DCMS blog

Today marks the start of the 58th annual BFI London Film Festival (LFF) and it is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our thriving UK film industry. The film business is big business in our capital city. With huge films such as Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,Frankenstein and Paddington recently being shot in London and classics such as The…

Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Gregory Doran discusses the RSC’s plans to mark Shakespeare’s 400th Jubilee year and how the organisation has been working with theatre makers across the globe. Though Zhao had its origins in the 4th century BCE, it was the first Chinese play ever translated in the West (in 1753, by the…

Ahead of National Events Month October staring tomorrow, Alistair Turner Campaign Director at Britain for Events, tells us what makes a good event. What makes a good event? Is it the quality of the experience, the brilliance of the music, the level of sporting achievement, the educational and entertainment qualities of the speakers? Or is…

Following the wonderful meeting with the Mayor, Stefan Schostok and a visit to the Landesmuseum I had to continue with my journey, leaving Eixe to head towards Brunswick, a journey of 19.8 miles. Today’s walk was idyllic and virtually perfect in every way. There was a McDonalds (creature comforts) halfway at Vechelde where we could…

On day 40 I was scheduled to walk from Munister to Ladenberger, which would involve walking 21.7 miles. This would take the current total of my walk to 722.0 miles. I didn’t want to leave Munster. I had fallen I love with the city. It was that mix of university, history, politics and church which…

Great news from Tate this week.  The Matisse show at Tate Modern welcomed 562,622 visitors during its short stay this year, comfortably becoming not only their most successful temporary exhibition ever, but also the first one to top half a million visits.  Congratulations to them and if you, like me, were one of that number…

Hot on the heels of the Crafts Council’s Innovation Programme launch Annie Warburton, Crafts Council Creative Programmes Director, explains how the initiative will drive collaborative innovation and creativity. Robotics, neuroscience, motor racing and pure mathematics are not fields you might immediately link with contemporary craft. Yet all featured at Monday night’s launch of the Crafts…

I was delighted to join the Secretary of State Sajid Javid and his counterpart at the Department for Education Nicky Morgan in New Palace Yard last week to celebrate the landmark six millionth place on the FA Skills programme. FA Skills is a football coaching programme that takes place both in and out of school…

Twenty years. It’s a long time to keep an annual event running, to keep enthusiasm levels and public interest up. Not even Glastonbury happens every year. But Heritage Open Days – the biggest festival of history in the UK – has taken place on the second week of September every year since 1994. Quietly at…

Day 22 of my #walk4peace started in Mons with a plan to walk about 27 miles along one road to Charleroi. Unfortunately I was late leaving my hotel, which I always dread as this means walking the final hour or two of my walk in the dark. Heading out of Mons I soon arrived at…