As release date approaches for the film version of The DaVinci Code, Christian activists worldwide are launching websites, issuing pronouncements, and generally doing whatever they can to denounce the story, which speculates that Jesus may have married and had children, and delves into the mysteries surrounding a certain secret sect.
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UK Public Opposes TV Fee Hike (Even To Help The Elderly)
A plan by the BBC to cover the cost of providing digital TV access to disadvantaged groups such as the elderly and infirm with a hike in the country’s television license fee reportedly has nearly half of UK viewers opposed. (The BBC is funded through collection of an annual fee – currently £131.50 – charged to anyone owning a TV in the UK.) UK broadcasters are supposed to convert completely to digital signals by 2012, but the government wants the BBC to help cover the cost of switching viewers over to the new technology.
Scottish Arts Advocates Look For Funding To Match Their Ambition
In Scotland, where public arts funding has been awfully hard to come by in recent years, there are fears that the arts are increasingly being seen as an unnecessary frill, even as Glasgow and Edinburgh make strides in the effort to expand and develop their respective cultural scenes.
Baghdad Arts School Threatened By Continued Violence
Iraq still teeters on the brink of civil war, and life in Baghdad appears years away from anything approaching normalcy. Somehow, though, the Baghdad Music & Ballet School has stayed open, even with a diverse student body consisting of Shiites, Sunnis, and Christians. “But violence has taken its toll, said principal Najiha Naif. Students have dropped out because many are afraid of getting killed on the way to class. Blasts have shattered the school’s windows and mirrors. Gunmen have stormed the school ground to take cover during gun battles… Before war, the school had problems accommodating all the students who applied, Naif said. The centre now has 200 students and it survives in part thanks to foreign donations.”
A Masterpiece In The Making In Akron?
The Akron Art Museum is more than halfway finished with a $30 million expansion and renovation. “The project is already full of dramatic contrasts between jutting steel beams, shimmering metal and the rugged concrete. But most exciting is the way Coop Himmelb(l)au has juxtaposed an unapologetically futuristic expansion next to an older, more traditional building.”
SPCO To Offer 35-Year Archive Of Concerts Online
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has unveiled a new media agreement with Minnesota Public Radio which will allow online listeners to hear a large percentage of the orchestra’s 35-year archive of radio broadcasts. Still undecided is whether the programs will be free to consumers, but the agreement is likely to get plenty of scrutiny from orchestras and musicians around the country, as the industry continues to debate how best to use new technologies, and how (if at all) musicians should be paid for such distribution.
When’s The Last Time Saatchi Chained Himself To A Tree?
“Spanish art collector Baroness Carmen Thyssen threatened yesterday to chain herself to a tree on Madrid’s most emblematic street, the Paseo del Prado, to stop proposed building works outside a museum of valuable paintings donated by her family. The baroness said a redesign of the street, planned to keep traffic away from the nearby Prado museum, would leave her own museum choking in exhaust fumes.”
The Man Who Brought Beauty To Britain’s Modern Landscape
Civic engineering is a vital part of urban life, but rarely does it provide us with a glimpse at pure beauty. “Isambard Kingdom Brunel, whose bicentenary we celebrate this month, changed the face of Britain. A restless polymath, he imbued the kingdom with gloriously ambitious railways, sensational steamships, revolutionary bridges and a new industrial-era architecture… His monuments are all around us – and they are as dramatic and useful today as they were in their Victorian heyday.”
Should Museums Try To “Fix” Their Mostly-Male Collections?
One of Sweden’s more prominent museums has requested a special government grant of $6.6 million to purchase 20th century works exclusively by female artists. Officials at Moderna Museet say that the grant would help it “redress the gender imbalance in its collection.” But are such “positive discrimination” plans really serving the best interest of art?
The Case For Holding Onto Stolen Antiquities
Increasingly, the international debate over the ownership of antiquities which may once have been procured in less than honest fashion seems to be swinging around to a “give everything back if they ask for it” consensus. But the British Museum’s steadfast refusal to hand over the Elgin Marbles that once belonged to Greece has stood out as a notable example of an institution claiming a higher right to an artifact. “In many instances, national treasures are better off outside their countries of origin – better cared for, receiving more attention, and more accessible… It is one of the paradoxes of culture that museums confer as much as acknowledge beauty.”