Government Stuff
A further £400m of support has been announced for over 2,700 cultural organisations as part of the Culture Recovery Fund, including £900k for Glastonbury.
Good news for fintechs: the UK and EU have reached a post-you know what agreement on financial services.
The UK is to host a Global Green Investment Summit in October to help boost foreign investment into UK Net Zero companies.
MHCLG has announced new planning rules giving greater flexibility for more vibrant, mixed-use high streets across the country.
The National Security Strategic Investment Fund is investing £100m in British tech firms.
‘Non-essential retailers’ will be able to stay open until 10pm six days a week when they reopen this month.
DCMS is to conduct pilots of live events in various different environments from the middle of the month.
DCMS Committee has kicked off an inquiry into the power of influencers on social media.
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Culture Stuff
Arts & Culture
Arts organisations in the UK have seen ticket sales and box office revenue drop by almost 90% in the past 12 months, according to new research.
Arts Council England has outlined its delivery plan to implement their 10-year strategy, Let’s Create, including news that the project grants threshold will rise from £15k to £30k.
The Southbank Centre is on the lookout for a new artistic director.
We Are Unlimited has announced over £700k of funding for 34 commissions by disabled artists across the UK.
Luton-based Revolution Arts have announced three new community projects to inspire and support more people to engage in creativity.
The Centre for Cultural Value has a new podcast about culture and research.
The Art Newspaper on how the world’s most expensive piece of art, da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, is being turned into… oh here we go… it’s an NFT again. GIVE UP.
Design
The co-curators of a MoMA exhibition that confronts how America's built environment plays a key role in anti-black racism have shared their highlights with Dezeen.
Japanese brand Kai has designed a plastic-free disposable razor made from paper. Cashing in on paper cuts. Clever.
Theatre & Dance
Game of Thrones is to be adapted into a West End and Broadway stage show in 2023. Good luck trying to get a dragon to do 115 nights at the Palladium.
Tim Minchin is among the names announced for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new podcast, Interval Drinks.
Classical Music & Opera
The Royal Albert Hall is 150! Woo! Here’s The Guardian on why it's the ‘Holy Grail for musicians’ and the Beeb on its unexpected history.
That reminds me, a man carrying a violin case once hurriedly came up to me in Kensington and asked: “How do I get to the Royal Albert Hall?”… “Practice” I replied. Often wonder how he got on.
Tourism & Heritage
Outdoor attractions in the UK fared better than indoor ones in 2020, though overall visitor numbers suffered a 70% decline due to the pandemic.
After a £4.2m Heritage Fund grant and years of restoration, Coventry’s medieval Charterhouse priory is to open to the public this summer.
Museums
The top 100 art museums worldwide had a 77% drop in attendance in 2020, according to The Art Newspaper’s annual survey.
And as museum directors across the UK cut jobs and slash budgets, The Art Newspaper asks ‘what now?’ for the sector.
The Louvre has put its entire art collection to view online. Louvre-ly.
Books, Press & Libraries
The longlist for the 2021 International Booker Prize has been unveiled, with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o being the first ever to be nominated as both author and translator.
Two in five journalists surveyed by Press Gazette have seen or experienced racism working in UK media.
Time Out Media’s revenue was down 59% in the second half of 2020, stunting recovery for its free magazine model.
Exhibitions and Events
Honey, I shrunk the Hirst! Pallant House Gallery in Chichester’s upcoming summer exhibition is to feature scaled down works by the UK’s biggest artists.
Laura Knight, the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy, is to be celebrated with a major solo exhibition at MK Gallery from October.
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AND IT’S HERE! Evil Genius 2 is live and kicking. It’s currently #1 top seller globally on Steam and getting gloooorious reviews from GameSpot, VG247 and The Gamer.
To celebrate, IGN UK is giving away a PC inspired by the game’s retro-futuristic aesthetic.
And this is a brilliant behind-the-scenes piece from The Telegraph looking at how Rebellion built the supervillian simulator. Well done all!
Penguin with a feature on how they worked with 2000 AD to turn one of the world’s most iconic comics (Judge Dredd) into an audiobook.
