As part of the review, DCMS has opened an online survey asking for feedback on the Arts Council, which is open for submissions until 20 September. ACE deputy chief executive, Althea Efunshile, said she felt the body was well placed for the review, referencing changes to the application process and a streamlining of administrative costs. "Of course there remain a number of challenges for us to address and areas we should improve. From making sure our guidance and application processes are increasingly clear and straightforward, to how we learn from and measure the impact of our investments. We know too that there is more work to do to ensure our processes help us reach more diverse audiences, and ensure our workforce is appropriately diverse," she said.
Entry Denied - Producers of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child have denied entry to a "significant number of people" who bought tickets from online touts. Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender described the secondary ticket market as a "plague" on the industry and warned theatregoers against purchasing tickets for extortionate amounts online. In a statement to The Observer, which found that some sites were selling tickets to the play for more than £8,000, they said: "The secondary ticket market is an industry-wide plague and one which we as producers take very seriously...Our priority is to protect all customers and we are doing all we can to combat this issue."
According to The Observer, theatre staff have been told to deny entry to anyone who can be identified as having bought a resold ticket." Theatregoers denied entry are given a "refusal of entry" letter aimed at helping them to get a refund from their point of purchase.
War on Touts - Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has joined forces with New York senator Chuck Schumer to tackle the problem of ticket touts. The pair are launching a bill that, if passed, would impose fines on scalpers who use automated computer scripts (known as bots) to snatch scores of tickets as soon as they go on sale. "You shouldn't have to fight robots just to see something you love," said Miranda. According to Schumer's office, scalpers made more than $15m (£11.6m) from selling tickets to Hamilton while Miranda was in the title role.
In The Courts - Ed Sheeran is being sued over claims he copied the core elements of Marvin Gaye classic Let's Get It On. According to the lawsuit, Sheeran lifted the "heart" out of the 1973 track for his hit song Thinking Out Loud. The heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Let's Get It On with Gaye, have filed the copyright motion and asked for damages to be assessed at a jury trial. They claim the harmonic progressions, melodic and rhythmic elements central to Let's Get It On formed the structure of Sheeran's track. Thinking Out Loud topped the UK chart in November 2014 and later became the first song to spend a full year in the Top 40.
No Show - Adele has put an end to rumours she'll be performing 2017's Super Bowl halftime show. "I'm not doing the Super Bowl," she told a crowd in Los Angeles on Saturday. "I mean, come on, that show is not about music. And I don't really - I don't dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I said no." The NFL and Pepsi, which organise the show, swiftly issued a counter-statement on Sunday, saying they'd never asked Adele in the first place.
Fabric Closes - One of London's biggest nightclubs has closed its doors for the foreseeable future. It comes after two teenagers died of suspected drug overdoses in the last nine weeks. Fabric in Farringdon, central London, initially announced it was closing for the weekend but news has since emerged that its licence has now been suspended. This time the request has come from the Metropolitan police. Islington Council say that "the Metropolitan Police applied for an interim suspension of Fabric's licence. "Fabric agreed not to contest this application, and a licensing sub-committee has suspended Fabric's licence. This will be followed by a review of Fabric's licence within 28 days." Fabric have said they will be releasing a statement later this week.
(Jim Evans)
