The Week in Light & Sound
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Foundation Funding - Andrew Lloyd Webber’s foundation is overhauling the way money is awarded, with three new strands aimed at supporting potential and reaching diverse communities. The foundation will award funding under the strands Unlock, Enhance and Empower. The Unlock strand will give grants if up to £5,000 to projects that increase diversity by “breaking down social, economic and geographical barriers”. This might include youth theatres or music therapy groups.
The Enhance strand will award grants of up to £10,000 to projects that provide specialist training and workplace experience for emerging artists and newly graduated professionals, while the Empower section will award funding of up to £25,000 to projects that allow practitioners to “apply resources widely” and give training to a significant number of people.
Lloyd Webber said: “Music and the arts can empower and liberate, which is why it’s so important to encourage participation and nurture talent. If you empower children and young people through the arts, the return on investment is huge. I don’t think there’s ever been a time when the arts have been more important. I really, passionately believe that.”
Since launching in 2011, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has awarded more than £20m.
Northern Light - Edinburgh’s proposed new 1,000 seat concert hall and 200 seat studio theatre space has won planning approval from the city’s council. Previously referred to as the Impact Centre, it will be called the Dunard Centre – after a donation from the Dunard Fund – and will be Edinburgh’s first purpose-built music and performance venue for more than a century. It will provide a new home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a principal venue for the Edinburgh International Festival.
The City of Edinburgh Council’s development management subcommittee agreed by a majority of six to four to approve plans for the venue behind the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Dundas House on St Andrew Square.
Ewan Brown, chairman of Impact Scotland, which is behind the project, said: “Today’s decision is tremendous news for the city and turns the ambition for a world-class centre for music and performance into a reality. I am particularly pleased to announce today that the official name of the venue will be Dunard Centre supported by Royal Bank of Scotland. This is in recognition of the huge contribution Carol Grigor has made to this project through the charitable trust Dunard Fund.”
The venue is the flagship cultural project of the City Region Deal which is providing £25 million: £10 million each from the UK and Scottish governments and £5 million from the city council.
Ozzy’s Back - Ozzy Osbourne has announced the dates of seven rescheduled UK and Ireland gigs. The former Black Sabbath frontman had to cancel the remainder of his No More Tours 2 tour after aggravating an old injury while falling at his Los Angeles home.
Osbourne, 70, was under doctor's care as he was recovering from the injury sustained while dealing with pneumonia. He'll now perform again on these shores in January and February 2020. The UK leg of the rescheduled tour kicks-off on 31 January at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena and culminates at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham.
"I'm really looking forward to getting back to Europe for these shows," he said in a statement. "Thank you to all the fans for sticking with me and waiting for the new dates to be announced. I can't wait to see you all next year." Following his UK dates, Osbourne will then head over to Europe for gigs in Germany, Sweden, Italy, and beyond, before continuing on to the US.
Festival Blues - A three-day festival to mark the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock festival has been cancelled four months before it was due to take place, the main financial backer says. Rapper Jay-Z, singer Miley Cyrus and the Killers band had all been booked to play at Woodstock 50 in New York state. The chief funder said it could not ensure the "health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees". The festival organiser "vehemently denied" it had been cancelled. "Woodstock 50 vehemently denies the festival's cancellation and legal remedy will (be) sought," the organiser told US local newspaper the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Rolling On - Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood says singer Sir Mick Jagger is doing "really well" as he recovers from a heart operation. The 75-year-old frontman tweeted that he was "on the mend" earlier this month, after reportedly undergoing heart valve replacement surgery. The band were forced to postpone some North American dates of their No Filter tour while Jagger recovered.
Guitarist Wood has revealed his bandmates have been cheering Sir Mick up with musical "get well" videos. He told Hello! magazine: "Sally [Wood's wife] and I went on a break to the Caribbean with Keith [Richards] and [his wife] Patti and sent him videos of us playing and singing get well songs on the guitar. That cracked him up…We're all so pleased that he's doing well."
(Jim Evans)
30 April 2019
