Coronavirus Archives

UK Government backs insurance scheme for live events

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a £750m insurance lifeline for the live events industry in the UK, in partnership with Lloyd's of London.

MUSIC:ED August 5, 2021

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World Choir Games to include virtual participation for the first time

Event organiser INTERKULTUR has launched a 'Virtual Competitions' strand to enable all choirs worldwide to participate online.

MUSIC:ED July 26, 2021

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Oliver Dowden speaking on Twitter about choirs

Dowden tweets choirs in England can re-assemble on 19 July

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has tweeted that choirs will be allowed to gather, rehearse and perform again…

MUSIC:ED July 6, 2021

The Marriage of Figaro at Glyndebourne © Alastair Muir

Glyndebourne launches fund to support its freelance contractors

Glyndebourne Opera House in Sussex, England has launched the Glyndebourne Freelancer Fund to help support the freelancers who make up 70 percent of it…

MUSIC:ED June 26, 2021

Double your donation to the Future Sound music education programme for children affected by Coronavirus

The Abram Wilson Foundation will match-fund donations made to the Champions for Children project before 16 June 2021 to help vulnerable young people …

MUSIC:ED June 11, 2021

Petition challenges government’s covid restrictions on choirs

A petition has been launched to try to persuade the UK government that its latest decision to block choirs from singing together is damaging to nation…

MUSIC:ED May 20, 2021

Music Minds Matter expands service following huge rise in requests for help from musicians

Help Musicians has seen a 65 percent increase in calls to its Music Minds Matter service

MUSIC:ED April 19, 2021

Major report published on the future of freelancing in the performing arts

A 142 page, Arts Council England-funded report has called for a sea change in the relationship between creative arts employers and freelancers followi…

MUSIC:ED April 7, 2021

Soundtrap drives an online revolution in UK students’ music learning and mental health

The Covid crisis has created opportunities for innovation in music education and affirmed music’s essential contribution to the health and wellbeing…

MUSIC:ED February 22, 2021

New World Symphony rehearsal observations

Research lab funded to investigate new methods in classical music teaching

The US National Endowment of the Arts has initiated funding for a five-year project at New York University Steinhardt Music and Audio Research Lab to …

MUSIC:ED February 9, 2021

Wiltshire Primary school gives ukulele to every pupil

Staverton Church of England School in rural Wiltshire has invested £4000 to give every one of its 250 pupils a ukulele to help them get through the p…

MUSIC:ED February 6, 2021

Sage Gateshead reveals stark figures about the impact of Covid on arts in England’s North East

One of Britain’s largest and most prestigious arts venues, Sage Gateshead, has published its 2019/20 Annual Review, revealing disturbing figures on …

MUSIC:ED February 6, 2021

PRS backtracks after members’ backlash

Within hours of its announcement, PRS for Music has retreated from its plan to charge licence fees for small-scale live-streamed concerts during the p…

MUSIC:ED February 4, 2021

£500,000 fund established to help creative freelancers in Manchester

The Savannah Wisdom Foundation, Manchester City Council and the arts centre, HOME, have set up a fund to help the city’s creative and cultural freel…

MUSIC:ED January 29, 2021

ENO Breathe lullaby filming, ENO Orchestra, Soraya Mafi © Karla Gowlett, courtesy of ENO

English National Opera and Imperial College launch social prescribing programme to help Long-Covid recovery

In a striking example of the healing power of music, English National Opera and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have launched a nationwide schem…

MUSIC:ED January 28, 2021

IFS report cites ‘clear injustices’ in the exclusion of UK freelancers from SEISS

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has accused the UK government of injustices in a report into the government’s deliberate exclusion of over 1.3 mill…

MUSIC:ED January 28, 2021

Royal Irish Academy of Music and Music Network unite in unusual charity challenge

The ‘Grade-1-a-thon’ offers people of all ages the motivation to take up an instrument and pass their Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) Grade 1 …

MUSIC:ED January 13, 2021

Sing Up At Home offers a free #FeelgoodFifteen minutes of song every Tuesday

Sing Up, England's national singing organisation, has started a free service to raise children’s spirits every Tuesday morning during the schools lo…

MUSIC:ED January 10, 2021

Music lessons feature in BBC’s largest ever online education resource launch

Music is among the many subjects offered in the huge provision of free teaching resources launched by the BBC in the first week of January