London's Southbank Centre to receive £10m government funding boost

The UK government has announced a £10 million funding boost for London’s Southbank Centre as part of a broader £128 million investment package for 130 cultural venues nationwide. Administered by Arts Council England, the grant is earmarked for urgent infrastructure repairs, including fixing leaking roofs and modernizing rigging systems, coinciding with the center's 75th anniversary. Other major beneficiaries of the Creative Foundations Fund include the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Firstsite gallery.

Arts funding gap in the north must be closed | Letters

Two letter writers to The Guardian criticize the UK government's arts funding imbalance, highlighting that London receives disproportionate investment compared to northern England. Christine Baranski points out that £135m was spent on the V&A East in London while the Tate in Liverpool has been closed for over two years and the Albert Docks cultural area appears neglected. Sharon Maher notes that Arts Council spending is roughly £57 per Londoner versus £28 per person in the north, and argues that future national museum outposts should be located in the north.

Director of the Hermitage Museum Sanctioned by the European Union

Le directeur du Musée de l'Ermitage sanctionné par l'Union européenne

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Mikhail Piotrovsky, the 81-year-old director of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, as part of its 20th sanctions package against Russia. Piotrovsky was blacklisted for supporting the war in Ukraine and overseeing illegal archaeological excavations in occupied Crimea. The EU cited his use of Kremlin war rhetoric—calling the museum's exhibition policy a "cultural special operation"—and the Hermitage's role in incorporating Ukrainian cultural objects from occupied territories into Russia's state museum fund. Additionally, under his leadership, unauthorized digs were conducted at the ancient Greek site of Myrmekion in Crimea, led by Hermitage archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, who was arrested in Warsaw and later released in a prisoner exchange.

Hermitage Museum Director and Putin Ally Mikhail Piotrovsky Sanctioned by European Union

The European Union has sanctioned Mikhail Piotrovsky, the longtime director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, for his close association with Vladimir Putin and his active support of Russia's war against Ukraine. Announced on April 23, the sanctions are part of a broader package targeting over a hundred individuals and entities, including other cultural figures like Sergei Obryvalin, Igor Solonin, and Andrey Polyakov, for their roles in the seizure of Ukrainian cultural property and the spread of Russian propaganda in occupied regions.

Government gives East of England culture and arts venues £6.6m

The UK government has announced a £6.6 million investment in arts and culture venues across the East of England to support essential infrastructure upgrades and renovations. Key beneficiaries include Firstsite in Colchester and Snape Maltings in Suffolk, which are receiving significant grants for building repairs and environmental control systems. Other recipients range from the Natural History Museum in Colchester to the Wysing Arts Centre, with funds earmarked for everything from HVAC improvements to restoring Grade II listed structures.