Category: issues

Included in the Cultural Olympiad accompanying Vancouver’s hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games is a disturbing photo in which First Nations protesters decry what they see as the decimating of native lands for the Olympics. Olympic organizers see the photo’s inclusion as “proof that their event is artistically sound, not just a cheery diversion.”

“The board of directors of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts announced this week that the project is being expanded, triggering an increase in its fundraising goal from $275 million to $338 million.” The project’s CEO said that the decision to boost the goal came after the realization that the center would easily meet the lower goal, and could afford to aim higher.

“Since the New Labour landslide of 1997 – the same year that Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim museum opened in Bilbao, transforming that city’s reputation – it has become an accepted wisdom that ‘culture’, specifically ‘the arts’, can bring about tangible socio-economic benefits.” But is this really realistic?

Longtime critics Terry Lawson took a buyout and the paper won’t replace him. “By our research, all of the other Top 20 newspapers in the United States have at least one major, well-known critic (yes, even the Arizona Republic). However, The Freep’s move clearly signals that there’s a changing tide in the amount of importance (and budget dollars) local newspapers allocate to coverage of the movie business.”

“The Center on Education Policy survey found that U.S. students have been spending more time on math and reading and less on other subjects since 2001. The 2007 report, which examined how No Child Left Behind had affected curriculum and instructional time, showed that 16% of districts surveyed had reduced class time for art and music.”

The troubled for-profit side of the Smithsonian has has a rocky relationship with the museum side. Acting Secretary Cristian Samper “said the restructuring and renaming, as well as putting the museums’ mission before profit, were more than cosmetic changes. He emphasized that the new structures would make the museums ‘shareholders’ and would lead to stronger oversight and empowerment of the museum directors.”

Whether it is Best Buy’s big, bold, screaming signs or the sweet, elegant script on a wine label, the type talks to us, the reader. The logos of the presidential candidates are no exception.

A fan should sit on the board of every football club while actors, artists and musicians should be drafted in to help run Britain’s arts institutions, the new Culture Secretary says.

“Toronto performing arts groups sold a healthy 2.5 million tickets worth $169.3 million during the 2005/2006 season, according to a detailed survey to be unveiled at a media conference today.”

English artists have been wailing over Arts Council England’s plans to cut funding for many oragnizations. But “in a dramatic 11th-hour reprieve, Arts Council England has been forced to reconsider potentially devastating funding cuts for dozens of organisations.”