This week we debated the Arts Council cuts, received hundreds of applications for our briefs, ran a members-only judging panel, learned how to network and found out that it's not grim up north...
Let’s begin with some Friday ridiculousness. Below, the good people of Tyne & Wear perform their haunting tribute to the North East’s transport system, Tyne & Wear Metro: The Musical. Hopefully London Underground: The Greek Tragedy is next.
At IdeasTap, it’s been a big week for briefs. Just in the past five days, we closed NSDF Edinburgh, Cover NSDF, London Word Festival, Ideas Fund Shorts and Dance Wembley. The last two were particularly popular – 491 budding filmmakers applied for Shorts, and 354 dancers went for Wembley. Good luck!
The members panel of our first-ever Top Up Fund met up on Monday to choose 20 creative projects to award £500 to. It took a fair few hours to come to a decision, but they finally came up with the goods. Next week, we’ll make an official announcement about the winners.
Here are some highlights from the Magazine:
Hazel Davis’s popular piece, How to network – which explains how to make contacts without being annoying.
Katie Jackson’s interview with The Deptford Project – a unique south London arts/food project, housed in an old train carriage.
Nell’s Upstaged column, in which she charts the rise of screen-to-stage adaptations – and, indeed, screen-to-stage-to-screen.
The Arts Council made its funding announcement on Wednesday – we kicked a some debate and chatted to National Youth Theatre’s Executive Director James Mackenzie-Blackman about his take on the cuts.
In the run-up to the Magnum Photographic Award next week, we heard from last year’s finalists. Stay tuned to find out who’s the overall winner – they’ll win £5,000 and a Magnum internship, including a week in New York.
Aerialist and theatre maker Vicki Amedume gave a fascinating interview about her Ghanaian heritage and running away to join the circus.
Eleanor Turney made a case for the new breed of theatre critics taking over the internet, while in Write Now, I celebrated writers who have no time for awards – including John le Carré, who recently asked to be removed from the Man Booker International shortlist.
And finally, as the cricket’s on, Nell did a mega round up of her favourite vintage Bollywood clips in Pick ’n’ Mix.
Have a lovely weekend!
Image courtesy of anniebee on Flickr.