Dave Cobb, Morgane Stapleton and Chris Stapleton, Higher was recorded at Nashville’s RCA Studio A and showcases his supernatural voice and musical versatility across 14 songs that defy genre. The new music adds to yet another landmark year for the 8x Grammy, 16x ACM and 15x CMA Award-winner, most recently winning Male Vocalist at last year’s 57th Annual CMA Awards.
One of the country’s most respected and beloved musicians, in the past year Stapleton was named Entertainer of the Year at the 58th ACM Awards—resulting in a prestigious ACM Triple Crown Award—and Male Vocalist of the Year at the 2022 CMA Awards—his sixth time earning the award, setting the record for most wins ever in the category. Additionally, in February, he performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl LVII and has collaborated in recent years with Adele, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Justin Timberlake, P!nk, Sheryl Crow, Santana and many more.
A packed line-up featuring nearly every musical playing in the West End has been unveiled ahead of this year’s West End LIVE. This free celebration of London’s world-leading theatre scene comes to Trafalgar Square on the weekend of 22 and 23 June.Tens of thousands of theatre fans are expected to flock to the capital for this year’s musical theatre spectacular, enjoying free performances from top shows. This unique event, run by Westminster City Council in partnership with the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), and with the support of the Mayor of London, brings people of all ages into central London to experience the best of the West End – from the city’s unparalleled theatre and culture scene to food, drink, fashion, nightlife, retail and more.
The Manchester Culture Awards are back for 2024 with nominations opening this week for the prestigious awards that recognise the city’s cultural and creative highlights over the last year.
The awards were launched in 2018 by the city council to acknowledge Manchester’s rapidly growing reputation for culture and the arts, with the annual awards recognising the very best of culture, creativity, and the arts in the city – from the grassroots up.
The Southwark Playhouse have announced the FORGE artist development programme, a programme that will support 4 exceptional emerging companies who will become attached to the Playhouse for 9 months, receiving free rehearsal space to R&D ideas, dramaturgical support from the Southwark Playhouse senior artistic team, free office space for producers and a week-long slot to platform a show in ‘The Little’ space to a paying audience. The scheme will also provide industry mentorship from established theatre professionals and bespoke workshops from the Playhouse team on a variety of key learning topics, to guide and empower them in this creative journey.
Norwich Theatre, one of the leading cultural institutions in the UK, has released the findings of a survey that sheds light on theatre attendance patterns across Britain. In the survey of over 2,000 British adults, it was found that almost one in four Brits (24%) have never attended a theatre performance.
The survey aimed to understand the barriers that prevent people from experiencing live theatre, and when asked what would encourage them to go to the theatre more often over half of the respondents (55%) cited lower ticket prices.
To ascertain the extent to which this impacts the younger generation, respondents with children were asked how often they take their children to the theatre, which found that over half of families (54%) take their children to the theatre less than once a year, or not at all.
The UK’s only event celebrating the outstanding achievements and contributions of black artists to the nation’s vibrant and dynamic theatre industry, the Black British Theatre Awards (BBTA), has opened up nominations for this year’s awards and invites the public to submit their favourite black British theatre professionals for recognition.
The British public will be able to submit their nominations for awards across key categories such as Best Producer and Director, lighting and sound design, casting, Best Male and Female Lead in a Play and Musical, as well as Champion Awards such as Best Child Performer (under 16), LGBTQIA Champion and Disability Champion, via the BBTA website from 1 June to 31 July.
“It is crucial for us to be loud in our celebration of black talent in the British theatre industry as it not only amplifies the diverse voices that have made significant contributions to enriching the industry with unique and creative and cultural perspectives, but also to recognise the decades-long impact of black professionals’ artistic legacy in the UK while inspiring future generations of black creatives,” says Solange Urdang OBE & Omar F. Okai, Co-Founders of the BBTAs.