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Friday June 29
INVESTING
IN CREATIVITY: A new New England report urges major new investment
in the region's arts. "Among the suggestions: setting up
a Creative Economy Council to spur economic development and promote
partnerships between arts groups, educational institutions, government,
and business." Boston Globe 06/28/01
LEAVING
JAPAN INC: "Thousands of Japan’s most talented and creative
individuals are joining the flight into exile. In the past 10
years the number of Japanese who are permanent residents abroad
has risen 23 percent to a record level of nearly 900,000. They
are out of patience with Japan’s leaden conformity, its stultifying
bureaucracy and its moribund economy—and they have the skills,
resources and adaptability they need to leave." Newsweek
07/03/01
Thursday June 28
WHOSE
COMMUNITY STANDARDS? Last summer a community radio station
in Oregon played the hip-hop song Your Revolution, only
to be slapped with a citation and a $7,000 fine from the FCC,
which said the song contained "unmistakable patently offensive
sexual references." Wonders the station manager: "Why
the move to determine whether artistic content is obscene or indecent?
These are things that have a whole host of problems attached to
(them)." FreedomForum 06/27/01
THIS
JUST IN: MEN AND WOMEN ARE NOT ALIKE: The differences between
men and women carry over from real life to the Internet. Studies
of e-mail and message boards show "women tend to use the
electronic medium as an extension of the way they talk - lavishly
and intimately, to connect with people and build rapport. Men
incline toward a briefer, more utilitarian style, the researchers
say - a style they variously term instrumental, functional or
transactional." Minneapolis
Star-Tribune 06/28/01
RIGHT WRITE? What does it say about english education when tests
to measure grasp of the language don't ask a student to write
even a single word? Can one really learn to use the language well
when the tests are multiple choice? Sydney Morning Herald 06/28/01
Wednesday June 27
THE
RED BARONESS: England's new culture secretary is a true arts
expert, having spent 10 years on the board of the hapless Royal
Opera House. Tessa Blackstone "is more Old Labour than New,
all high culture and no Cool Britannia. Don't ask her what's in
the charts or on the catwalks." The
Telegraph (UK) 06/27/01
POETS,
INTERRUPTED: Describing someone as having "an artistic
temperament" used to be one measure of decorum removed from
calling them "completely nuts." After all, quite a lot
of famous writers and poets seem to have had, shall we say, personal
issues, and a rather large number of these artists spent some
down time at one particular hospital in Massachusetts, the same
facility that was the setting for Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted.
The Atlantic 07/01
Tuesday June 26
RECALIBRATING
IN BOSTON: "Boston's largest cultural institutions are
seeking more than $1 billion in philanthropic donations to renovate
and expand facilities. But plans were developed during one of
the greatest periods of prosperity in U.S. history. Now they're
slated to be carried out amid an economic downturn that leaves
many wondering which projects actually will get done." Boston
Herald 06/26/01
GETTING
ATTENTION: "Since January, and ending sometime this summer,
the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) will spend $1
million advertising its existence by displaying outsize "wall
labels" on hundreds of billboards around the city. . . The whole
snapshot concept raises all sorts of possibilities for pop zeitgeist
observation, if only it spread to cities around the nation."
Washington Post 06/26/01
Monday June 25
STATE
OF THE ARTS: The state of Connecticut has a budget surplus,
and legislators are considering making a big new investment in
the arts. The boost would be large enough to make Connecticut
the largest per capita state spender on the arts. Hartford
Courant 06/24/01
MIDDLE-VALUE:
The American midwest is reinventing. "The cultural makeovers
currently under-way in towns like Milwaukee, Cleveland, Des Moines,
Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis were hardly elective. Crisis and
pain spurred their innovation. Today, despite lousy weather half
the year, there's a newfound lightness to these places, a flexibility
mirroring that of the new arrivals who work for the new capital-unintensive
companies that don't manufacture anything." New
Art Examiner 06/01
Thursday June 21
INVESTING
IN CANADA: The Canadian government is investing a half-billion
dollars in a new initiative for the arts. This week the government
announced $100 million of that will be spent on new media.
CBC 06/21/01
Wednesday June 20
THE
ARTS IN DC: Washington DC-area arts groups spent $1.24 billion
last year and employed just under 27,000 workers. The numbers
don't put the District in the same league with New York and Chicago
or Los Angeles, but DC's arts activity outspent that in San Francisco,
Boston, Pittsburgh and New Orleans, according to the Americans
for the Arts research. Washington
Post 06/20/01
CULTURAL DOMINATION
WORKS BOTH WAYS: It might seem that American culture is taking
over the world, aided by digital technology. Then again... "The
lower production costs and smaller shelf-space requirements of
CDs have dramatically expanded the diversity of today's music
store... contemporary college students now sample the once-exotic
sounds of African pennywhistle, Tuvian throat singing or Scandinavian
mandolin as casually as they choose between tacos, pizza and sushi."
Technology Review July/August/01
SPEAK
OUT: Among the world's 6,800 tongues, half to 90 percent could
become extinct by the end of the century, linguists predict. One
reason is because half of all languages are spoken by fewer than
2,500 people each. Wired (AP) 06/19/01
Tuesday June 19
COLLEGE
YES, BUT WHICH? Sure everyone should be able to go to college.
But there are so many models of what college can be. "This
variety, it is said, gives everybody a chance to find the place
that suits his or her talents and tastes. That is pious nonsense.
The young have no idea what they are getting into, and they often
have no choice. Selection is determined by geography, cost, and
the luck of admission or rejection." Chronicle
of Higher Education 06/18/01
- FALLING
ATTENDANCE: "Canada is the only industrialized country
where enrollment in universities, colleges and technical schools
is decreasing despite a growing international demand for post-secondary
education, according to a report." National
Post (Canada) 06/19/01
GRAND
PLANS: "The Grand Canyon will serve as the panoramic
backdrop for a single performance combining music, dance and theater
in one of six huge-scale projects announced Monday by the Wolf
Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts." Nando
Times (AP) 06/19/01
ARTS
UNDER FIRE IN MPLS: In 1999, the city of Minneapolis created
an Office of Cultural Affairs to oversee arts projects that the
whole city could participate in. But two years later, the office
has yet to produce anything but failed projects and bold initiatives
that shrivel for lack of money. Several city officials are demanding
some sort of accountability. Minneapolis
Star Tribune 06/18/01
PULLING
STRINGS: In the age of super-realistic special effects and
increasingly flashy stage shows, the world of puppetry has largely
fallen into obscurity (Being John Malkovich notwithstanding.)
So it may seem a bit, well, quaint for one of America's largest
and most cosmopolitan cities to be sponsoring a two-week festival
of puppet shows. But Puppetropolis has more to offer than
mere Punch-and-Judy shows. Chicago
Tribune 06/19/01
Monday June 18
JAPANESE
CHANGE: A London celebration of Japanese culture shows a different
side than a previous festival ten years ago. "Few nations
suffer more from the contrived and contradictory cliche than Japan.
Refined yet cruel, aesthetically controlled but capable of inchoate
passion, formal and public, yet bent on preserving private space,
the Japanese contrasts - both imposed and self-attributed - beguile
and baffle the western observer. This sense of cultural distance
is essential to Japan 2001. At a time when our culture elevates
the banal, the easily understood and the collusively downgraded,
Japan offers something bracing." New
Statesman 06/18/01
Sunday June 17
BREAK
THE RULES: The kinds of toys you play with as a kid help determine
how creative you become. "Toys as important tools for nurturing
and developing a child's creative impulse: The worst toys are
all rules and instructions, while best toys encourage that the
rules be broken." Wired 06/17/01
Friday June 15
GETTING
THE PUBLIC INVOLVED IN ARTS: Arts institutions all want public
participation in their programs. A new study from the RAND corporation
"looks at the process by which individuals become involved
in the arts and attempts to identify ways in which arts institutions
can most effectively influence this process."
[.pdf document; requires free
reader from Adobe Systems] RAND
Corporation 06/01
WATERLOGGED:
This week's floods in Houston have severely affected the city's
arts groups. "With Jones Hall and the Alley Theatre closed
due to flood damage, the downtown theater district is scrambling
to secure new venues." Houston
Chronicle 06/14/01
DID
TOM STOPPARD ATTACK ART? Playwright Tom Stoppard recently
gave a speech, and it was widely reported in the British press
that he had denounced modern art, attacking Tracey Emin. But did
he? "I had used my speech to suggest that a fault line in
the history of art had been crossed when it had become unnecessary
for an artist to make anything, when the thought, the inspiration
itself, had come to constitute the achievement, and I would have
been pleased to see this phenomenon get an airing in the column
inches that were devoted instead to parading the death of shorthand."
The Telegraph (UK) 06/15/01
Thursday June 14
BOLSHOI'S
TOP MAN RESIGNS: "The Bolshoi theatre's artistic director
has handed in his resignation - only nine months after being brought
in to restore the institution's flagging fortunes. Gennady Rozhdestvensky
announced he was leaving after critics mauled the Bolshoi's production
of Sergei Prokoviev's opera The Player." BBC
06/14/01
SMITH
OUT AS CULTURE MINISTER: Energetic British culture minister
Chris Smith is replaced in a post-election Tony Blair cabinet
shakeup. Smith's transgression? "The main reason that Smith
had to go was that he had done his job too fast, and too well.
