The Week in Light & Sound
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Arts Council chair Nicholas Serota comments: “Every creative person needs time to breathe, to broaden their experience and to develop their ideas. We want all our arts organisations to continue to commission and present new work from a diverse range of artists but we also need to invest in the future. This fund will give creative talent of different ages from different backgrounds the time and the backing that they need to hone their work and explore new paths.” The fund has been allocated £3.6 million to be given annually for four years. Applications for the first year of funding will open on 12 April.
Fever Pitch - A new tour of the musical Saturday Night Fever billed as a “big new music and dance spectacular” will open this year. Produced by Bill Kenwright, the musical promises to pay homage to the movie, but with “more drama, more music and hot new choreography”. Cast and creatives for the production have not yet been announced. The tour begins at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 30 August, and will visit venues in places including Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow and Cardiff.
Under The Hammer - More than 350 previously unseen photos of The Beatles' at two early US shows have come to light and are to be sold. Mike Mitchell captured the Fab Four arriving at the venues, at pre-show press conferences and on stage in Washington DC and Baltimore in 1964. Mitchell was just 18 at the time and took the photos in natural light because he couldn't afford a flash. The negatives are expected to fetch more than £250,000 when they are sold by Omega Auctions on 24 March.
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said: "This is an incredible archive. The unique combination of perspective and light sets them apart from any other Beatles photographs of that period."
On The Run - Beyonce and Jay-Z are going on a joint tour called On The Run II, it has been confirmed. The announcement was made in promotional video of the couple together which was posted on Beyonce's Instagram page. The couple will play at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 6 June, Hampden Park in Glasgow on 9 June, the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on 13 June and the London Stadium in London on 15 June. The tour will also take in cities across Europe and North America.
Cinema Conversion - Long-held plans to turn a former north-east London cinema into an entertainment venue managed by Soho Theatre have moved a step closer after Waltham Forest Council announced its intention to buy the building for £2.6m.
The council said it was now in discussions with Soho Theatre, which would operate the former Granada cinema as a 1,000-seat entertainment venue. The council said it would be home to “the biggest names in UK and international comedy”, alongside an annual pantomime and other theatre productions.
Final Score - Star Wars composer John Williams has announced the next episode of the saga will be his last, leaving a vacuum in the force. In an interview with radio station KUSC, the 86-year-old veteran - who has scored all the main Star Wars films since the original in 1977 - said Episode IX will be his last.
Farewell - Gary Burden, the artist who designed classic album covers for musicians like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles and the Doors, has died at the age of 84.
"Myself, Graham Nash and a photographer, Joel Bernstein, went down to the Village with Neil to take pictures and Joel shot that shot. It was a magic moment because that little Italian lady was there, going the other way, and he got it at just the right moment," Burden told the CBC of the After the Gold Rush cover in 2015. "I have so many memories of Gary and I doing these album covers. He was a great man and a true artist. Rest in peace my old friend," writes Young.
(Jim Evans)
13 March 2018
