Blog

British Museum Appeals To EBay

The British Museum has appealed to EBay to remove potentially important archaeological items found in the UK from the auction website. “The Treasure Act of 1996 stipulates that finders have a legal obligation to report potential treasure finds such as gold and silver objects more than 300 years old. Roger Bland, the British Museum’s head of treasure, called for eBay to remove potential treasure items from its website.”

Per-Capita Spending Falls in NYC Arts Education

The New York City public schools’ revised arts curriculum has yet to reach all students. “The Education Department has a spanking-new arts and music program this fall – but nearly 200 schools lack a full-time arts teacher and more than 500 do not have a music room, it was revealed yesterday. Meanwhile, arts funding has dropped to $57 per student from $63, school officials said yesterday after a City Council hearing on arts education.”

Digging Up Buried Treasure In The UK

The number of archaeological finds by citizens in the UK has greatly increased after a new law regulating so-called “treasure” finds. “Everyone’s excited by the idea of buried treasure. It also provides a unique insight into our history, and it is good that the number of finds being reported is increasing rapidly and may reach around 500 by the end of this year, representing almost a 100 per cent increase on 2002. This rise is testament to the effectiveness of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the expansion of which last year led to an average five fold increase in the reporting of Treasure.”

ABT Cuts Operations

American Ballet Theatre slashes costs in an attempt to turn the company’s budget upright. “About 50 staff members will take a one-week furlough without pay, and many will not receive raises this year. Thanksgiving-week performances at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in California were canceled because of the high cost of putting on shows during a holiday. And the company’s general manager was dismissed in a move that the troupe said was among cost-saving measures imposed even as the company has grown in dancers, number of performances and time spent touring.”

Graham Greene In A Time Of Bush-War

“Greene has always been a difficult writer for Americans to deal with, so frank was his contempt for American materialism and, especially, he noted, ‘American liberalism.’ Were Greene alive and writing today, it would be this liberal—not reactionary—spirit he would identify in the Bush administration’s crusading zeal, the endless terrifying unrealizable bromides on freedom, democracy, etc., that animated poor Alden Pyle in The Quiet American. Paul Wolfowitz would be the Pyle who survived, and made it to the top.”