“If 2003 was the year of uniformly negative news nationwide on the state arts-funding front, 2004 is shaping up to be the year of the definite maybe, with some states looking at boosting funding and some localities considering more cuts. And in Florida, which sustained deep arts-funding cuts last year, well-mobilized cultural organizations may find themselves feeling sorry/grateful for their advocacy efforts.”
Month: April 2004
Study: Philanthropic Giving Down By Almost $1 Billion
“Charitable giving by America’s grant-making foundations — a universe of nearly 65,000 organizations — fell from $30.5 billion in 2001 and $30.4 billion in 2002 to approximately $29.7 billion in 2003. A downward shift of $800 million might, arguably, be small change when one compares it to America’s multitrillion-dollar economy, but for nonprofits, it is another sign that times have been tough, are still tough, and are likely to remain tough for the foreseeable future. A nearly $1 billion decline in giving in just three years, in fact, stands in stark contrast to the boom years of the late 1990s, when foundations, feeling flush and optimistic due to the dot-com stock market upswing, seemed to forever be moving their giving levels via a northern trajectory.”
Beijing Theatre Delay
Beijing’s US$324.6 million National Grand Theatre of China has been under construction since 2001. “The futuristic design of the theatre, by French architect Paul Andreu, features a titanium and glass dome set in the centre of an artificial lake. Andreu’s concept beat 68 other candidates in an international bidding process, but sparked criticism because it doesn’t complement the solemn atmosphere of Tian’anmen Square. But as the dewdrop-like design emerges ever more clearly with each passing day, old concerns about the look have been replaced by new worries about the theatre’s operation.” The theatres was to open in July, but the most optimistic opening is now predicted for late 2005.
Miami – America’s New Arts Capital?
Is it true that experts consider “greater Miami as a potential capital of arts in the Americas?” If so, the state of Florida isn’t stepping up to the table to support it happening.
US Broadcasters Consider Voluntary Obscenity Rules
The US Congress is proposing to enact anti-obscenity laws that would raise fines against broadcasters to $500,000. Broadcasters – trying to get ahead of Congress – are establishing a to “discuss a voluntary code of conduct and other options. The group hopes the move will head off new government regulations to stop shows broadcasting indecent material.”
Strong Short List For Australia’s Top Lit Prize
“Australia’s premier prize for writing, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, has arguably its strongest shortlist in recent history and its most lucrative prizemoney. The six novelists on the list include a Nobel Prize winner, a Booker Prize winner and a US National Book Award winner”.
Scottish Orchestra Tries To Minimize Hearing Damage To Players
“The Royal Scottish National Orchestra launched two days of workshops yesterday, with a ‘noise team’ aiming to work out ways of playing orchestral music safely. While deafening music is usually associated with the thundering basslines and power chords of rock, the classical world has been stirred into action by European regulations limiting the noise to which musicians can be exposed. There has been rising concern in the UK over the potential damage to musicians’ health from sound and stress in the workplace.”
Shouting In Four-Part Harmony
The chief cultural export of the Finnish town of Oulu is “the Shouting Men’s Choir, which is exactly what it sounds like: 30 men of Oulu in black suits, shouting in harmony. You don’t get that sort of thing down in Geelong, or in Helsinki, for that matter. It is a product of long nights in a town with little to do, a northern sense of humor that revels in the absurd, a high city count in eccentrics, and a lot of vodka.”
Runnicles To Take Helm Of BBC Symphony?
Who will be the next chief conductor of the BBC Symphony after Leonard Slatkin departs? “One name on the orchestra’s shortlist is said to be Donald Runnicles, the Scottish conductor who now works largely in the US.”
A Tale Of Two Book Festivals
“For obvious cultural and plainly practical reasons, it runs counter to logic that Spokane should have a better literary festival than Seattle does. The disparity between what Get Lit!’s organizers have to work with and what Bookfest’s organizers have to work with is staggering. Bookfest has name recognition, a 10-year history, and a $600,000 annual budget. Get Lit! has hardly any name recognition, a six-year history, and a $180,000 budget. And don’t forget that it takes place in Spokane. So how is it possible that Bookfest fails on so many levels where Get Lit! succeeds? How can it be that Spokane, a city so putatively inferior, does this book-festival thing so much better than we do?”