Category: issues

Birmingham, Alabama-based arts groups could find themselves in a world of financial hurt if the Jefferson County Commission decides to stop funding its Community Arts Fund. The commission currently allocates $5m per year to the fund, but is considering zeroing out that contribution in an effort to balance the budget. “The Alabama Symphony would lose $502,000, the Birmingham Museum of Art $672,000, the McWane Science Center $536,000.”

“Lottery money for major heritage projects in Britain is set to fall to £20m a year, down from £80m last year. This will make it much more difficult for museums and galleries to fundraise for building projects or costly acquisitions.”

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has “drastically slashed funding for the Illinois Arts Council, chaired by Shirley Madigan, the House Speaker’s wife. At least $9 million was cut out of grants distributed by the Arts council, including a million dollars for the Illinois Channel and $1.5 million for Public Radio and TV grants.”

The climax of the annual Burning Man festival is the burning of the man at the end. But an arsonist set the guy on fire four days early this year. “The fire broke out at 2:58 a.m. Tuesday. Eyewitnesses said flames began about 10 feet up the wooden man’s left leg. Tthe huge platform beneath the statue was undamaged. No injuries were reported.”

“So-called ‘silver surfers’ dedicate an average of 42 hours a month to the World Wide Web, compared with 37.9 hours among 18 to 24-year-olds. A greater interest in hobbies, news and local issues among the elderly is believed to be driving the trend, which sees over-65s account for nine per cent of all time spent online in the UK.”

“Manhattan has become history, permanently frozen as it wants to remember itself, in a Buddy-can-you-spare-a-dime, browny-grey Gotham pallor of neon and Art Deco. That’s just how urban history goes. It had its day, between Edith Wharton and the Son of Sam. Now, in its dotage, New York has simply joined the ranks of all the other former greatest cities of the world – Athens, Rome, London, Vienna, Paris, et al – envying those racy whippersnappers in the Far East and occasionally indulging in dodgy midlife makeovers.”

“Overall the survey, conducted for the trust by Ipsos Mori, showed that 71% of young people believed they would go to university but this was split between 76% of girls and 67% of boys.”

The new Scottish government “seems, so far, to understand the potential of boosting the culture spend. It celebrated the deserved success of the National Theatre’s play Black Watch by staging it as part of the parliament’s opening celebrations.” So why not really boost arts funding?

A recent study in San Antonio found that 775,431 current San Antonio Area Households are likely to be performing arts attenders. “That’s unbelievably fabulous news because it means that purveyors of dance, theater and music can draw patrons from about 100,000 more households than actually exist in the eight-county San Antonio metropolitan area.”

“New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under control, and through the night, more fires started. Desperate residents appealed through television stations for help from a firefighting service already stretched to the limit and many blamed authorities for leaving them defenseless.”