Freelancers in Manchester can apply for grants of up to £1,500 next week
All Manchester residents working in music, theatre, dance, combined arts, visual arts, museums, literature, creative industries or heritage culture can apply if they have been adversely affected by COVID-19.
Local freelancers working in the creative and culture sector will be able to apply for grants of up to £1,500 next week, Manchester City Council has confirmed.
The ‘Cultural Sector Hardship Fund for Freelancers’ has been launched by Manchester-based charity The Savannah Wisdom Foundation and B&M Retail PLC – creating a pot of £500,000 for the arts crowd.
All Manchester residents working in music, theatre, dance, combined arts, visual arts, museums, literature, creative industries or heritage culture can apply.
Anyone living in the ten Greater Manchester boroughs who can show most of their work is normally in Manchester is also eligible.
"Without freelancers, Manchester simply does not have a cultural offer" – @RahmanCllr
A new fund is available to freelancers in the arts and culture industries whose work has been impacted by Covid-19.
It was revealed in October that 48 Manchester arts companies qualified for financial support from the government’s #HereForCulture campaign – which saw £257million distributed to 1,300 organisations adversely affected by the pandemic.
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But the ‘Cultural Sector Hardship Fund for Freelancers’ has been launched independently of the government’s culture department – instead made possible by the “amazing generosity” of charities.
The Savannah Wisdom Foundation has asked Manchester City Council to administer the scheme on their behalf.
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Councillor Luthfur Rahman OBE, Executive Member for Culture, Skills and Leisure, Manchester City Council, said: “This scene would be nothing however and simply wouldn’t exist without the crucial community of skilled and talented individuals – usually freelancers – who make all the magic on stage and in cultural venues happen.
“It’s therefore fantastic to be able to announce – thanks to the amazing generosity of the Savannah Wisdom Foundation and B&M Stores – this brand new cash help for freelancers in the cultural sector in Manchester who we know have been particularly badly hit by the pandemic financially. “
Additional support for the grant application scheme is also being provided by Manchester city centre arts organisation HOME – whose staff are providing a helpline service for freelancers to ask questions.
Jon Gilchrist, Executive Director at HOME, said: “Cultural organisations across the city have been working together to support all areas of the cultural sector devastated by this pandemic.
“Freelancers are without doubt the most affected with many slipping through gaps in funding schemes. With this further lockdown, we risk losing an entire generation of talented artists and creative practitioners if we don’t act now.
“Thanks to this incredible gift, some of the people at the greatest risk of financial hardship will get some additional support.”
The Cultural Sector Hardship Fund for Freelancers opens to applicants next week on Monday (February 1).
For more information about the scheme and to make an application visit the official webpage.
News
UK set for another ‘potential’ heatwave next week after warmest June on record
Emily Sergeant
England could be heading towards another potential heatwave early next week, the Met Office has revealed.
While it’s obviously true that temperatures this week have returned to average for the time of year, bringing largely settled conditions for many, once next week rolls around, some parts of the country could be heating up once again – with the Met Office revealing what Greater Manchester residents should prepare for.
For the early part of next week, temperatures will definitely rise and perhaps reach what are considered heatwave conditions for some.
But if this is the case, the forecast suggests that it’s ‘unlikely’ to reach the high temperatures and humidity of last month’s heat, and the North West won’t be getting the worst of it.
The potential of next week’s heatwave comes after last month was officially declared the UK’s warmest June on record.
After a week of respite from the heat, high pressure moves in this weekend, dominating many southern and central areas for the next 10 days.
A defining feature of the month’s heatwave was the ‘exceptionally warm’ overnight temperatures, with frequent ‘tropical nights’ helping to drive the highest average June minimum temperatures on record.
Giving an insight into what’s to come as we head into the weekend, Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster, Tony Wisson, explained: “Toward the weekend, high pressure will continue to build in across most of the UK as it extends from the Azores. This will lead to more settled, warm or very warm conditions for many, especially across England and Wales, though some rain may still affect the far north.
“The forecast for this weekend suggests that temperatures could approach high 20s°C across parts of England, perhaps 30°C in parts of the southeast, with values of mid to high 20s°C in Wales.
“Although a return to heatwave conditions is looking increasingly likely for some areas, the likelihood of such extreme high temperatures or high levels of humidity as last week is currently low.”
Featured Image – Dmitry Zvolskiy (via Unsplash)
News
NHS to begin offering new one-minute jab to women with ‘aggressive’ form of cancer
Emily Sergeant
The NHS is set to begin offering new immunotherapy for hundreds of women with aggressive cervical cancer across the country.
Pembrolizumab – which experts have described as being able to ‘take the handbrake off’ the body’s immune system to target cancer – will now be presented as a new treatment option for women in England with locally-advanced cervical cancer, which means the cancer has grown beyond the cervix to regions such as the pelvic wall, but not yet spread further around the body.
Trials found that adding pembrolizumab to standard chemoradiotherapy helped keep cancer ‘at bay’ for longer, and improved survival rates overall.
Two years after starting the treatment, nearly seven in 10 patients (68%) were still living without their cancer progressing, compared with 57% for those receiving chemoradiotherapy alone, according to NHS figures.
The trial also found that 82.6% of patients were still alive three years after treatment with pembrolizumab and chemoradiotherapy, compared with 74.8% with chemoradiotherapy alone.
Hundreds of women with aggressive cervical cancer are to be offered a new immunotherapy treatment.
It marks one of the biggest improvements in treatment for the disease in years, and could help more women survive and stay cancer-free in the long term.
The drug is either given every three or siz weeks via an infusion, or as a ‘one-minute’ injection, alongside chemoradiotherapy.
The NHS estimates around 550 patients in England will be eligible for the treatment – which has been approved this week by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – over the next two years.
Patients will now receive fast-tracked access, funded by NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund.
“This is great news for women facing a diagnosis of aggressive cervical cancer, and represents one of the biggest improvements in treatment for this disease in recent years,” commented Professor Peter Johnson, who is the NHS National Clinical Director for Cancer.
“Combining this immunotherapy with existing treatment has had very positive effect for patients in trials, helping the body’s immune system to target cancer more effectively.
The Manc -
26th January 2021 
