Government Stuff
DCMS has launched the first phase of its £5bn Project Gigabit, with more than one million hard-to-reach homes set to get gigabit broadband built to them.
The arts sector has so far received just over half of the £830m budgeted by government for COVID grants and loans, according to the National Audit Office.
The UK’s latest 5G spectrum auction has raised £1.3 billion for the Treasury.
Millions of homes across the UK are to be upgraded to faster, more reliable broadband, under new regulations announced by Ofcom this week.
The Department for Transport has reduced electric car grants from £3,000 to £2,500.
£1 million of DCMS funding is being awarded to boost digital development in heritage organisations.
Labour MP Harriet Harman has proposed a 10-point plan for UK musicians to tour the EU post-you know what, backed by UK Music.
The Creative PEC ponders what the government’s new Integrated Review means for the creative industries and their soft power impact globally.
This week the APPG for Creative Diversity heard evidence of ‘what works’ to improve inclusion from sectors including construction, law and finance.
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Culture Stuff
Arts & Culture
Almost 40% of arts and theatre workers in London have been made redundant since the start of the pandemic, according to Bectu.
The global art market shrank by 22% in 2020, according to the annual report from Art Basel and UBS.
The City of Edinburgh Council is providing grants totalling £4.7m to help culture in the Scottish capital recover.
Jerwood Arts has announced a £1m donation to support freelancers in the arts currently facing financial difficulty.
The World Health Organisation has teamed up with the art world for a global campaign confronting the mental health toll of the pandemic.
A painting by The Other Ed has raised more than £51,000 for a cancer charity.
The Wick has launched - a new cultural platform celebrating visual arts and creativity in all their fine forms.
Design
Social housing architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been named as this year’s winners of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
IKEA has created a lamp in the shape of a giant Allen key. We’re all screwed.
Ahoy. The ‘world’s first full-scale ship tunnel’ is set to be built in Norway. Apparently military ships are also being fitted with QR codes so when they pass through they can scan-da-navy-in.
(Used that one about 14 times but what are you going to do about it? Exactly)
Theatre & Dance
Over 95% of theatre organisation are worse off due to COVID, and 1 in 4 freelancers are out of business, according to UK Theatre.
YouTube has launched a new £80,000 scheme that will support theatremakers to create digital work.
Greenwich Dance has announced ArtsUnboxed, which will offer a way for artists to safely create and tour new dance work in 2021.
Classical Music & Opera
The Venice Music Biennale has awarded this year’s Golden Lion to composer Kaija Saariaho and the Silver Lion to Neue Vocalsolisten.
Tourism & Heritage
OMG happy birthday Eden Project! 20 today hun! xox Here’s The Guardian with a look back at its soap bubble-inspired design.
Museums
National Portrait Gallery is partnering with Chanel for a three-year project championing the role of women in British history and culture.
Books, Press & Libraries
BuzzFeed bought HuffPost recently… and has just decided to bin the UK’s national news operation leaving more than half of the editorial staff at risk.
Dennis the Menace has just turned 70. And yet still looks so youthful. What’s your secret, Dennis? What is it?
Exhibitions and Events
Museum of the Home is kicking off its Behind the Door auction today, raising funds in aid of female homelessness.
Big fish, little fish, cardboard fish. V&A Dundee is to reopen on 1st May with an exhibition on the history of nightclub design.
Dezeen has teamed up with Danish initiative The Mindcraft Project to highlight the work of the 10 innovative designers in a new digital exhibition.
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Dun, dun, DUUUUH. The cinematic trailer for the new Evil Genius 2 has landed. Get your pre-orders in before the big day: 30th March.
Here’s Rebellion with six lil’ nuggets they learned in their first playthrough – and here’s PC Gamer digging deeper still.
The Los Angeles Times gets all alien-y (?) in its review of new sci-fi novel Skyward Inn from Aliya Whiteley.
TIGA has granted accreditation to two games courses at the University of the West of England.
TIGA and the ICO have also invited members to sign up for a webinar on the Age Appropriate Design Code.
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Creative Industries & Tech Stuff
A new Creative Industries Council and Tech Nation report digs into the digits behind the fast-growing world of createch.
Film & TV
The Beeb has announced its ‘biggest transformation in decades’ with a whole host of key departments, jobs and programmes moving out of London.
