BBC Arts has announced a new commissioning strand of Culture in Quarantine as part of the BBC's season celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act.
D/deaf, neurodivergent and disabled professional artists are being invited to apply to produce new video or audio works. The fund aims to commission ten new works, with support from digital production specialists.
Jerwood Arts and three other independent funders have launched the Live Work Fund, £660,000 intended to support at least 33 UK artists, creatives and producers over 12 months with awards of £20,000 to adapt their approach to making and sharing live work.
Coventry City of Culture Trust has announced the first events that will form part of the 365-day programme for UK City of Culture 2021, beginning in May 2021.
Rooted in the rich history of the city and celebrating the stories of the people who have made it their home, the programme also addresses the issues that communities are faced with today while imagining what the future holds.
Around 30 arts organisations in the West Midlands have signed the 'More Than a Moment' pledge, vowing to make "radical and permanent change" for and with Black creatives and employees.
The More Than a Moment pledge, published on 29 October 2020 and crafted by a working group of young Black artists and creatives, features a set of calls to action intended to "designed to dismantle the systems that keep Black artists and creatives from achieving their potential in the arts and cultural industries".
Theatres Trust has supported 20 theatres through its Theatre Reopening Fund, established earlier in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant scheme will support theatres with the additional costs associated with reopening after a prolonged period of closure, and to meet current COVID-safe requirements.
The first round of successful theatres reflects the variety of theatres in the UK:
British Council is offering grants of up to £50k to support UK arts organisations to collaborate digitally on international projects.
In response to increasing restrictions on global travel due to COVID-19, and rising concerns about the sustainability of face-to-face collaborations, British Council is now looking for new ways to foster international connections.
An additional £151 million has been given to arts and culture organisations across England, adding to the £257 million earlier in October, coming from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund. Read a full list of recipients here.
Wigmore Hall is inviting composers to apply for a "lockdown commission". Wigmore Hall will select 12 composers, who will each be awarded a paid commission to write a new work which reflects their lockdown experience.
For some, lockdown has been a time of anxiety and despair, of isolation and crisis, of discrimination and inequality. For others it has been a time of renewal and reflection, resolve and occasionally joy. By commissioning 12 new works, we want to reflect all of these and many other situations.
As the UK sees an influx of refugees arriving at its borders and with the recent devastation caused by a fire at the Moria refugee camp in Greece, London art gallery, Leontia Gallery, is raising money and awareness to help the refugee crisis by auctioning original artworks and limited edition prints from its collection of international artists. 100% of its profits will go to the charity Help Refugees/Choose Love. The online auction will run from Wednesday 21st October until Tuesday 27th of October. It will feature 7 artworks over 7 days from 7 different artists.
HOME’s Resident Artists, Young Identity, will be the first live performance in the venue’s theatre on October 13, following closure caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Young Identity have a long history of delivering dynamic poetry and spoken word workshops and performances for young people at HOME, Contact and at events across Manchester and across the globe.
At this one-off special event they will launch their new book of poetry, Working from HOME, with performances from members of the group.
