The following were mentioned in the New Year's Honours List:
Appoint or lose funds, Scottish Ballet told
The Scottish Arts Council has been told that it must appoint an artistic director within three months or lose its funding. The company has been without an artistic director since the resignation of Galina Samsova seventeen months ago.
ACW protests at government "favouritism"
The government is being much more generous to England than to Wales, the Arts Council of Wales has protested. ACW chairman Sir Richard Lloyd Jones complains that the 3% increase in its grant barely keeps pace with inflation and is not enough for the arts in the principality. ACW complains that, since 1995, the real value of its grant has declined by 10%, in spite of the fact that the arts sector accounts for 29,000 jobs and has a turnover of £1.1 billion.
Education cuts have caused falling audiences for Scottish pantos, according to a report in The Stage. Low funding has meant that primary schools have not been taking classes to the theatre for the traditional panto but have been importing touring shows instead. The Cumbernauld Theatre, for instance, reports a 20% fall in school bookings, whilst touring company Hopscotch has had to create three companies for its touring version of Jack and the Beanstalk.