The Beeb has also responded to Ofcom’s consultation on the future of public service broadcasting.
The nominations for this year’s Oscars are the most diverse yet and there’s a bunch of Brits like Riz Ahmed and Vanessa Kirby up for gongs.
Piers Morgan’s outbursts about the Duchess of Sussex have become Ofcom’s most complained about TV moments ever. That’ll show ‘em, Piers.
Avatar has retaken the crown for the highest-grossing film of all time after re-release in China.
The fourth series of Killing Eve is set to be the last. Last of Killing Eve that is. Not of all TV series. Just to clarify.
Disney+ is expected to overtake Netflix as the world’s leading streaming platform within three years, according to new Disney data. They would say that.
Fashion
Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood are among those co-signing a letter to the Prime Minister calling for a ban on sale of real fur.
VForce Collection has launched a line of copper-infused clothing that claimed to kill 99.9% of viruses and bacteria on contact. CU in line for these!!!
Music & Radio
Beyoncé just became the most-awarded woman in Grammys history and Taylor Swift’s the only female artist to win best album three times. Here’s the Beeb reflecting on the show.
Spotify has launched Loud & Clear, a platform that presents data on how streams are determined and paid out.
The BRITs Apprentice Scheme is back for a third round offering young people with opportunities to develop a career in the music biz.
Radio 6 Music has announced a shake-up of the schedule, with Jamz Supernova and The Blessed Madonna set for the new look Saturday.
New organisation Black Lives in Music has launched with a data-driven mission to amplify and empower Black musicians.
Interesting take from Wired calling for Big Music to be broken up to save the industry.
Westlife! Where have you been! Living in an uptown world? Never been. Now go sign your deal with Warner Music and enjoy another season in the sun.
Gaming
The UK games market hit a record high of £7bn in 2020, up 29.9% compared to 2019, according to UKIE stats.
EA has announced new measures to clamp down on racism among FIFA players.
Can you smeeeeeeeell… what The Rock… is cooking? Correct. A new collaboration with Xbox.
Tech & Telecoms
The Tech Nation Report 2021 has launched, and the first quarter of 2021 saw more VC investment into UK tech than any quarter ever.
Uber is to guarantee its 70,000 UK drivers a minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions. The Financial Times on why this changes the game for the gig economy.
Ofcom has announced new rules to ramp up the rollout of fibre nationally.
Facebook is to label every single post about vaccines with information from the World Health Organisation.
Instagram is introducing new safety measures that will prevent adult users from sending direct messages to teenagers unless they follow them.
The Financial Times looks at how payments platform Stripe (now worth $95bn) became Silicon Valley’s most prized asset.
12 million students in the US lack Internet a year into the pandemic.
Google is to cut app store fees by half for developers’ first $1m in sales.
A report from Access Partnership getting to grips with unionization in Big Tech.
And a report from Common Sense and Hopelab looking into how young people are using digital media to manage their mental health during the pandemic.
Now you’re speaking my language Marky Mark! ‘Mind-reading’ AR wristband from Facebook that let’s you control gadgets from bed with tiny movements.
NASA has shared the first recording of the Perseverance rover driving on Mars and sounds like it needs a service? Anyone know any mechanics up there? DM me x
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Appointments & Movers
Suhair Khan is the new chair of the Studio Wayne McGregor board; Kenneth Tharp has been appointed interim chief exec of Eclipse Theatre; Kneehigh’s founding artistic director, Mike Shepherd, is stepping down after 40 years; Miranda Lowe is the new chair of Culture& and Svetlana Leu the new vice-chair; Marina Abramović has joined WePresent as guest curator for a year; the Official Charts Company has appointed Becca Monahan as its first commercial director; ELLE UK editor-in-chief Farrah Storr has joined the National Theatre board
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Ed Stuff
Keynote speech at the TISA Digital 21 conference on why its now a key moment for the digitalisation of financial services; contributed to the Southampton 2025 UK City of Culture Gateway Club launch
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...And Finally
Game, set, cat. Always thought I was alright at table tennis until I saw this absolute legend of the game. Feline pretty stupid right now.
Do you remember the goats that took over that Welsh town? Well, they’ve now taken over Primark too! EWE COULDN’T WRITE IT! (‘not again’ my 6 readers sigh).
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