- Doubling output of arts programming to 36 hours per day from this week;
- Bringing arts to the streets with Artichoke, to launch with Antony Gormley’s ‘One & Other’
in Trafalgar Square;
- Supporting arts organisations and large scale arts events like the Hay Festival 2009; and
- Running 24 on screen and online partnerships a year with arts organisations across the UK..
In the week that sees Sky Arts double its output of arts programming on screen, Sky is also announcing a whole new approach to the arts off screen, bringing enjoyment of the arts to more people.
Sky has agreed a major two year sponsorship of Artichoke, the ground-breaking company that brings art to the streets of towns and cities across the UK with projects that have included ‘The Sultan’s Elephant’ in 2006 and the stunning ‘La Machine’ which saw a giant mechanical spider roam around Liverpool earlier this year.
Sky Arts and Artichoke’s first project together will be supporting Antony Gormley’s ‘One & Other’, which will see the ‘democratisation’ of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, a public space traditionally honouring only the great and the good. In contrast, ‘One & Other’ will see the Fourth Plinth populated by a different individual every hour of every day for 100 days.
Sky will also continue to work with leading arts organisations and events like the Hay Festival, where Sky is the exclusive broadcast partner. Next year’s festival will see an increase in Sky’s broadcast commitment, with additional authors interviews as well as Mariella Frostrup’s daily show, ‘Hay on Sky’.
Sky Arts will also link up with 24 arts organisations across the country every year in on-screen and online partnerships. Each partnership will see Sky Arts produce a specially-filmed ‘Sky Arts At…’ documentary giving viewers online and on air a unique glimpse of the artistic process leading up to a performance. Next year’s partnerships will include the internationally-acclaimed choir, The Sixteen, and The Courtauld Institute’s permanent collection.
Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive of Sky, said: “We think that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy experiences that speak to their individual passions. We want Sky Arts to be the destination for arts lovers and, through our arts partnerships, bring the arts to even more people on stages and streets across the UK.”
Helen Marriage, Co-founder of Artichoke, said: “With Sky’s support we will be able to expand our work, so that we can produce several major projects over the next two years.”
Nicky Webb, Co-founder of Artichoke, added: “The partnership will allow us to surprise, delight and challenge millions of people by showing that art doesn’t need to be locked up behind closed doors.”
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For further info please contact:
Will Brown (will.brown@freud.com / 020 3003 6417)
Or visit http://www.skyarts.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
Sky Arts:
Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2 and Sky Arts HD offer 36 hours of arts output, every day of the week
- From The Bolshoi Ballet to Vanessa Mae’s classical top ten, Sky’s new channel, Sky Arts 2, will show the best of classical arts such as opera, classical music, fine art and dance programming.
- Targeting a younger audience, Sky Arts 1 will show the very best of contemporary arts and culture programming, from Art Rocks and Suggs Italian Job to the Book Show.
- Sky Arts HD will showcase the best of both channels with the picture and sound quality of high definition technology.
- For more info, go to www.skyarts.co.uk, relaunched this week.
Artichoke:
- Artichoke works with artists to create extraordinary live events that take place in streets and public places.
- Its mission is to conceive and produce events which set new benchmarks for the way in which the imagination of the artist can transform lives, introduce new thinking and give pleasure to the widest possible audience.
- Artichoke aims to put on shows which, whilst every bit as ambitious and technically complex as those of the major institutions, are popular, if not populist, in nature.
Sky Arts wider contribution:
- In addition to the major two year sponsorship agreement with Artichoke, Sky currently supports three leading arts organisations and events:
- 2008 was the second year of Sky Arts’ broadcast sponsorship of The Hay Festival, one of the world’s foremost literary and cultural gatherings. Sky Arts broadcast Hay on Sky show presented by Mariella Frostrup daily from the festival. At 2008’s Festival, Sandi Toksvig also launched Sky Arts’ new comedy quiz show What The Dickens.
- Sky Arts has been the National Tour sponsor of English National Ballet since January 2004. Its sponsorship enables English National Ballet to visit towns and cities across the UK including Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Oxford and London.
- English National Opera: During its partnership as Season Sponsor from 2003 to 2009, Sky Arts has supported 83 productions - 50 of them new – which have been enjoyed by over a million people.
- Sky will also be doubling its online and on screen partnerships from 12 to 24 from July 2009. Partnerships so far have included: Mostly Mozart at the Barbican in London; The Folkestone Triennial; Opera North touring across the UK; Artes Mundi in Wales; Globe Theatre in London and on tour in Exeter, Guilford, Oxford, Warwick, Chichester ; Dance Umbrella at venues across London; The Old Vic; ICA; and Scottish Ballet.