Week Ahead: Turner Prize, universities strike and film award ceremonies

Turner Prize

Artists will line up in hope of winning the Turner Prize on Wednesday during the annual ceremony.

One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art.

It was established in 1984 and named after the radical British painter JMW Turner (1775-1851).

Winners are awarded £25,000, with £10,000 going to each of the others shortlisted.

Those shortlisted are: Belfast group Array Collective, London collective Black Obsidian Sound System, Cooking Sections, a duo based in the capital who examine the “systems that organise the world through food”, according to Tate, Cardiff’s Gentle/Radical, and Project Art Works, a collective of neurodiverse artists from Hastings.

Strike Action

Also on Wednesday, members of the University and College Union are staging a series of walkouts at 58 universities and colleges across the UK in disputes over pensions and pay.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady previously said: “UCU has repeatedly asked employers to meet with us to try to resolve these disputes. But while we set out pragmatic solutions that could halt widespread disruption to UK campuses, university bosses refuse to revoke unnecessary, swingeing pension cuts or even to negotiate on issues like casualisation and the unbearably high workloads that blight higher education.

“A resolution to this dispute is simple. But if employers remain intent on slashing pensions and exploiting staff who have kept this sector afloat during a pandemic then campuses will face strike action before Christmas, which will escalate into spring with reballots and further industrial action.”

A Universities UK spokesperson, which represents employers in the pensions dispute, responded by saying: “Strike action will not address the urgent need for reform to keep the scheme affordable.”

Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the UCEA, which represents employers in the pay dispute, called the union’s “long-awaited” decision to stage strike action in the autumn term “disappointing”.

Women in film

Some of the most acclaimed and respected women from the screen industries gather to celebrate the work, success, and achievements of their peers at the Women In Film and TV Awards in London on Friday.

Meanwhile, the British Independent Film Awards is on Sunday and is also taking place in the capital.