So much so that the rumour mills went into overgrind, predicting
that his department was to be abolished." The
Telegraph (UK) 06/14/01
BLAME
THE OLD WHITE MALES: The chair of the Australia Council lets
the establishment have it on her way out of the job. In a farewell
speech at the National Press Club, Margaret Seares warned that
"as long as the leaders of Australia were predominantly older
white Anglo-Celtic men, vital decisions on the arts would probably
never be implemented." Canberra
Times 06/14/01
THE
ARTISTS TAKE SIDES: Workers at Canada's National Gallery have
been on strike for more than a month, with no end in sight. With
negotiations stalled and the two sides at an apparent impasse,
several prominent Canadian artists with connections to the gallery
are placing themselves squarely in the workers' corner, designing
and creating picket signs for the strikers. The
Globe & Mail (Toronto) 06/14/01
IRELAND
ARTS AT CROSSROADS: The arts are flourishing in Ireland, and
at least some of their high-profile success is due to the Arts
Council, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. "And
yet, even as it celebrates its own survival and the phenomenal
growth of both its budget and its number of clients, the Arts
Council finds itself at a moment of deep uncertainty." Irish
Times 06/12/01
GETTING
MORE THAN YOU PAY FOR: Everyone hates high ticket prices,
and many performing organizations are trying to hold down the
amount they charge for admission. But audiences seem to be holding
on to some innate fear that if they attend an exhibit, performance,
or concert that doesn't empty their pocketbook, they will somehow
be getting an inferior product. A quick glance around any major
city's arts scene proves that it isn't so. The
New York Times 06/14/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
Wednesday June 13
SQUABBLING
ARTISTS: "Few private clubs in Manhattan have aired their
battles as publicly as has the National Arts Club. The latest
uproar turns on allegations of financial impropriety raised by
club dissidents and staunchly denied by the club's president."
The New York Times 06/13/01
(one-time registration required for access)
FOR
A MORE DIVERSE UK: The Arts Council of England awards £90
million in arts grants. Concerned about the diversity of arts
in the UK, the grants include £29 million for black, Asian and
Chinese projects. BBC 06/13/01
FOR
A MORE CREATIVE CANADA: "Was I hallucinating, or did
I read last week about a proposed commission to study creativity?
I hope I was hallucinating. What's next -- a commission to count
the grains of sand on Long Beach? To seek the Canadian identity
in the entrails of native animals?"
The Globe & Mail (Toronto)
06/13/01
Tuesday June 12
HOUSTON
ARTS GROUPS HARD-HIT BY FLOODS: The Houston Symphony Orchestra,
the Houston Grand Opera, the Alley Theater, the Houston Ballet,
and other organizations in the downtown arts district have suffered
extensive losses from week-end flooding. Apparently hardest-hit
was the Houston Symphony,
where "thousands of musical scores and several irreplaceable
instruments were among the casualties in Jones Hall. Three Steinway
concert grand pianos with an estimated replacement value of $250,000
were ruined." Dallas Morning News & Houston Chronicle 06/12/01
GERMAN
ART INITIATIVE: Germany's culture minister proposes a new
national culture foundation with the aim of promoting contemporary
art. "He has repeatedly warned against the threat of 'a discrepancy
between repertoire and innovation' in Germany, and condemned the
increasing ossification of cultural politics, with its emphasis
on supporting institutions rather than periodically promoting
specific projects in the short-term." Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung 06/12/01
READING
BUSH'S POSITION ON ARTS FUNDING - A BIT OF A STRETCH? American
President George Bush went to a performance at Ford's Theatre
in Washington and made a statement some are interpreting as support
for government funding for the arts. "This theater also reminds
us that history lives on to be enjoyed by the people of each generation,"
he said. "When audiences come to Ford's Theatre, they experience
America's history and culture. And it is right for our government
to support such causes." Nando
Times (AP) 06/11/01
Monday June 11
PROTECTING
NATIONAL CULTURES: Canada lays out a new plan to protect national
cultures. "The centrepiece of the plan is the International
Network on Cultural Policy, a working group of culture ministers
from 46 countries who will meet in September in Switzerland with
the intention of creating an international 'instrument' to govern
trade in cultural products. It will remove cultural industries,
including television and film, from the purview of the World Trade
Organization." The Globe &
Mail (Canada) 06/11/01
SAN
FRANCISCO DOT-BUST: For much of the past couple of years artists
in San Francisco have been getting evicted as rents for their
spaces soared or their buildings were torn down in anticipation
of big dot-com bucks. But with the dot-com bust, many of those
former artist spaces are sitting vacant. Now the city ponders
the cost to its decimated arts community. San
Francisco Bay Guardian 06/30/01
LOOKING
A GIFT HORSE... Two years ago a "textbook-printing magnate
announced that he would provide funding - eventually totaling
$100 million - for the construction of an arts complex on a mostly
city-owned block downtown." A great and generous deal. But
one that has its detractors, suspicious of a private project with
no public oversight. Metropolis 06/01
EDINBURGH'S
DEVILISH FRINGE: This year's Edinburgh Fringe
Festival is set. "A total of 666 companies will make their
way to the capital in August, presenting almost 1,500 shows from
50 countries." The Scotsman 06/10/01
Friday June 8
SANTA
FE THEATRE: "Santa Fe's newest performance space is also
one of its oldest. The 70-year-old Lensic Theater - a film and
vaudeville palace that became a mainstay for generations of local
movie-goers - has been reborn" as a performing arts venue.
