alison Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 3 hours ago, Richard LH said: In Friday's No. 10 Press Conference David from Milton Keynes asked if the Govt. would offer further assistance to the events and arts industry to ensure it survives the next few months. The PM promised a timetable will be set out next week to get these industries preparing to get underway with Covid secure measures, and promised David that the Govt. would be doing everything they reasonably can to support the arts theatre and events world in the interim. Excuse my cynicism, but that just sounds like words, words, words. We've had a lot of them from that source. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 Seems like there will be some dance at the Garnier after all ... in and amongst the work taking place as already noted on BcoF:- https://actu.orange.fr/societe/culture/malgre-les-travaux-le-ballet-de-l-opera-de-retour-a-garnier-a-l-automne-CNT000001rl0A6.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 3 hours ago, SheilaC said: There's going to be an interview with the CEO of Birmingham Hippodrome on the Sophy Ridge show on Sky News (on now, ends 9.30) Hi Sheila, Referring to the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre Trust Limited''s Annual Financial Statements for year ended 31st March 2019 seven employees had emoluments in excess of £60,000 (2 in the 60-70k band, 2 in the 80-90k band, 1 in the 90-100k band, 1 in the 120-130k band and 1 in the 130-140k band). Was this referred to in the interview ? Surely these levels of pay should be foregone for more modest levels whilst we endure this crisis. Source = Companies House website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheilaC Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 No, Robin, the interview focused on the general issues for theatres, and the economic benefits for the night-time economy of people attending theatres, and therefore the more general economic risks of theatres closing. (For BRB fans who (used to) go to the Birmingham Hippodrome to see the company there were nostalgic- inducing pictures not just of the theatre but also the nearby bars and restaurants.) I don't think there were any references to BRB itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 1 hour ago, Robin Smith said: Hi Sheila, Referring to the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre Trust Limited''s Annual Financial Statements for year ended 31st March 2019 seven employees had emoluments in excess of £60,000 (2 in the 60-70k band, 2 in the 80-90k band, 1 in the 90-100k band, 1 in the 120-130k band and 1 in the 130-140k band). Was this referred to in the interview ? Surely these levels of pay should be foregone for more modest levels whilst we endure this crisis. Source = Companies House website. Thank you for this and the website. I've had a look at the ROH account (a/o Aug 2018, their last filing)and it makes for interesting reading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, oncnp said: Thank you for this and the website. I've had a look at the ROH account (a/o Aug 2018, their last filing)and it makes for interesting reading This might be a good juncture to point out this, from an interview with Antonio Pappano and Alex Beard in May: '[Beard says,]"...We’ve basically protected everyone’s pay who earns £30,000 or less; everyone else has taken a 20 per cent pay cut, with more from me.” Pappano has waived his salary of more than £500,000. “That was very easy,” Pappano says, simply. “I’m a music director; I need to help the institution out right now — in both places.” He is talking about his “other” gig, as chief conductor at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he has also forgone his wages.' (From https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-to-save-the-royal-opera-house-one-act-shows-no-intervals-sppd352sr) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said: This might be a good juncture to point out this, from an interview with Antonio Pappano and Alex Beard in May: '[Beard says,]"...We’ve basically protected everyone’s pay who earns £30,000 or less; everyone else has taken a 20 per cent pay cut, with more from me.” Pappano has waived his salary of more than £500,000. “That was very easy,” Pappano says, simply. “I’m a music director; I need to help the institution out right now — in both places.” He is talking about his “other” gig, as chief conductor at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he has also forgone his wages.' (From https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-to-save-the-royal-opera-house-one-act-shows-no-intervals-sppd352sr) That interview was what prompted me to look it up, i.e. 80% of what? Not being critical but I like to know how any charity I support is spending my money, especially these days Edited July 5, 2020 by oncnp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 1 hour ago, oncnp said: Thank you for this and the website. I've had a look at the ROH account (a/o Aug 2018, their last filing)and it makes for interesting reading Please could you give the link for these, oncp? Do they include the salary levels? I can't locate them and the ROH itself has separated the accounts from its annual report and requires people to make a specific request to see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 9 minutes ago, capybara said: Please could you give the link for these, oncp? Do they include the salary levels? I can't locate them and the ROH itself has separated the accounts from its annual report and requires people to make a specific request to see them. The Charity Commission is the place to start for most arts organisations. The most recently published ROH report and accounts are here: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends75/0000211775_AC_20180827_E_C.