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A new report released last week by the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University measured arts coverage on American television networks – on ABC, CBS and NBC – during the decade of the 1990s. Not surprisingly, there wasn’t much. “According to the findings, on an average day, viewers receive 30 seconds of information on the arts. That’s 3 percent of the weekday news agenda. Annual arts coverage on all three networks dropped from about 500 minutes in 1990 to 300 minutes in 1999.” – Houston Chronicle

The glittering new 42nd Street Studios opens in New York. The complex includes 14 rehearsal studios, administrative and offices spaces, and a fully-equipped black box space called “The Duke on 42nd Street.” – Theatre.com

• Nestled amid renovated theaters that once housed porn shops, the facility is the first of its kind in the country. – CNN

— protesting Australia’s proposed new tax structure (currently before parliament) rallied outside Sydney’s Parliament House Tuesday. The proposed legislation would limit artists’ tax deductions, thereby making it much harder for most to earn a living wage. “The tragedy is that artists, who make a vital contribution to Australia’s quality of life, are struggling on meagre incomes. We know that their practices will be hit disproportionately hard by the GST.”  – Sydney Morning Herald

Twenty years ago, when Pittsburgh’s steel industry shut down, the city looked bleak. But 16 years ago the city turned over part of its decayed downtown to the newly created Pittsburgh Cultural Trust with the charge of using culture as a magnet to bring the downtown back to life. The trust has spent $65-million of public money and attracted $112-million in private funds, as well as inspiring $650-million of commercial investment. Oh yes, the city’s center is thriving. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

A typical scenario: Artists move into a derelict section of town because it’s cheap. They fix it up, the area becomes cool and rents skyrocket as those with money move in to soak up the atmosphere. “In a number of U.S. cities, they are actually now implanting artists (much the way greenery is replanted on polluted soil), knowing that a funky demimonde will attract business even to disaster areas. To keep the artists there, they have evolved non-profit holding companies on 15- to 30-year horizons.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Michael Kaiser, the American who has been called “the turnaround specialist of the classical world” may be leaving his job running the Royal Opera House in London. He’s being prominently mentioned as a candidate to take over Washington DC’s Kennedy Center. He is largely credited with saving American Ballet Theatre, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the State Ballet of Missouri from financial collapse. – Washington Post

British Telecom has asserted a claim that it holds a patent on hyperlinks, the very backbone of the Web, and is now soliciting U.S. ISPs for licensing fees. “Anyone successfully claiming a patent on such fundamental technology, both the primitive hypertext facilities available today on the Web, and the much more sophisticated and useful ones being designed into xpointer and xlink by W3C, could hold the world to ransom,” says computer science professor (and coiner of the term “hyperlink”) Andries van Dam. – Salon