Government Stuff
An additional £30m has been added to the Culture Recovery Fund to support culture this winter.
But Creative UK is calling on the government to provide financial assistance for creative freelancers and a rejig of the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme.
97% of the UK now has access to superfast broadband speeds.
Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries has signed three memoranda of understanding with Singapore over digital cooperation.
A project to transform 60 miles of the Thames Estuary into one of the world’s most exciting cultural hubs is to receive £35.4m in government grants.
Scotland has claimed it is yet to receive £31m of Culture Recovery Fund money from the UK government.
But Scotland’s culture sector has been given £20m of funding as part of a wider £100m emergency package announced by first minister Nicola Sturgeon.
|
|
Culture Stuff
Arts & Culture
Arts Council England with a roundup of the support available for cultural organisations to alleviate the pressure due to Omicron.
The Guardian with its best art and architecture of 2021. Likewise from The Art Newspaper.
Shezad Dawood is the eighth artist to be picked for the Terrace Wires commission at St Pancras station, following on from Tracey Emin.
The Art Newspaper also looks at the pavilions, artists and curators announced so far for next year’s Venice Biennale.
STEAM Co is raising funds to take its pop up creativity drop trucks to more schools and communities across the UK next year.
Design
RIBA remembers revolutionary architect Richard Rogers and a career spanning seven decades.
Dezeen looks back at his top 10 projects, including the Centre Pompidou and the Millennium Dome.
Theatre & Dance
Over half of West End theatres have scrapped performances. The National Theatre is among those to cancel shows until at least January.
£2m has been raised in 24 hours for the Theatre Artists Fund to support theatre freelancers facing uncertainty right now.
Bridge Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner in The Stage about how theatre is in crisis mode.
Museums
The Beeb charts the UK museums forced to close their doors over the festive period.
Press, Books & Libraries
Jon Snow has signed off his final Channel 4 News after 32 years at the helm.
The Times on Beeb journalist Ros Atkins finding fame with his on-screen explainers and ‘assertive impartiality’.
Vogue with a preview of the books you simply MUST read in 2022.
One of world’s smallest books has sold at auction for £3,500. It’s so small that it can’t be read with the naked eye.
Exhibitions and Events
Best dust off those flat peaks and get to the barbers ASAP. Next summer, a Peaky Blinders immersive experience is coming to Camden.
Let’s be honest, we’re gonna be on the sofa a bit this next week. Here’s The Times with its best live arts to stream and the Radio Times with its telly picks.
|
|
|
|
Rebellion is launching an all-new Best of 2000 AD series next autumn. Nice.
Rebellion’s Jason Kingsley popped up on Radio 4 Extra during their round up of the best history podcasts to feast your ears on over Christmas.
Steam gets up close and almost too personal with the enhanced slow motion kill cam on the upcoming Sniper Elite 5.
Rebellion is looking for a new principal designer to be the champion of accessibility and ensure its games are playable for everyone.
|
|
Creative Industries & Tech Stuff
Film & TV
EastEnders actor Rose Ayling-Ellis has made history as the first deaf winner of Strictly Come Dancing.
A major expansion of Pinewood Studios, including a new visitor attraction, has been granted planning permission.
BBC iPlayer is on track for over 6 billion streams in 2021 – its best year ever – and BBC Sounds has seen over 1.3 billion plays.
TV critic Scott Bryan with his top British TV moments of 2021, including our king of nominative determinism, Phil McCann, reporting on petrol shortages.
BFI Flare and BAFTA have revealed the six LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and industry mentors for their emerging talent support programme.
The launch episode of Simon Cowell’s new show, Walk The Line, attracted fewer viewers than long-running quiz Only Connect last Sunday.
Elijah Wood reflects in the New York Times about Lord of the Rings turning 20 and being Frodo forever. Does he mean ‘forever’ or is it more ‘hobbit-ually’? (Thank you).
Fashion
Interesting read from The Times on the impact of Nike moving to sell direct to customers. Short version: great for them, not so great for shops.
The Times also chats to fashion icon Patricia Field about dressing the screen’s most fab women, from Sex in the City to The Devil Wears Prada.
A Guardian long read to consume alongside a tray of Ferrero Rocher about how Shein reinvented fast fashion and beat Amazon at its own game.
Music & Radio
Dave, Adele and The Other Ed lead the nominations for the BRIT Awards 2022 – the first with gender-neutral categories.
UK Music chief exec Jamie Njoku-Goodwin has written to the Chancellor calling for urgent, targeted financial support for the music industry.
The Guardian with its top 50 albums of 2021 (SPOILER: Self Esteem’s came toppest of all) and a list of hidden gems, too.
Another year, another Lad Baby Christmas no.1 about sausage rolls. The Guardian on why the race for the festive top spot is snow laughing matter.
Gaming
The Guardian on the South Sudanese game designer turning his family’s escape from civil war into a game with real-life benefits for refugees.
Tech & Telecoms
The UK tech sector has had its best ever year, attracting £29.4bn in investment - up 2.3x from last year’s figures of £11.5bn.
TikTok has overtaken Google to become the world’s most popular online destination. Impressive.
Online crimes have doubled in the UK in the past two years.
We have lift-off. British electric flying taxi start-up Vertical Aerospace has listed in the US, raising about $300m in a SPAC merger.
The NFT market has now hit $22bn. I’ve had a busy run-up to Christmas if you’re wondering.
EE is aiming for 5G coverage across the entire UK by 2028.
Sony’s Indian arm is merging with local rival Zee Entertainment.
Sky has launched a £1m enterprise initiative to support Black entrepreneurs.
I mean… blimey. A woman in Philadelphia gave birth in the front seat of a Tesla while it was on autopilot.
SpaceX reckons they can put humans back on the moon as early as next year. I’m not interested. Went to a party there once. ZERO atmosphere.
|
|
Appointments & Movers
Laura Kuenssberg is stepping down as BBC’s political editor this Easter; David Dillon has been named as the new editor of the Mail on Sunday; Maria Rosario Jackson has been confirmed as chair of the National Endowment of the Arts in the US; the Walt Disney Company has named Spotify’s Hoarcio Gutierrez as general counsel; Roberto Ruisi is the new leader of Sinfonia Cymru
|
|
...And Finally
If the big man is reading this, all I want for Christmas is my own bear cub to fight inflatable reindeers and an ‘anti-5G necklace’ that’s actually radioactive.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
|
|
|
|