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, capybara said: Please could you give the link for these, oncp? Do they include the salary levels? I can't locate them and the ROH itself has separated the accounts from its annual report and requires people to make a specific request to see them. If you are a masochist or have insomnia the entire filing (pdf - 90+ pages) is here (salary bands begin about page 59 but lots of other interesting stuff as well) or you can go to https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/ enter roh and then chose "filing history" and "accounts". If you prefer send me your e-mail address and I'll send you the PDF. Edited July 5, 2020 by alison To remove horrendously long link (which doesn't work anyway) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 36 minutes ago, capybara said: Please could you give the link for these, oncp? Do they include the salary levels? I can't locate them and the ROH itself has separated the accounts from its annual report and requires people to make a specific request to see them. As noted above they are publicly available from the Charity Commission (along with previous years) but I have attached the pdf for ease of reference. ROH accounts 2018.pdf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, oncnp said: Thank you for this and the website. I've had a look at the ROH account (a/o Aug 2018, their last filing)and it makes for interesting reading Thank you oncnp, Lizbie1 and BBB. I've found it now. I somehow managed to turned up a version which did not have the accounts/salaries. Very interesting that really quite a large number of staff categorised as Artists are in the £100,000 plus categories and that the orchestra costs nearly as much as the Royal Ballet. Edited July 5, 2020 by capybara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 I think it’s a great thing for employers to offer more than furlough pay but at the point that you are requesting government funds I’m not sure it can be justified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 Again from the struggling Stage publication ... (in addition to the government monies announced last night ... ) 1. Theatre and film director Sam Mendes is spearheading the creation of an emergency fund for theatre workers in need of urgent support due to the coronavirus pandemic. .... Established with the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, the Theatre Artists Fund has launched with a £500,000 donation from Netflix, which will support an initial 500 individual grants to struggling theatre professionals. The fund is also actively seeking further donations so that it can support more theatre workers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 Some hopeful (if expensive) news for those of us coming from "red list" countries like the US https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/06/passengers-arriving-heathrow-red-list-could-pay-avoid-quarantine/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 I wonder if that approach is ‘lead by the science’! I understood the tests are recommended to be done at day 3-5 of infection and are not totally reliable even then, surely they’ll only pick up a fraction of infections without any sort of quarantine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 Plus I'm getting rather concerned about the sudden upsurge in recorded cases in all the English areas I'm keeping an eye on ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 7 hours ago, Peony said: I wonder if that approach is ‘lead by the science’! I understood the tests are recommended to be done at day 3-5 of infection and are not totally reliable even then, surely they’ll only pick up a fraction of infections without any sort of quarantine Someone in another thread said that they never wanted to hear the phrase "new normal" again. My preference would be "led by the science". The test in this case is said to be PCR based which detects viral RNA (as you may know, perhaps better than I. If so I apologize). They are highly accurate, my university hospital considered them the gold standard, but not fool proof. An antibody test would take a few days to come back positive and a test would not be totally reliable as it is reported that not everyone develops antibodies. Mind you, I'm not sure I would want to endure a properly done nasal swab even for the Royal Ballet or risk being turned around and sent home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 On 07/07/2020 at 12:47, alison said: Plus I'm getting rather concerned about the sudden upsurge in recorded cases in all the English areas I'm keeping an eye on ... Panic over. Apparently these were simply the "pillar 2" results, dating from April onwards or some such, which hadn't previously been included. 22 hours ago, oncnp said: An antibody test would take a few days to come back positive That's what I thought. So the pubs which closed again at the weekend because they were notified that a customer was infected, and then proudly announced that none of their employees had tested positive are jumping the gun a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 31 minutes ago, alison said: That's what I thought. So the pubs which closed again at the weekend because they were notified that a customer was infected, and then proudly announced that none of their employees had tested positive are jumping the gun a bit? Antibody tests are to see if you’ve had something not to test if you currently have it! Different tests, innit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Guide to test results from the US Centers for Disease Control (not that we're controlling it much) https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Testing-Guidance.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Accuracy of the antigen tests is quoted as 70% in the UK. Not necessarily the test that isn’t accurate but it’s also really difficult to pick up on a swab of the upper airways because covid is a lower respiratory infection primarily. If your viral load is low (asymptomatic or in the first couple of days of symptoms) it’s less accurate. So because covid is so infectious it’s possible someone will spread it to A large number of their fellow passengers and of course none of them will test positive on arrival. The chances are low if the origin has low infection levels but if they’re higher I personally find it very worrying! I love travelling and am very happy to welcome visitors but I can’t see a way that this policy would not be high risk. I’m not an expert by any means though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Hopefully if this new test developed by Oxford Uni works, it should help the fight (there are other similar tests that were mentioned in the news some time ago but they haven't been rolled out yet. Don't know why. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-08-oxford-scientists-form-spinout-launch-rapid-covid-19-virus-test 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 15 minutes ago, MJW said: Hopefully if this new test developed by Oxford Uni works, it should help the fight (there are other similar tests that were mentioned in the news some time ago but they haven't been rolled out yet. Don't know why. