Cultural Industry News

The BBC's historic Maida vale Studios have been sold to a partnership between Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, and Hans Zimmer and Steven Kofsky.

The Exchange (formerly the Woman’s Exchange) announced that it will award $500,000 to 24 regionally based arts and cultural organizations and 14 high school and college students. Additionally, five organizations are recipients of the new Elizabeth Lindsay Arts in Education grant.

Harlem Stage has announces details for the Black Arts Movement: Then and Now Conference, curated by Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director/Artist-in-Residence Carl Hancock Rux and exploring the legacy of the groundbreaking, influential, and controversial movement of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Harlem Stage has announced details of the Black Arts Movement: Then and Now Conference, curated by Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director/Artist-in-Residence Carl Hancock Rux.

The growing threat of antisemitism in our culture spilled onto Broadway last week as a group of neo-Nazi’s protested outside preview performances of Parade. Cara Joy David dives into that, and how it fits into the wider cultural conversation and what we should be doing in our day to day lives to further combat this alarming growth of antisemitism.

It's been a messy, disillusioning time for the arts. Another blow came last week when it was announced that VAULT Festival had to find a new home once this edition closed. BroadwayWorld spoke to Bec Martin, Head of Programming at VAULT, about the devastating news.

Harlem Stage has announced full programming for Spring 2023, continuing its Black Arts Movement: Examined series examining the 1960s/70s cultural movement led by Black artists, activists, and intellectuals.

The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County will launch its local participation in the Sixth National Arts & Economic Prosperity Study (AEP6) on October 19th with a visit from Randy Cohen, VP for Research at Americans for the Arts.

As we hit the unofficial start of summer, overall the trends are looking up for Broadway and the broader theatre industry. That isn’t to say there aren’t ongoing challenges: ever-shifting health and safety protocols, continued reports of toxic work environments that need to be sorted, and a major shift in how audiences are buying tickets.

The Exchange (formerly the Woman's Exchange) announced that it will award $310,500 to 18 regionally based arts and cultural organizations and 15 students. The awards will be given at an invitation-only event at The Exchange on June 9. The largest award is for $60,000 and is being given to the Asolo Rep in memory of Elizabeth (“Liz”) Lindsay, who was the co-founder of The Exchange and served on its board for 60 years. Lindsay, a long-time pillar in Sarasota's art community, died in January. 

New data points show that the theatre industry is once again at an inflection point - first, data backs up the anecdotal sense that the recovery from the pandemic shutdown has been uneven across the globe, and across different regions within countries. With pandemic response being handled on a local level, this uneven recovery is not surprising.

The announcement of the Tony Awards and the return of the BC/EFA Red Bucket campaign brought a huge sense of normalcy back to the theatre industry last week - unfortunately this week, we were also reminded how far the industry has to go in establishing the new normal with the release of Actors Equity Association’s latest Diversity and Inclusion report.

With many of the pandemic restrictions being lifted in New York City this week, that the Broadway COVID safety team will celebrate their 2,000th performance on Broadway Tuesday night highlights the new phase of normalcy that the industry has entered.

The geopolitical landscape shifted in a major way over the weekend, with Russia invading Ukraine in an unprovoked attack on their sovereignty. The resulting conflict has caused many arts organizations, including the Met Opera, to cut ties with artists and organizations that are connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Congratulations to Gulfshore Playhouse on becoming the 77th member of the League of Resident Theatre’s - a story we have under the regional section of this week’s newsletter. We also have the story of Hollywood retaining their return to work protocols to keep their sets as safe as possible, even as several states and municipalities roll back their own mandates.

Across the industry last week, two trends have begun to emerge more fully: the first being we continue to have more data on just how bleak things were for the industry over the past two years. The second is that more companies are ready to emerge from that darkness stronger than ever - with new spaces ready to open and new seasons being announced.

While the data from the early winter show that Broadway’s reopening didn’t go as planned, and the January closing announcements were an emotional blow after the Omicron surge, the slate of opening dates announced on Broadway for early to mid-April, have many in the industry starting to feel optimistic that this time a corner has truly been turned.

While we’ve thought we were looking at this turning point before, that doesn’t change the fact that the work to bring further equity to the industry remains ongoing, and as companies continue to chart their paths forward, many are working to build that equity into their recovery.

Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust has today announced that SUBA DAS will be their new Creative Director, helping shape its artistic future and bringing a fresh perspective into two of Merseyside's iconic venues - Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham recently announced the artists and major contributors to the arts who will receive the 2021 Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts.