The Week in Light & Sound
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Led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Creative Industries Clusters Programme will support eight research and development partnerships, each led by a university working with a range of creative organisations. Beginning in 2018, the groups will use money from an £80m pot to fund research and development projects. These will be aimed at improving the creative industries’ development in areas such as cross-sector collaborations, new ways of financing, equality and diversity and skills shortages.
Almost half (£39m) of the investment will come from the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which will be matched by university and private sector funding to make the total £80m. The programme, announced by business secretary Greg Clark, will be established alongside a Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre. Clark claimed the new programmes would "deliver a real boost to the country's already burgeoning creative industries", as well as grow the skills base across the UK.
Family Friendly - There should be a radical shake-up of Edinburgh's festivals to make them more family-friendly, it has been claimed. The city's culture chief is leading calls for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe to be held earlier in the summer. Speaking to The Scotsman, Donald Wilson suggested the festivals should fully coincide with Scottish school holidays.But organisers of the Fringe said moving the dates could prevent children attending with their schools. Wilson also called for shows and performances to be held in venues beyond the city centre.
Rich Kids - Writer Irvine Welsh says his new musical addresses his own frustrations with how "poor people" are being pushed out of the arts. "Nowadays you get a lot of rich kids going into the arts who wouldn't have bothered before because they had different career paths, but all these professions are drying up now," he said. "So there's a temptation to go into the arts and use the connections that wealthy people have, that poor people don't have, to get established in these fields, so you're getting a blanding out of the voices."
Creatives is the novelist's first attempt at setting his writing to music. Set in "Trump's America", it is a dark look at what it takes to become recognised for your art, with dreams and disillusionment both central to the story.
Hair Today - An immersive production of rock musical Hair is to hold a 'clothing optional performance' during its run at the Vaults in London. First staged in the late 60s, the musical became famous for its nudity on stage, and audiences will now be able to watch the show naked for a special one-off performance, part of the 50th anniversary production. The show promises to transport audiences to a "fully immersive 60s experience where the youthful cast of long-haired hippies will champion peace, love and freedom against the backdrop of the Vietnam War draft during the 1960s".
The production's website claims the event is intended as a safe space for both audiences and performers, and that staff reserve the right to restrict access to anyone "without suitable self-control".
Trumped - A British punk singer claims he was deported from the US because he once impersonated Donald Trump on stage. Peter Bywaters, of Peter & The Test Tube Babies, claims he was detained when he flew in for a festival. He said he was interrogated for six hours by border control staff and shown photos of himself dressed up as Donald Trump on tour in Germany last year. However, US Customs and Border Protection officials say he was deported for having the wrong visa.
In a statement, spokesman Jaime Ruiz said: "The claim that he was refused entry to the United States because he mocked the president of the United States, that is absolutely not true. The reason he was denied entry was because he came with the wrong visa."
(Jim Evans)
