BECK’S ABANDONS UK FUTURES AWARD

The Beck’s Futures Award, established seven years ago as the Institute of Contemporary Art’s rival competition to the Turner Prize, is set to be abandoned in favor of a music prize sponsored by the beer company, reports the Evening Standard‘s Tom Teodorczuk. A source inside the company was quoted as stating: “There was a general fear that the prize wasn’t very cool any more. What’s the point of hosting a modern art prize that is no longer fashionable?” Last year’s competition was won by Matt Stokes for Long After Tonight, a film re-creating a soul-music night at a Scottish church. Evening Standard art critic Brian Sewell welcomed the end of the prize: “I’m glad to hear of this. It’s been one of the most wretched prizes in arts sponsorship history.”