If you've always wanted to learn to sing but never had the opportunity, now's your chance. 

Sing from Your Soul is an eight-week online singing course headed up by Salwan Cartwright-Shamoon, a postgraduate student in Vocal Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and a recent recipient of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Individual Emergency Resilience Programme (IERP).  The next course starts on 1st March and there are still a few places left.

In response to the challenges presented by the restrictions around Covid-19 pandemic, Salwan used his IERP funding to purchase technology which enabled him to offer his courses online.  The course provides a supportive and friendly platform for singers of all abilities to learn and develop their singing technique.

Terra Nova Productions, Northern Ireland's intercultural theatre company creating culturally diverse, professional and community-led projects for over 13 years, has been working with some of Northern Ireland's most exciting freelance artists, from diverse backgrounds, throughout the lockdowns. The company has announced that the first set of work developed by the artists is ready to view and will be released weekly online from Friday 26th February to 31st March.

Supported by the Arts Council's Organisations Emergency Programme, this project provides a platform to showcase artists who, through various art forms, explore and highlight a range of current issues including the impact of the pandemic, family separation and loss, social justice and #BlackLivesMatter.

The Arts Council has published its response to the consultation on the draft budget for 2021-22. Recommendations by the Arts Council include: continued investment and emergency funding packages to enable the Arts Council to deal with the immediate challenges faced by the arts sector as a result of Covid-19; an additional investment of £18.439m over 3 years to achieve parity with our closest comparator in the arts, Wales; and a three-year planning horizon. 

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has welcomed an investment of almost half a million pounds for arts, culture and heritage projects in communities in need. A total of £483,351 has been provided to 33 Neighbourhood Renewal Areas (NRAs) for a wide range of projects including helping local people create Covid memory plaques, street drama performances, kids' clubs, online wood making and flower arranging classes and the production of a DVD to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) has been in existence since 2014. Its intention was to help boost the live performing arts economy in the way that a similar tax relief has helped the film industry. Presently very few companies in Northern Ireland are availing of this significant opportunity. Theatre and Dance NI is hosting training on Tuesday 9th March at 10.30am via Zoom to provide you with the knowledge of how to access and gain the financial benefits available from TTR. 

Theatre and Dance NI is offering five free places to organisations or companies who have not received Stability and Renewal Programme or Organisations Emergency Programme. Please email Molly to avail of one of these free places. 

This session will benefit production companies as well as small venues who produce.

Speak Up & Call It Out began as a theatre sector initiative led by Irish Theatre Institute (ITI), supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, following the events and revelations in 2017/18 in relation to the abuses of power, and in line with global calls to action. Last week ITI launched the second phase, called Speak Up ACTiON. This phase is starting with a cross-sectoral survey looking to identify patterns of Dignity at Work issues and experiences across the arts. The survey will provide ITI with a clear insight as to the best course of action required over the coming years to address issues raised. You can find full details on the launch on the website here.

This survey is intended for professional arts workers on the island of Ireland across all artforms

The Northern Ireland Impact Forum on Adult Learning and Belfast Learning City last week launched Learn Well, Live Well, a new report on adult learning and health and wellbeing. 

A series of themed articles from a range of
academics and practitioners, illustrated by case studies, including one from the Arts Council on lifelong learning through the Arts, demonstrate the wealth of excellent practice that exists in Northern Ireland.

The authors provide strong arguments for the crucial role which learning plays in improving our health and wellbeing, citing research outcomes, statistics, qualitative studies and practical examples. They also address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and show that, while it has had devastating effects on health and has exacerbated many pre-existing problems, it has also led to valuable lessons and innovations which should be further developed as our world returns to 'normal'.

The Arts Council has rounded up just some of the fantastic creative activities and performances you can enjoy online, most of which are funded by the Arts Council, the Dept for Communities and the National Lottery.

New highlights include: 

International Women's Day Festival at The MAC (4th-11th March) kicks off on Thursday. An outstanding line-up of women cover an array of topics from maternity rights, assisted fertility and alternative routes to parenthood, mental health and wellbeing, hormones, race, sex and trauma.

Belfast Trad's 29th Annual Piping Trionól (5th & 6th March on Zoom) features workshops, Reed-making and lecture with Leonard Barry, Paddy O'Hare, Caoimhín MacAoidh and Fiontan Byrne.

You can watch the Arts Council's Head of Community Arts & Education, Gilly Campbell, with her weekly roundup on NVTV here.

Arts & Business has announced that Forestside will replace Allianz as headline sponsor, who sponsored the awards for 14 years. Forestside has been an active and engaged business member of Arts & Business NI since 2017, having demonstrated its commitment to supporting the arts through its Future Festivals project with Sunflowerfest and Young Guitarist Competition with Belfast Guitar Festival.
 
In light of Covid-19 restrictions, the Arts & Business Awards 2021 will take place as a virtual ceremony in June 2021. Nominations for entries will open in early March 2021.

Keep up to date with the latest Coronavirus updates from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, including a list of potential funding sources which might be helpful to artists and arts organisations at this time. We will update this list as we go along. 

If you know of any other sources, please contact us at and we will share with the sector.