Tag: artists

Posted on

Ireland’s innovative Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme gets under way…

Ireland has taken a bold step forward with the establishment of a ground-breaking scheme which aims to encourage and value their artistic communities.

2,000 artists & arts workers have been selected for the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme, which will run for three years and regular data will be gathered along the way to evaluate the success of the pilot scheme

All those selected to participate will receive €325 per week for 3 years.

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and the Media, Catherine Martin TD, said “This is the beginning of what I hope is a new era for the arts”.

Over 9,000 applications were made under the scheme with over 8,200 assessed as eligible and included in a randomised anonymous selection process. The group of 2,000 grant participants includes representatives from all art forms, age groups, ethnicities and counties. This includes 707 visual artists, 584 musicians, 204 artists working in film, 184 writers, 173 actors and artists working in theatre, 32 dancers and choreographers, 13 circus artists and 10 architects. 3% or 54 of those selected work through the Irish language.

A basic income for the arts was the number one recommendation of the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce which was set up by Minister Martin in 2020 to examine how the sector could adapt and recover from the unprecedented damage arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective of the scheme is to address the precarious and financial instability faced by many working in the arts, and to assist the sector recover post-pandemic.

Eligibility for the scheme was based on the definition of the arts as contained in the Arts Act 2003; “arts” means any creative or interpretative expression (whether traditional or contemporary) in whatever form, and includes, in particular, visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus and architecture, and includes any medium when used for those purposes”.

There were 3 categories under which applicants could apply as follows:

Practising artists;

Creative Arts Workers (defined as someone who has a creative practice or whose creative work makes a key contribution to the interpretation or exhibition of the arts), or

Recently Trained, that is, graduated with a relevant qualification in the past 5 years.

84% of those selected identified as practising artists, 9% identified as Creative Arts Workers and 7% as Recently Trained Applicants.

I wish this pilot scheme every success and am sure it will bring many positive and unexpected benefits to all parts of the artistic equation.

For the rest of the arts communities, it will be a fascinating project to study. After conclusions are drawn, let us hope that the pilot inspires many more such programmes to fully and rightly value our artists and artistic communities.

For more information, click here

Posted on

Scene Painters who became Artists, Artists who became Scene Designers: Artists and the Theatre in Nineteenth Century Britain

Henry Andrews. The Trial of Queen Katherine. ‘Henry VIII’, Act II, Scene iv, Covent Garden. Oil on canvas. 1831. RSC Collection, Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Augustus Pugin worked with the Grieve family on the scenery for this production.
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-trial-of-queen-katharine-henry-viii-act-ii-scene-4-54887

On Tuesday, 26 April from 18:00 – 19:30 BST, The University of Bristol Friends invite you to a fascinating talk about famous artists’ involvement with theatre scene painting.

A surprising number of nineteenth-century British artists (and at least one architect) commenced their careers as theatrical scene painters, while later in the century some established artists were persuaded to design theatre scenery. Some artists, such as W P Frith, enjoyed extensive social networks that included members of the theatrical profession. This talk will consider, among others, Clarkson Stanfield, David Roberts, John Wilson, Augustus Pugin, Thomas Sidney Cooper, William Leighton Leitch, Charles Marshall and Edward Burne-Jones.

Given the number of scenic artists who fashioned the way the nineteenth-century spectator looked at the world, not only through the theatre but also in so-called ‘higher’ art forms, one might ask to what extent both the natural world and the reality of the day-to-day environment were represented through an inexorably theatrical lens.

The presenter is Professor Jim Davis, Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick. He holds a BA in English from Oxford University and a PhD in Drama from the University of Exeter, where he wrote a dissertation on the comic actor John Liston under the supervision of Peter Thomson. From 1976-86 he taught Drama at Roehampton Institute of Higher Education (now Roehampton University), and from 1986-2003 he taught at the University of New South Wales, Australia, where has was also Head of Department for eight years. In 2004 he was appointed Professor and Head of Theatre Studies at Warwick University. His most recent books are Comic Acting and Portraiture in Late-Georgian and Regency England Cambridge University Press, 2015) – winner of the David Bradby Prize for International Theatre Research, Theatre & Entertainment (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and Dickens Dramatized Volume II (Oxford University Press, 2017). He is also joint-author of Reflecting the Audience: London Theatre-going 1840–1880 (2001) – winner of the UK’s Theatre Book Prize – and has edited a book on Victorian pantomime (Palgrave MacMillan, 2010). He has published many book chapters and articles on nineteenth-century theatre. Currently, he is leading a three-year research project, funded by a large AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) grant on Theatre and Visual Culture in the nineteenth-century with colleagues from the University of Exeter. He is an editor of the refereed journal Nineteenth-Century Theatre and Film. A Bristolian by birth, his interest in theatre was stimulated by regular visits to Bristol Old Vic productions during the 1960s, when he was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School.

This FREE event is organised by the Friends of the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, a registered charity. But DONATIONS are very welcome – see options during the registration process on Eventbrite.

New members welcome , by downloading a membership form at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatre-collection/get-involved–support-us/friends/

Register to attend the talk here

Posted on

Society for Theatre Research offers free online discussion

On Wednesday 20th October at 7.30-9.00pm BST, The Society for Theatre Research invites you to attend a free online discussion entitled “That Other British Asian Theatre: British East Asian and Southeast Asian Performance”, focusing on British East and Southeast Asian representation in theatre.

British East Asian and Southeast Asian theatre and performance are perhaps less well-known than theatre and performance created by British South Asian companies and artists. How are British East Asia and Southeast Asia represented by theatre-makers?  So, how has Asia been represented on the contemporary British stage? Increasingly more plays about Asians and on Asian themes have been produced at the National Theatre, the Arcola, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and more.  There are a wealth of stories, histories and voices that are yet to be explored and told. Join theatre artists Kumiko Mendl and Kwong Loke in conversation.

Kumiko Mendl trained at the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris. She is a founder-member of Yellow Earth Theatre Company (now New Earth Theatre), which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2020. Yellow Earth’s work includes Asian-themed work as well as new versions of European classics such as Miss Julie. Kumiko Mendl is Artistic Director of New Earth, whose work encompasses performance, community engagement and professional development for emerging actors.

Kwong Loke trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is an actor and director.  He was a founder-member of Yellow Earth Theatre Company and of Stone Crabs Theatre, focusing on intercultural performance. Kwong Loke has appeared in The Great Wave (National Theatre), and Pah-La (Royal Court).  He teaches acting and directing in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as directing at drama conservatories.

To book your free ticket to this Zoom event, please find booking and further details here