Conference to explore legacy of Naseem Khan’s seminal 1976 report about exclusion of minority ethnic artists

It is 50 years since cultural historian Naseem Khan’s challenge to the British arts establishment was first published, and the question of who and what counts as British continues to be contested.

The Arts Britain Ignores – Khan’s groundbreaking 1976 report, commissioned by organisations including the then Arts Council of Great Britain, presented a vision of a pluralistic national culture, in which the creativity of Britons of diverse ethnic backgrounds – from bhangra music, to black painters and Ukrainian dance – should be recognised, supported and respected.

Government decision comes in response to Margaret Hodge review that proposed charging international tourists

Overseas visitors will continue to enjoy free entry to England’s national museums after ministers decided against charging them after months of discussions between the government, museums, the tourism sector and local leaders.

Ministers said in March that “charging international visitors at national museums could provide significant benefits” as they promised to explore options including examining whether making overseas tourists pay could boost the institutions’ finances.

Digital, culture, media and sport committee expected to hear evidence from BBC bosses and music industry experts

Joe and Jake. Daz Sampson. Electro Velvet. Who could forget them?

Most people, probably. They are some of the many acts who represented the UK at the Eurovision song contest in the last 20 years that have failed to find a place in the country’s cultural pantheon.

Exclusive: Research says sector is fixated with young talent, with most women experiencing unconscious bias or sexism

Women working in the arts believe they do not have equal opportunities for roles, especially as they get older, according to a report saying that the industry is fixated with “young and emerging” talent.

Nearly all (95%) women working in the arts thought gender inequality persisted, while three-quarters (75%) reported experiencing unconscious bias or sexism, according to a survey of 76 arts professionals. More than two-thirds (69%) felt that age negatively affected their career success – a figure that rose to 100% among those working in artistic rather than managerial roles.

New research showing that a rich cultural life brings brings similar benefits to exercise shows human creativity in a new light

Is it really news that the arts are good for you? On one level, the findings of a new study about the health benefits of engaging with music, dance and other artistic endeavours confirm what many of us feel instinctively that we already know. Creativity enhances life. That’s why people admire and cherish it, in others and – if they have the confidence – in themselves.

But the results of one of the first attempts by researchers to quantify this benefit are fascinating all the same. The study, from a group of scientists at University College London, working with blood samples and survey data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, showed that people who participated regularly in the arts aged more slowly than those who did not.

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A pilot scheme offering some artists €300-plus a week for three years is being made permanent. But should something so fundamental be run like a lottery?

I won the lottery. Out of around 8,000 artists, my name was randomly chosen to be one of the 2,000 who the Irish government would pay a basic income. This pilot scheme was a test of whether a policy of supporting artists would pay off in terms of creative work, wellbeing and, calculated down to the cent, the money that society would make back.

For three years, we were paid €325 a week with no strings attached, other than filling out a survey. We could continue earning and applying for artist grants. I am a freelance writer who, like most artists, has always had to work outside my creative focus to afford to live, constantly worrying I will never be able to afford a home myself or to start a family. As such, the basic income was life-changing.

Caelainn Hogan is the author of Republic of Shame

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The closing of a cluster of leading creative venues has led to dismay and intensified fears the hubs that fostered Glasgow’s celebrated arts scene are disappearing

By the time Daisy Mulholland arrived, the locks had already been changed. The Glaswegian artist, had been organising the launch event for her new art shop at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) when she got an email telling her the Sauchiehall Street venue – and cornerstone of the city’s art scene since it was founded as the Third Eye Centre in 1974 – was closing with immediate effect.

“The event was the following day: we had 250 tickets sold, we’d done so many rehearsals, and inside there were lighting rigs, performers’ equipment, shop stock. It was truly heartbreaking,” she says.

Ministers urged to abandon plans to let tech firms use work of novelists, artists and writers without permission

The UK’s creative industries must not be sacrificed in the pursuit of speculative gains in AI technology, a House of Lords committee has warned, as the government prepares to reveal the economic cost of proposals to change copyright rules.

A report by peers has urged ministers to develop a licensing regime for the use of creative works in AI products and abandon proposals to let tech firms use the work of novelists, artists, writers and journalists without permission.

When piloted, initiative that provided €325 a week to eligible artists recouped more than its net cost, study shows

Ireland is creating a scheme that will give artists a weekly income in the hope of reducing their need for alternative work and boosting their creativity.

The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) initiative will provide €325 (£283) a week to 2,000 eligible artists based in the Republic of Ireland in three-year cycles.

Under Trump, the world-class centre for performing arts is one of many US cultural institutions changing beyond recognition. Will others buckle?

A year ago – just a year ago – the Kennedy Center in Washington DC was a world-class centre for the performing arts. It had a resident opera company, respected artistic teams, and a run of the acclaimed musical Hamilton to look forward to. It had a bipartisan board that upheld the dignity of an organisation that, since it was conceived of in the mid-20th century, had been treated with courtesy and supported by governments of both stripes.

How quickly things unravel. Donald Trump inserted himself as chair of the organisation soon after his 20 January inauguration, dispatched the hugely experienced executive director, and installed his unfortunate loyalist Richard Grenell to run it. This former ambassador to Germany might have wished for better things; at any rate, entirely inexperienced in the arts, he seems utterly out of his depth. Things have unravelled. Artists have departed the centre in droves. Hamilton pulled out. So have audiences. In November, Francesca Zambello, the artistic director of the Washington National Opera, told me that ticket sales had tanked for the opera. Analysis by the Washington Post showed it was the same pattern across the centre.