EXPLAINED: 3 - The Real Truth

Changes to arts funding are always divisive – we were right to focus on access for all

We’ve faced criticism for investing in areas outside London, but people around England told us they wanted to experience culture close to home, says Arts Council England chair Nicholas Serota

The Guardian - UK · May 25, 2023

OPINION - Opera is back but the ENO is clearly on its knees

So this is what “a re-imagined artistic and business model” looks like at London’s second opera house, the ENO: a programme featuring the company’s best-loved hits and no Wagner.

Evening Standard · May 18, 2023

The arts in Britain are teetering on the brink. Here is my plan to save them

The Arts Council should focus on high-quality performances while a new body deals with community-based initiatives, says Nicholas Hytner, former artistic director at the National Theatre

The Guardian - UK · May 17, 2023

Oldham Coliseum confirms closure with ‘deep sadness’

The venue is shutting its doors for the final time after Arts Council England announced its funding would be cut.

The Independent UK · Mar 16, 2023

Oldham Coliseum confirms with 'deep sadness' it will close in two weeks despite passionate campaign to save theatre

“The outpouring of love for the theatre over the past weeks has been overwhelming," the theatre company said

Manchester Evening News · Mar 16, 2023

Crunch talks with Arts Council fail to find solution to save Coliseum Theatre

But campaigners say 'the fight isn't over' to protect jobs and ensure the survival of a producing theatre

Manchester Evening News · Mar 10, 2023

Tributes pour in for popular Irish poet Maurice Scully after death aged 71

In a writing career that began in the early 1970s, he published over a dozen volumes of poetry and took part in conferences and festivals in Ireland, the UK, and the US, where his readings were prized as key interpretations of his complex, engaging work

Irish Mirror · Mar 8, 2023

‘I shouldn’t be agreeing with nationalists’: the comic causing uproar in Cornwall

When a podcast by Seamas Carey created a storm, he began investigating second homes, cream on scones …. and where local pride meets unwelcoming xenophobia. Now he’s taking his one man show on the road

The Guardian - UK · Mar 7, 2023

‘It takes a community to develop a musician’: the Royal Philharmonic Society’s John Gilhooly

In an edited extract from his speech at the 2023 Royal Philharmonic awards, its chairman urges joined up thinking to ensure a healthy future for an art form that is central to the wellbeing and prosperity of our national life

The Guardian - UK · Mar 2, 2023

Plans for new £24.5m theatre in Oldham approved despite campaign to save Coliseum

It comes just a couple of weeks after the Coliseum Theatre said it would close permanently at the end of March after losing Arts Council funding

Manchester Evening News · Feb 28, 2023