“The NEA has withered in a matter of decades from a self-styled instrument of world peace to a cautious dispenser of largesse whose one inflexible principle is that no grant must ever redound to the administration’s embarrassment. Whether it can regain its early ambition–or whether it should try to–is an open question. But nobody contemplating a reform of this institution should begin without a clear and unsentimental understanding of America’s peculiarly fitful relationship to the arts, particularly the visual arts.”
Category: issues
Actors Protest Eviction From Carnegie Hall Studios
“The 33 remaining residential and commercial tenants of two towers that rise above the midtown Manhattan hall — including half a dozen elderly, rent-control artists and musicians — are fighting eviction. Hall administrators say the space is needed for a renovation to create room for education programs.”
Smithsonian Legal Woes Now Include Assault Charge
“A former Smithsonian janitor tearfully alleged in federal court this week that a vice president of the museum complex’s business unit assaulted her during an altercation 4 1/2 years ago, but the top official testified that the story was mostly fabricated.”
When Funding’s On The Line, No One Is Happy
The power of the UK’s Arts Council to make or break arts organizations with its funding decisions is a constant headache for those who depend on government funds to keep their organizational heads above water. But the council says that it would be irresponsible not to periodically reevaluate how public dollars are being spent.
Australian International Cultural Initiative Scrapped In Budget Cut
“A program aimed at enhancing Australia’s cultural image internationally has taken the brunt of cuts to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s budget. More than $20 million would be saved by scrapping the Australia on the World Stage initiative, and through reductions in other cultural relations funding”.
Baghdad Culture Waits At Crossroads
“Now, with violence on the wane, the city’s struggling artist community looks for signs that their patrons could someday return and the discussions in the coffee houses could again be about their latest works rather than the latest troubles.”
Excellence In The Arts… Okay, What’s Not To Believe?
UK artists have been buzzing about Brian McMaster’s report on the arts. But Rupert Christiansen is unimpressed. “I confess to finding it a largely bland and woolly document, lacking in hard or original thinking and skating over several vitally important issues. Worst of all is its reliance on the tired and vacuous concept of ‘excellence’.”
Study: Wine Tastes Better When It’s “Expensive”
“Researchers in California showed you can increase a person’s enjoyment of wine by just sticking a higher price on it, according to a study released Monday. The volunteers consistently gave higher ratings to the more ‘expensive’ wines. Brain scans also showed greater neural activity in the pleasure center when they were sampling those ‘pricey’ wines, indicating that the increased pleasure they reported was a real effect in the brain.”
Proposed UK Arts Funding Reforms Undermine Artists
“A report by former Edinburgh International Festival director Brian McMaster, published last week, talks of a ‘cultural Renaissance’ in Britain. But even if the ACE does scrap some of its planned cuts, what looks certain is that artists’ confidence in it has been seriously dented.”
Pinchas Zukerman On American Culture:
“We’re not cultivated people, as a culture. We have a vast culture here, yet we’re more divided than ever before. Most of it has to do with government not wanting to cultivate its own product. We’d better start looking at that soon, or this is going to become a jungle.”