The Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) says it generated ₦‎603 million from tickets sold across the country in August.

Its national chairman, Opeyemi Ajayi, disclosed this in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos, saying patronage at the cinemas in August was quite encouraging.

According to Ajayi, 212,192 viewers were admitted into the cinemas within the period under review.

He said there was a sporadic improvement in sales and visitors patronage in August as against figures recorded in July.

“August was quite a beautiful month, we showcased beautiful movies like: Akudaya, Meg 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja, A Bag of Trouble, Blue Beetle, Mikolo, The Modern Woman, Retribution and Kesari.

“We had total sales of ₦603,588,722 with 212,192 viewers admission. This is an improvement in sales compared to July when we had ₦482,528,117 total sales.

“We want Nigerians to cultivate the habit of visiting the cinemas, it is a place to be to allay stress and unwind,” he said.

Ajayi said that cinema lovers should watch out for movies to be exhibited in September. Some of the movies are Equaliser 3, Something Like Gold, The Nun, Kanaani, A Haunting in Venice, Expendables 4, A Weekend To Forget, The Creator, and The Dive and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The California African American Museum in Los Angeles said that it could not reopen for the time being due to heavy rains that struck the city earlier in August.

“As we survey and repair the damage to our building, we now know we must remain closed at least through October,” the museum wrote in a statement. “Public programs slated to happen at CAAM in September and October are postponed.”

No other major Los Angeles museums have been quite as severely impacted by Tropical Storm Hilary, which hit California on August 21. By some estimates, it was the first time that a tropical storm had made landfall in the region since 1939.

Read More: Veteran Cape Town Gallery Southern Guild To Open First U.S. Branch In Los Angeles

Although the storm’s damage was expected to much more severe—it was called a hurricane at first, and then was downgraded—it still brought around 5 inches of rain to some coastal areas and more than double that to ones in the mountains. There were no fatalities in California as a result of the storm.

A spokesperson for CAAM told the Los Angeles Times that “water intrusion occurred in some areas of our building.”

For much of the past year, the museum hasn’t been fully open to the public. It began shuttering its galleries in August to make way for a maintenance project that included a new HVAC system and a weatherproofed glass ceilings. CAAM only just reopened in its entirety August. It is still expected to unveil a new library and conference center.

Southern Guild, a Cape Town–based gallery known for nurturing superstars like Zanele Muholi, will open an outpost in the Melrose Hill section of Hollywood, steps from Sargent’s Daughters, James Fuentes, and David Zwirner, in 2024. The announcement comes a week after another Cape Town stalwart, Goodman Gallery, revealed plans for a New York space.

The expansion has been 16 years in the making, Southern Guild’s cofounders, the artist-turned-gallerists Trevyn and Julian McGowan, said in an interview.

At the time of the interview, the pair were in Los Angeles overseeing the construction of the new space, while also preparing for Southern Gallery’s debut at the Armory Show in New York. Neither McGowan seemed particularly daunted by the workload. Under their direction, Evan Raabe Architecture—the studio behind Hauser & Wirth’s LA branch and Christie’s Beverly Hills—is transforming a disused laundromat at 474 N Western Avenue into a 5,000-square-foot gallery. 

It comprises three large-scale exhibition rooms, and while each room may host separate exhibitions, there’s no difference in size or designation. The layout mirrors the cofounders’ approach to dealing: no hierarchy within their wares, whether they be painting, ceramic, performance, or sconce.

Southern Guild opened in 2008 as the one of the few commercial spaces in South Africa dedicated to “collectible” craft and homeware made by artists from Africa, most of whom were not well-known beyond the continent. That was a shame, they said, because the work was unlike anything else on the international market—tactile and sculptural but also functional, with a form and feeling inextricable from the art traditions of South Africa, as well as its neighbors, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Senegal.

At the time, Cape Town was only 14 years post-apartheid. Art that celebrated the social idiosyncrasies suppressed during its rule was flourishing. Southern Guild wanted collectors, critics, and curators around the world to see its worth without having to travel to South Africa.

A theatre has shut after reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was discovered.

The Royal and Derngate in Northampton said all of its remaining September performances and events had been postponed.

The neighbouring Northampton Filmhouse will also be closed “temporarily”.

It comes after a school in the town became one of hundreds to postpone reopening for the new term after suspected RAAC was found.

RAAC is a lightweight form of concrete that was used in the construction of public buildings between the 1950s and 1970s. Experts believe much of the RAAC used in construction projects has exceeded its lifespan of 30 years and could collapse.

The Royal and Derngate published a list of events affected by the closure and said it would contact ticket holders.

In a statement, it said: “We ask for your patience during this time, and we will be reopening as soon as we can.”

The venue consists of two theatres, the Derngate auditorium, with a capacity of 1,500, and the Royal theatre which can hold 450.