Manchester International Festival, taking place 4–21 July 2019, has brought together a lineup of artists from 20 countries for UK and world premiers including Yoko Ono, David Lynch, a collaboration between Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah, and a rave history tour by grime superstar Skepta among many others.
Highlights of the full lineup include:
Hito Steyerl is an artist and filmmaker whose work explores the complexities of the digital world, art, capitalism, and the implications of Artificial Intelligence for society. Her recent artworks cover subjects as diverse as video games, surveillance and art production.
Innovative Sheffield Project will give free event tickets to thousands
Arts Council England is launching the Digital Culture Network, using partnerships, providing opportunities, training and sharing best practice for culture organisations to make the most of digital tools and evolving technology.
Nine expert Tech Champions have been chosen, one for each regional office, who will cover expertise in a range of digital knowledge including SEO, content, CRM, analytics, e-commerce, social media and web design.
The Creative Land Trust has been launched, supported by the Mayor of London, Arts Council England, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. It aims to secure long-term and affordable space for artists and creative people in London.
This innovative new organisation seeks to secure land and building space while keepong affordable rent rates by:
1. Purchase of freehold properties or long leases
2. Receipt of properties gifted or transferred by public or private partners
3. Purchase of buildings with a studio provider
Thousands of publicly-owned artworks will be digitised and catalogued online by Art UK in a two-year project, announced officially on 21 February 2019.
The charity has already documented Britain’s 200,000+ publicly-owned oil paintings. Art UK's aim is to make sure that access to the nation’s public art collection is as wide as possible. As a lot of public art is not on display, this is a way of getting it to the biggest possible audience.
The UK Government's annual presence at SXSW begins on Friday 8 March with the UK Advertising and Interactive Mission Reception at the British Music Embassy. The reception will include a live performance by blues, folk and indie duo Ferris & Sylvester and synth-led electro-pop band FEMME.
A global open-call for new forms of architecture in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture and Sir David Adjaye OBE.
In mid-January 2019, British Council launched the first edition of SPARK: The Science and Art of Creativity festival, taking place at Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts in Hong Kong.
SPARK celebrates creativity across the arts, sciences and education, and offers a platform for cultural exchange between the UK and Hong Kong. With more than 30 events over three days and over 50 creative and education partners from the UK and Hong Kong, SPARK provided a series of interactive experiences, provocative performances, stimulating talks and other innovative happenings.
Expo 2020 Dubai is seeking a creative team or organisation to create an "iconic signature production" to be performed daily for an anticipated audience of 25 million Expo visitors over six months, comprising dance, music, sound, digital art and / or projection with the working title Beyond Horizons. Expo 2020 Dubai takes place 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021.
