The Week in Light & Sound
- Details
The Cultural Investment Fund was originally announced in 2019, but was put on hold during the pandemic to prioritise the delivery of the Culture Recovery Fund. With a budget of £18.5m in this financial year, the Cultural Development Fund will support places outside of London to invest in "creative, cultural and heritage initiatives that are designed to make places more attractive to live and work in and to visit". This is the second round of the Cultural Development Fund, following a pilot round that was launched as part of the Creative Industries Sector deal in 2018.
Relocation - More than 40% of musicians polled about their work in the European Union said they would consider relocating to Europe to continue accessing jobs, with a fifth contemplating changing career entirely. Musicians warned that the red tape and additional costs of touring and working in Europe after Brexit would have substantial impacts on their careers, as membership bodies the Incorporated Society of Musicians and the Musicians’ Union – which conducted the survey – said the damage to the industry would be immeasurable if a solution to the crisis were not found.
Three-quarters (77%) of the 545 respondents surveyed expect their earnings in Europe to drop once coronavirus travel restrictions ease, with a similar proportion (73%) expecting the effects of Brexit to impact their overall ability to make a living.
Big Weekend - Radio 1's online Big Weekend (28-31 May) features around 50 new live sets recorded exclusively for the event. AJ Tracey's performance takes place at The Regal, a basketball court that belongs to south London community hub, the Black Prince Trust. Coldplay have recorded their performance at Whitby Abbey, the ruin which inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula.
A new production of The Cher Show directed by Arlene Phillips and with choreography by Oti Mabuse has been announced. Opening at Curve in Leicester in April 2022 the production is set to tour the UK and Ireland until April 2023. It will visit locations including Hull, Manchester, Blackpool, Plymouth, Dublin, Birmingham, Cardiff, Woking, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bradford, Ipswich, Bristol, Torquay, Norwich and Carlisle.
The Cher Show has a book by Rick Elice, with costume design by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Ben Cracknell and sound design by Dan Samson. The music producer will be Gary Hickeson. Phillips said: "I have been a fan of Cher since I first heard I Got You Babe in the mid-sixties and cannot wait to direct her musical.”
Forever Young - Bob Dylan celebrated his eightieth birthday this week. A poll of musicians, writers and academics, conducted on Dylan's 70th birthday, found his best song to be 1965's Like a Rolling Stone, which the singer once said was his most honest and direct work. "After that I wasn't interested in writing a novel or a play," he said. "I knew I wanted to write songs because it was just a whole new category." The Bob Dylan Centre in Tulsa, Oklahoma - a museum dedicated to artefacts from his huge archive - will open to the public in May next year.
(Jim Evans)
25 May 2021