TIGA has responded to the Government’s consultation on a new subsidy control regime calling for a boost to high tech industries.
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Creative Industries & Tech Stuff
Film & TV
Noel Clarke is to receive an honorary BAFTA for outstanding British contribution to cinema.
Amy Winehouse’s mum is to tell her daughter’s story in a new Beeb documentary to mark 10 years since the singer’s death.
Netflix has bought the rights to the Knives Out sequels for a cool $450m.
OH NO MEESA SAD! Jar Jar Binks will not be featuring in the upcoming Disney+ Kenobi series.
Fashion
Online discounting contributed to the price of clothing falling 4% in March, according to the British Retail Consortium.
A new peer-to-peer menswear rental marketplace, Garmentry, has launched.
As we begin to leave the house for the first time in decades, here’s The Guardian with six key fashion trends you NEED for 2021.
Music & Radio
The nominations for this year’s BRIT Awards have been announced – the most diverse in the event’s history. Here’s the Beeb with six things they learned.
GlastON(sort of)bury. Worthy Farm is to stage a livestreamed gig on 22nd May, featuring Coldplay, Kano, Jorja Smith, and more.
A Guardian analysis of 31 festival lineups found that many are still falling short on equal gender representation, with Isle of Wight Festival 73% male.
Resident Advisor’s top 1000 DJs take 51,000 flights annually, according to a new climate change report by Clean Scene. Eeesh.
Spotify is launching its own version of Clubhouse focusing on music, cultural and sports convos.
The Killers are seemingly doing just fine after Mr Brightside set a new record with 260 total weeks in the UK top 100.
Gaming
A University of Victoria study has found that specialised video games could improve brain function in disabled children.
Chinese police and gaming giant Tencent have foiled the world’s biggest ever game-cheat operation. 破获! BUSTED! in Chinese.
MIT Tech Review on the emerging trend of voice games as an alternative for parents worried about their children’s screen time.
Tech & Telecoms
UK used car scaleup Cazoo is to list in New York with an $8bn valuation just over 2 years after launching.
The UK broadband industry has created more than 22,000 jobs over the past year.
Deliveroo shares have fallen 30% on its stock market debut. Here’s the Financial Times with the lowdown on how and why it panned out.
The EU is proposing new rules to boost startups and catch up with the US and China… and the UK ;)
The Beeb on Amazon and the battle for workers to unionise.
Facebook is to allow users to turn off its algorithm-powered news feed and opt for chronological ordering. Old school.
They (Facebook) are also giving users, including high profile figures, greater control over who can comment on their posts.
Google Maps will soon default to the route with the lowest carbon footprint if the ETA is similar to the fastest route. Love this.
Keeping things cartographic, Apple Maps is to show COVID-related travel guidance.
AR NEWS: Microsoft is selling AR headsets to the US Army in a 10-year $21.9bn deal - and Snapchat is planning to launch AR spectacles in May
Instagram has overtaken Twitter as the most popular platform for museums #nofilter
The Beeb on how unlikely duo bees and drones are teaming up to find landmines. Buzzing.
A NASA report shows that COVID has caused $3bn worth of delays to space missions. Fuming I had to cancel my Easter trip.
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Appointments & Movers
Antonio Pappano is to replace Simon Tattle as chief conductor at London Symphony Orchestra; Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has announced Benny Higgins as its new chair; Kirsty Gallacher is the latest name to join GB News; Jaya Asokan is the director of the Indian Art Fair
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Ed Stuff
Roll up, roll up. Get your tickets for Ed in conversation with Will Page, former Spotify chief economist, on 5th May with the How To Academy
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...And Finally
After using this website, I am happy to confirm that the ship previously blocking the Suez Canal is, in fact, 6 x longer than the old Topshop on Oxford Street. I won’t be making any more comments on the incident… that ship has sailed.
But this one hasn’t! A nauti cargo ship in Littlehampton felt inspired by what it had seen online and blocked the town's harbour. If this happens one more time I will be FERRY ANNOYED.
HAPPY EASTER MY SPRING CHICKENS!
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