Category: issues

The Commerce Dept., in its annual report on intellectual property law enforcement and protection, released Monday, declared “record increases in IP-related investigations and prosecutions” and growing numbers of seizures of counterfeit goods, from CDs and DVDs to prescription drugs and chemicals.

The arts aren’t an issue in this year’s election, and it’s even difficult to find out what the candidates’ positions are. But here’s a helpful guide…

“In a kind of educational gold rush, American universities are competing to set up outposts in countries with limited higher education opportunities.”

There’s a perception “that super-wealthy universities are doing too little with their riches to help students (especially low-income ones) afford college, continuing all the while to raise tuitions faster than inflation. Their proposed solution — forcing institutions with the largest financial endowments to pay out at least 5 percent of those funds a year — would, they argue, compel the institutions to spend more of their own funds.”

“Public intellectuals in America are merely ‘one side of an argument,’ so to speak. From the general public’s point of view, they are either Republican or Democrat; liberal or conservative; left-wing or right-wing; pro-choice or pro-life; and so on. Public intellectuals signify or are reduced by the general public to nothing more than a position — and usually an extreme one — on a topic of contemporary social and political concern.”

“Companies are growing weary of the Arts Council’s erratic behaviour and its mishandling of first the Grants for the Arts and now its allocation of a better than expected settlement from the comprehensive spending review. Many companies are wondering whether they would be better off outside a funding system that often offers just enough money to survive but seldom enough to bloom, and which is too controlling about the kind of work that is made and how it is delivered.”

“At first glance, this seems like an excellent idea. After all, Labour’s decision to drop museum entry charges 10 years ago was a sign that thinking about culture was shifting. And schemes such as Nicholas Hytner’s £10 season at the National have made for bigger, broader audiences. But is a week of free events really the best way to give every member of society access to the arts?”

“My objective has been to insist that there are things in our society that are neither right nor left. What I sought to do was to take arts and arts education out of the divisive and destructive rhetoric of the culture wars.”

The state has a dismal record for funding the arts, and arts supporters hoped to inject new life into funding. “Backers said the bill would have secured $30 million or more each year for the California Arts Council, which has operated on $3 million to $5 million annual budgets since 2003 after peaking at $32 million in 2001.”

“Why not sell tickets to rock concerts and use the proceeds to underwrite the classical end of your business? It makes sense on paper, and it’s worked before.” And yet, “regional symphony orchestras and theater companies are increasingly finding themselves squeezed off the stages of performing-arts centers by high-grossing Broadway road shows.”