Category: issues

“The destruction of the New Orleans public schools was part of the larger human tragedy that befell the Crescent City, but it is not a loss that many residents are mourning. Before the flood, New Orleans had become a poster child for what is wrong with urban education in America. What has happened since the disaster, however, is redefining urban public education.”

An impressive collection of antiquities and art “in the vaults of the Jagiellonian Library, including original music manuscripts from Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, have become the subject of a bitter diplomatic debate between Poland and Germany. The Germans claim these items — hidden here during World War II — are legally and morally part of their national patrimony and should be returned. Poland insists Germany forfeited any legal and moral claim to the collection long ago.”

A performance artist has had a human ear impanted in his arm. “The Cypriot-born eccentric Stelios Arcadious spent 10 years searching for a surgeon willing to perform the controversial operation.”

“With a flurry of pen strokes and a group hug, the leaders of four of St. Paul’s major arts organizations put their signatures to a cultural armistice that they said would end nearly a quarter-century of sniping, bad blood and obstinacy. They called it a ‘master agreement,’ but the 34-page document is more akin to a peace treaty among the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera and the Schubert Club.”

There’s been celebrating in the arts community that the British government didn’t cut arts funing. But “there is no getting away from the fact that even if the money is – as promised – handed on to the arts, this is standstill funding at best and a cut in real terms from a government that enjoys the kudos that the cultural industries bring, but doesn’t want to make the investment that allows them to thrive.”

“At their best, awards provide recognition to those who are deserving but overlooked. But in most cases, awards go to those candidates with the strongest PR support. At their worst…. Well, consider the National Book Awards. Some 280,000 books are now published in this country every year. A judge would have to read 800 books a day to render a fair decision. How many judges do you suppose have read even a hundred, or even a dozen?”

Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center has spent the past fifteen years using art as a means of engaging disabled individuals. But more recently, the center’s “decades of activism and tireless promotion of its artists have helped push the work of disabled artists into the mainstream. While in the past the work of Miller and others might have appeared in shows and exhibits dedicated to artists with disabilities, it’s now more likely to hang alongside that of other contemporary artists.”

Tobacco giant Altria gives $7 million a year to New York City arts groups. But “the city’s arts world is bracing for the money to run out. Arts groups as varied as the Urban Bush Women in Brooklyn and the Dance Theater Workshop in Manhattan are hustling to find other companies, hedge funds or real estate developers to replace Altria’s grants.”

“New president and chief executive officer Anne Ewers has been in place 90 days, and what’s obvious to her already, after speaking with dozens of Kimmel staffers, board members and resident companies, is that before the center can move on, it must alleviate its $30 million construction debt, double its $40 million endowment, plan a round of renovations to liven its street presence, and address a series of complex acoustical issues in Verizon Hall.”

Kansas City’s massive new performing arts center is still nearly three years from completion, but with planning well underway for the inaugural season, and resident companies eager to solidify their roles, a nationwide search is underway for a program director for the center. The national scope of the search is in contrast to earlier hiring processes at the venue, which have focused on local talent.