Arts Council England has agreed to consider setting up a gender advisory group.
Orchestras for All exists to fill a gap in music education. With its deep commitment to creative inclusivity, Katie Villa thinks it has a powerful impact.
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A research project is supporting a set of museums and galleries to make their collections more accessible for people with disabilities.
The Sensational Museum is a £1m project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It will support museums in creating sensory interventions that are accessible to all and created for people who cannot experience museums in traditional ways.
According to the project’s website, twelve museums, galleries, archives and heritage sites are involved in the pilot.
Among them is Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which is planning four workshops in September and October.
The museum’s Head of Public Engagement and Learning, Sarah-Jane Harknett, told the BBC it will work with local people to "shape not just this museum, but museum practice".
"It will be the ideas from the participants that will really help make it more engaging, more accessible, just better for lots of different people," Harknett said.
The Sensational Museum project will also work to showcase best practice examples of museums and heritage sites across the UK.
Programme aims to address barriers that have discouraged and prevented cultural education and arts in schools from thriving.
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Part of the point of art is the lens it offers us to look at the world in a different way, to converse with people and perspectives that are not our own, to learn, to disagree and to share, writes Clare Reddington.
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Attitude is Everything has previously established a Live Events Access Charter to support venues and events to improve accessibility.
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Netflix and the National Youth Theatre relaunch a skills programme aimed at young people who want to work in film and TV after research reveals impact of ‘class chasm’ in the creative industries.
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The guidance for orchestra managers includes a checklist offering advice on different settings, including in social situations and on tour.
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Equity is seeking assurances that if Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club is sold it will continue as an LGBTQ+ venue.
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Under-represented creative industries workers - those who are Black, Asian, ethnically diverse, disabled or from low socioeconomic backgrounds - are feeling less positive about their career prospects than a year ago.
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Without the real Living Wage, creative and cultural growth will just replicate existing inequalities, writes Lianna Etkind.
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The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) has removed two artworks after an open letter from the Board of Deputies of British Jews raised “significant concerns” that they contained “antisemitic tropes and messaging”.
The letter, posted on X on 15 July, by Vice-President Andrew Gilbert, complained about three works, saying they had “significant concern to members of our community”, displaying “highly charged and controversial messages” with “no attempt to present any context”.
RA told The Art Newspaper that after careful review, it had removed two works from its Young Artist's Show, adding that it recognised an exhibition for and by young people is "not an appropriate environment for volatile public discourse”. The statement apologised for any hurt or distress caused to artists or visitors.
One of the removed pieces was described in the open letter as including the words, “Jews say stop genocide on Palestinians: Not in Our Name”, while the second was said to portray a screaming woman and a swastika.
Gilbert also condemned a third work in the Summer Exhibition by an RA academician. The charcoal drawing, which includes a pilot and plane bearing the Star of David, remains on display and for sale for £17,000.
Public body is seeking costs of £40,000 after claims by former Relationship Manager of harassment and persecution by colleagues were judged to be groundless.
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A Tasmanian museum that received a court order forcing it to admit men to a women-only exhibition has relocated part of its collection to a women's toilet to sidestep the ruling.
The Ladies Lounge at Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art has been open since 2020 and houses some of the museum's most acclaimed works. Playing on the concept of Australian pubs, which were historically male-only spaces until 1970, the exhibit only offered women admittance.
Kirsha Kaechele, the artist behind the lounge, is appealing against a ruling made in April to allow men entry to the exhibit following a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by Jason Lau, a New South Wales resident.
In an email shared by a spokesperson, Sara Gates-Matthews, Kaechele said that since the court order, she has done “a little redecorating”.
“I thought a few of the bathrooms in the museum could do with an update … Some cubism in the cubicles. So I’ve relocated the Picassos,” she said
“As our work continues on Section 26 of the Anti-Discrimination Act, ladies can take a break and enjoy some quality time in the Ladies' Room,” said Kaechele.
Apprenticeships offer far more than just a qualification. Charlotte Nicol is convinced they can and will radically change the make-up of the arts sector.
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New data show that in some cultural and creative subsectors including music, performance and visual arts, women outearned men in 2023.
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Does your website give equal priority to main house shows and community events? Lauren James has some tips on how to use your website to be more inclusive of the local community.
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There is significant under- and misrepresentation of the Black community in the creative industries. Emma Sithole of Be United thinks it's time the sector addressed this question of equity.
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Creative employees say freelance precarity and power dynamics foster a toxic environment where one in five people experience serious sexual assault in the workplace, according to new data from Bectu.
The media and entertainment union surveyed 225 workers from across the UK’s creative industries in May 2024, revealing that 92% of the workforce has witnessed or experienced bullying or harassment related to their sex or gender in the workplace.
For the majority, the perpetrator was a colleague and most likely someone senior (55%) or the person’s manager or head of department (26%). More than 60% chose not to report an incident because they were worried it would negatively impact their career.
Almost 85% of respondents said it was harder to report incidents of sexual harassment as a freelancer due to a lack of job security alongside an absence of employee support structures.
The prevalence of temporary contracts across the sector meant that more than half of freelancers said they did not report incidents because they were worried that they might lose work as a result. Over two-thirds worried it would negatively impact their career, compared with under a third of those on full-time contracts.
The overwhelming majority of respondents felt that behaviours that would be considered toxic and inappropriate in public life are often tolerated in the creative sector.
In response to the findings, Bectu is launching a new helpline for members who experience sexual harassment at work after a trial in its freelance areas.
“It’s no secret that sexual harassment remains a scourge on the creative industries. While we hear lots of warm words and well-meaning policies and procedures abound, it is clear that a radical step-change is needed for the sector to meaningfully tackle this issue," said Head of Bectu Philippa Childs.
“In a sector where power imbalances are particularly extreme, it’s critical that victims can have confidence that their allegations will be taken seriously, investigated and dealt with swiftly, and perpetrators held to account.”
Situation prompts debate around appropriate terminology to describe a person's socio-economic background.
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