TAITMAIL Art and technology? No fear!
Genius, Dr Johnson said in his dictionary, is “The protecting or ruling power of man, places or things”. So is AI genius? It’s scary, we’re being told so daily so it must be. It will kill us because, although we’ve invented it in our limited ingenuity, it is cleverer than we are and, naturally, will want to destroy us. I’m not convinced.
Four shortlisted for City of Culture 2029
Blackpool, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Wrexham (pictured, courtesy Wikipedia) have been shortlisted to be the UK City of Culture 2029, with the winner receiving £10m, culture secretary Lisa Nandy announced today.
First portrait if King Charles with coronation regalia unveiled
The first official portrait of Charles III in the formal robes of state has been unveiled, the first to show a reigning monarch in coronation regalia since Sir James Gunn’s portrait of Elizabeth II in 1953.
Painted by the Toronto-based artist Suan-She Foo and commissioned on behalf of the government of Nova Scotia, Canada, the image shows King Charles in the uniform of the Royal Regiment of Canada of which he is colonel-in-chief and is the first portrait of the King to include the traditional coronation accoutrements of Crown Imperial, Orb and Sceptre.
The artist, who has painted the likenesses of Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI, is also a practising physician who runs a not-for-profit clinic treating addiction and mental health in Toronto.
The picture, measuring 8ft 6ins by 6ft 6ins, can be seen at the Stern Pissarro Gallery in St James’s, London, from 19 to 31 October 2026. it will then move to permanent display at Government House, Halifax.
Airey slams racism in the arts in first speech as ACE chair
Dawn Airey, the new chair of Arts Council England, has chosen her inaugural speech in post to point the finger at racism and Islamophobia in the arts in Britain.
Hamlyn's Moira Sinclair to chair Rowntree
Moira Sinclair, chair of Clore Leadership and for ten years CEO of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is to be the new chair of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Shona McCarthy takes over at troubled Irish Arts Council
Shona McCarthy, for nine years the CEO of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe whose fortunes she revived recording the most successful Fringe year in 2019, has taken up her new post as director of the Arts Council of Ireland.
Universal free admission remains for national museums
Admission to England’s 15 nationally funded museums and galleries is to remain free, culture secretary Lisa Nandy announced today, and there will be no special admission charges for foreign visitors.
TAITMAIL. Post-Hodge ACE: slicker, clearer, fairer
By Jordan Mullineaux
Arts Council England’s 2028–33 National Portfolio Investment Programme has been published, following Margaret Hodge’s review which called for ACE to become less bureaucratic and prescriptive and to radically simplify its application and reporting requirements. There’s genuine simplification here.
ACE introduce simpler grant applications for longer funding cycle
Arts Council England are issuing new guidelines for National Portfolio applicants and introducing a five-year funding period instead of three to give organisations more stability.
TAITMAIL As one Gate closes, another fails to open
The die is cast, the gamble of a tourism tax – will it raise enough to offset the downturn in foreign visitors some predict, will it be the bonanza many others are promising it will be, what will the income be spent on ? – is on. And the squabbling begins.
Gate Theatre to close
London’s award-winning Gate Theatre is to close after nearly 50 years of presenting innovative drama with a panoply of theatre greats, becoming the most significant victim so far of the current theatre funding crisis. It will close at the end of October.
New Forest theatre to open next year
A fundraising campaign has been launched for a new woodland community theatre to open in 2027.
Science Museum ends BP sponsorship
The Science Museum has ended its controversial 25-year partnership with BP after its relationship had “drawn to a close” at the end of August.
The Art of Photojournalism: Image of the Month
Bono at the Astoria 7 February 2001, The Independent, by Andy Paradise
TAITMAIL. Theatres losing trust
It could hardly have been a more appropriate way for the Theatres Trust, the national advisory body for theatres involved in the planning process, to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Thanks to its intervention with its unique expert advice, the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cannock Chase will not, as expected, be closed but will instead be refurbished and reopened by the council’s new Reform-led administration.
Export stop on £71m Rembrandt
In one of her first official acts since being appointed arts minster Ruth Mackenzie has put an export bar on a Remrandt painting valued at £71m, the most expensive object ever to have been accorded national treasure status.
Theatres Trust downgraded
The Theatres Trust, set up 50 years ago to be the planning advisor on theatre elements of development proposals, has lost its statutory status on England.
NHM to reopen ‘lost’ gallery after 80 years
A gallery of the Natural History Museum that has been closed to the public for more than 80 years is to reopen next month.
Beaulieu motor museum to move after 50 years
The award-winning National Motor Museum, founded by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in the grounds of his stately New Forest home more than half a century ago, is to move, the museum has announced.
‘Terrified’ Norris takes on Beckett in stage return
Former National Theatre director Rufus Norris will return to the stage for the first time, directing an acclaimed soprano in her first acting role as part of a Beckett festival.
V&A deputy returns to head English Heritage
Tim Reeve, currently deputy director and chief operating officer at the V&A, is to be the new CEO of English Heritage (EH), succeeding interim CEO Geoff Parkin.
The Art of Photojournalism: Image of the Month
The Princess of Wales in Camelford, Devon, May 12, 1993, Daily Mail, by Richard Lappas
Ruth Mackenzie joins expanded DCMS
Ruth Mackenzie, since last year director of arts at the British Council, has been appointed an arts minister under Lisa Nandy at DCMS with a seat in the House of Lords.
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