Backstage 06/07/01
Thursday June 7
THE
FUNDING BOOM: Even as the techno-world continues to collapse
around the ears of its investors, the scores of Clinton-era nouveau
riche dot-commers are turning a philanthropic eye to the arts.
"The arts, which had often lagged behind other giving targets,
now keeps pace. The latest numbers, released this week by Giving
U.S.A., show that $11.5 billion was given to arts, culture and
humanities [last year.]" Chicago
Tribune (from the Washington Post) 06/07/01
Wednesday June 6
BETTER
LIVING THROUGH ART: Its economy in
shambles, its system controled by crimminals, some are proclaiming
that Russia is finished as a force in the world. Russian art,
on the other hand, after a difficult decade, seems to be doing
better and better. Can Russia-the-country learn some lessons from
Russia-the-art? ArtsJournal.com 06/06/01
Tuesday June 5
AN
ARTS HALL OF FAME? The new head of the Scottish Arts Council
proposes setting up a new hall that would celebrate Scottish arts
stars. It "would set artists of the past, such as Robert
Louis Stevenson and Walter Scott, alongside contemporary artists
such as J K Rowling, James MacMillan and Jack Vettriano."
Sunday Times (UK) 06/03/01
Monday June 4
A
MATTER OF RESPECT? In March, a federal judge in San Antonio
ruled that the city had illegally eliminated funding of an arts
group because city officials didn't like the views the group expressed.
Was the decision a "victory for freedom of expression"
or is it "judicial over-reaching," interfering with
the right of the city to determine who gets support? "This
ruling helps educate us all to see just what is the role of art
in speaking for those who are different or express unpopular views."
Dallas Morning News 06/04/01
OUTSIDE
PERSPECTIVES: The Irish Arts Council and a partnership including
the Irish Times and the national airline are bring critics from
outside Ireland to observe and comment on Irish culture. Irish
Times 06/03/01
A
LITTLE CULTURAL DEBATE: As the British election gets closer,
the Conservatives and Labour parties are duking it out over arts
policy. Labour says the Conservatives' "under-investment,
misplaced priorities, and lack of organisation held back access
and excellence" during the Thatcher years. Conservatives
say arts policy under Labour has become too bureaucratic and controlling.
The Art Newspaper 06/01/01
Sunday June 3
AIDS
AND THE ARTS: AIDS has had an enormous impact on artists.
"But the epidemic's toll on the arts can't be measured only
by the sum of lost artists, their unfinished projects and unmet
potential. A climate marked by caution, accommodation and a sometimes
gutless superficiality is also part of the disease's legacy."
San Francisco Chronicle 06/03/01
Friday June 1
BUSH
REPLACES NEH CHIEF: President George Bush has decided to replace
National Endowment for the Humanities chairman William Ferris,
and will nominate Bruce Cole, a "professor of fine arts and
comparative literature at the Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana
University, to a four-year term." The
New York Times 06/01/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
DEFENDING
THE GIFTS: Embattled Smithsonian chief Lawrence Small defends
his position on accepting large donations with strings attached:
"As a nation, our lives are enriched by the generosity of
others. It is difficult to imagine a United States of America
without the great private gifts that have helped create distinguished
universities, museums and libraries. We live in an era, however,
in which some regard these donations with a curious mixture of
indifference and skepticism..." Washington
Post 05/31/01
ENVISIONING
THE E-LIBRARY: Representatives from countless U.S. public
libraries met in Chicago this week to discuss everything from
funding to PR. But the hottest topic was technology, and the expected
rise of the e-book. "Few conclusions were reached, but that
wasn't the point. Tuesday's meeting was much more than an example
of how libraries, particularly public libraries, are willing to
go to the mat to bring the newest of digital technologies to the
widest of audiences." Chicago
Tribune 06/01/01
IT'S
ALL ABOUT PRIORITIES: The spotlight-loving director of Canada's
National Gallery was awarded the prestigious Order of Canada recently,
and his employees are pretty steamed about it. Why? They've all
been on strike for three weeks. The
Globe & Mail (Toronto) 06/01/01
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