Category: issues

“According to performers, the new legislation, which was introduced in July 2007, is causing clubs and pubs to close, creating a knock-on effect for artists who had previously been booked to perform in them. They claim opportunities for work are dropping by up to 50%.”

“The latest trend in higher education is how many students need five and even six years to arrange four years of college. Half the nation’s twenty million college students are in two-year community colleges, with the odds of achieving a four-year degree against them.”

The small town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has embraced the arts as part of the rebuilding process after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. “Arts mavens and tourists are returning, and homes and businesses are being rebuilt, helping to resurrect the economy and sharpen the community’s identity as a cultural hub.”

Only in showbiz and politics is “smart” a perceived insult.

“Arts Council England is about to consult on what it believes could be a new model for judging success or failure in the public sector. The problems of the present method of assessing arts companies were exposed last year when the Arts Council cut funding for nearly 200 organisations.”

“In The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein argues that cultural and technological forces, far from opening up an exciting new world of learning and thinking, have conspired to create a level of public ignorance so high as to threaten our democracy.”

“From CEOs to struggling artists, in everything from health care to entertainment to education, many of us are being challenged by the problem of others sharing and using our intellectual property without permission. This challenge requires a change of attitude, because sometimes piracy isn’t the problem, it’s the solution.”

I like the idea of artists debating publicly about the arts – wider cultural questions as well as specific funding decisions – and for these open debates to form a key part of arts council thinking.

“The legislation requires Internet service providers to interconnect with the facilities of other network providers on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. It also requires them to operate their networks in a reasonable and nondiscriminatory manner so that all content, applications and services are treated the same and have an equal opportunity to reach consumers.”

“Just in time for another Olympics, and another debate about the permeable boundary between Olympic sport and international politics, the Holocaust Museum is reprising its 1996 exhibition devoted to the infamous Games of ’36. The powerful show, which has traveled extensively since it opened more than a decade ago, has been reinstalled, with the addition of new artifacts.”