The Week in Light & Sound
- Details
Creative Capital - The mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced the capital’s first six creative enterprise zones, which will be awarded £11m in funding to support artists and businesses. Spread across seven boroughs, the aim of the zones is to support artists to establish themselves in local areas and to develop skills and job opportunities for local people.
The six zones to be announced include Brixton in Lambeth, Croydon – which aims to become a “music city” nurturing young people to enter the music industry - and the borough of Lewisham. Hackney Wick and Fish Island, in the boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, will be another zone, alongside areas in the boroughs of Hounslow and Haringey. The creative enterprise zones aim to create more than 3,500 jobs, 1,000 education opportunities and 40,000 sq metres of affordable workspace.
Free Entry - The English National Opera (ENO) has announced it will give free tickets to under-18s for its Spring 2019 season. Balcony tickets will be made available on Saturdays as a way of engaging young people in opera.
Stuart Murphy, CEO of the ENO, said: "We were founded on the belief that opera is for everyone. We strive to continually stage opera of world class quality and bring it to as many people as possible. Removing cost as a barrier to entry for under-18s is a seismic leap forward for ENO and for opera as a whole, and we hope to entice as many under-18s as possible, from the musically obsessed, to the just plain curious.”
Designer Deal - Designers are fighting to win improved pay and working conditions, as part of a new deal being sought by unions Equity and BECTU. The unions are calling for a tighter definition of what is covered by a designer’s initial fee, arguing that designers often have to absorb “significant additional overheads”. The claim focuses on modernising and improving pre-existing arrangements between the unions and UK Theatre and SOLT.
It follows 12 months during which BECTU has been working with Equity, the Society of London Theatre and the Association of Lighting Designers to address issues concerning designers.
One of the main proposed changes is a new fee structure for freelance designers which, in addition to securing the rights to the design concept, will also cover the designer’s attendance at all pre-production meetings, rehearsals, previews, press nights and other public performances as requested by the management.
(Jim Evans)
18 December 2018