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-08-oxford-scientists-form-spinout-launch-rapid-covid-19-virus-test A quick accurate test will be great (and make Oxford a packet). But.....It will be the nasal swab problem again though. It must be done very deeply which is very uncomfortable/painful (as some may know to their cost). That's why some of this testing is reported as not accurate. Not because the test is bad but because the sample wasn't collected/handled properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Peony said: Accuracy of the antigen tests is quoted as 70% in the UK. Not necessarily the test that isn’t accurate but it’s also really difficult to pick up on a swab of the upper airways because covid is a lower respiratory infection primarily. If your viral load is low (asymptomatic or in the first couple of days of symptoms) it’s less accurate. So because covid is so infectious it’s possible someone will spread it to A large number of their fellow passengers and of course none of them will test positive on arrival. The chances are low if the origin has low infection levels but if they’re higher I personally find it very worrying! I love travelling and am very happy to welcome visitors but I can’t see a way that this policy would not be high risk. I’m not an expert by any means though Antigen is slightly different from the PCR discussed in the article (how confusing is this getting?) From the US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) "PCR tests can be incredibly accurate, but running the tests and analyzing the results can take time. One of the main advantages of an antigen test is the speed of the test, which can provide results in minutes. However, antigen tests may not detect all active infections, as they do not work the same way as a PCR test. Antigen tests are very specific for the virus, but are not as sensitive as molecular PCR tests. This means that positive results from antigen tests are highly accurate, but there is a higher chance of false negatives, so negative results do not rule out infection. With this in mind, negative results from an antigen test may [other sources say 'must'] need to be confirmed with a PCR test prior to making treatment decisions or to prevent the possible spread of the virus due to a false negative." As you note even the PCR may not pick up infection in the first couple days (and the antigen even less so) until the virus starts replicating and it has something to detect. The "safe" option is to keep the 14 day quarantine (from the Italian for 40 - the number of days ships had to wait before landing during the Black Death) for the red list countries and that list will probably change - frequently - at a time when consistency is needed. 'Don't envy the folks trying to balance health and economics. Edited July 8, 2020 by oncnp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) Telling? ... Perhaps ... Andrew Lloyd Webber has delayed performances of his and Emerald Fennell’s new Cinderella musical until March 2021. Also of germane interest to BcoF readers from the struggling Stage is the following. Certainly the renewed importance of the digital footprint for all arts aspects is one element which may well be seen as a defining legacy of the pandemic ... .... The online subscription service, [Marquee TV] which offers digital recordings of opera, dance and theatre, has already released its first co-commissioned recording of dance-theatre piece Revisor by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young, in collaboration with the BBC. Until now, it has streamed existing recordings of works from organisations including the Royal Opera House and the Royal Shakespeare Company, but has shared its plans to become more involved in the creation of new digital work having been in conversation prior to Covid 19 with the Royal Opera House about co-producing recordings of works by emerging artists in the Linbury Theatre, which are set to resume when theatres reopen .... Director of partnerships at Marquee TV, Susannah Simons, said: "In a really odd way you can take advantage of the fact there’s no audience and you start looking at new spaces, new ways of doing things, and new ways of filming so you can create stuff that works in this new post Covid-19 world." .... Simons also said that Marquee is curating a festival of short films, called Summer Shorts, which will mainly be made up of dance films and will take place in August. Edited July 9, 2020 by Bruce Wall 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) Again from the struggling Stage: .... During DCMS questions in the House of Commons, Dowden said: “I want to see these [cultural] institutions open their doors as soon as it is safe to do so, and I’m working extensively with the sector on how to achieve this and will be publishing further roadmap timings for further steps imminently.” ..... Dowden added: “We have more to do and there will be further announcements on restarts imminently but the best way to secure jobs and revive our sectors is to reopen them safely, and I won’t stop until we’ve achieved this for all DCMS sectors.” .... Dowden added: “The key thing for freelancers is to protect the institutions so that in future they can return [to work] as they reopen, and that is what this package [the one announced by the Chancellor yesterday] achieved.” Also ... Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak announced the VAT reduction for the hospitality and leisure sectors during his mini-budget on July 8, and culture secretary Oliver Dowden subsequently confirmed that theatres and circuses will be eligible, along with concerts, fairs, amusement parks, museums and cinemas. ... The government has announced that VAT for theatres and circuses will be reduced from 20% to 5% until January 2021. .... Equity said: "Unions including Equity must be consulted as to how the Kickstart scheme can be applied to, and work effectively, in the entertainment industry ... New creative graduates are emerging into an industry in crisis and many have not been supported by the Self Employed Income Support Scheme." Edited July 9, 2020 by Bruce Wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-53356040/culture-secretary-support-the-places-we-all-love More details about opening up venues.... Edited July 9, 2020 by Richard LH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 2 minutes ago, Richard LH said: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-53356040/culture-secretary-support-the-places-we-all-love More details about opening up venues..... Slowly but surely...! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 The full news conference is worth seeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 I doubt I'm alone in having received an email from the Royal Opera House asking for help in planning the reopening ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) So look forward to hearing news of the ballet/dance companies' outdoor performances. Can't wait to walk or cycle to those within my local (London) reach. Edited July 9, 2020 by Bruce Wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 19 minutes ago, alison said: I doubt I'm alone in having received an email from the Royal Opera House asking for help in planning the reopening ... What sort of help, Alison? The word 'reopening' is nice to see! (though we know it will be in stages) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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