Category: issues

“Bribery and graft in schools and universities is seriously undermining education systems worldwide and costing governments billions of dollars, according to a new report funded by Unesco.”

“The virus of internet repression is spreading. The ‘Chinese model’ – of an internet that allows economic growth but not free speech or privacy – is growing in popularity, from a handful of countries five years ago to dozens of governments today who block sites and arrest bloggers.”

In the UK over the past 20 years, almost every urban centre has tried the trick of kick-starting the revival of an economically depressed area by constructing a shiny new arts institution or cultural quarter.The business plans show how a concert hall, theatre or gallery attracts the high-spending, well-behaved middle classes back into town and stimulates the opening of hotels, restaurants and funky shops. Jobs are created, rents rise, civic prestige is enhanced. Smiles all round. But not, alas, always.”

“Americans for the Arts’ national survey released last month found nonprofit arts yields more than $166.2 billion in annual economic activity throughout the U.S., which represents a 50 percent increase over five years. The study also found that the nonprofit arts industry creates the equivalent of 5.7 million full-time jobs.”

Several recent issues involving arts groups and race have made headlines and angered minority interest groups, and each incident has rekindled old angers that we’re continually told are supposed to be passe in a “post-racial” America. “It’s an endlessly renewable rite in American life, it seems, an almost reflexive response to anything inflected by a question about race… The arts, we believe, we hope, are different, a realm where we really can connect — beyond race and class, beyond identity. We shouldn’t have to count and keep score and pay attention in that way.”

An Iraqi man who refuses to give up on the decimated city of Baghdad opened an art gallery in the northern part of town last year, and has doggedly kept it open even as life continues to crumble all around him. “He has kept it alive with a relentless rotation of exhibits, lectures, poetry readings and film screenings. There is urgency to this schedule. Mr. Nassar believes that culture can provide a pathway out of the hate and fear overwhelming Iraq, and he is trying to marshal like-minded Iraqis to join his movement.”

“The defence of free speech seems particularly important this year, as India marks the 60th anniversary of her independence. The country has surprised cynics and sceptics by remaining true to constitutional parliamentary democracy. On paper, and often in practice, India’s film-makers, writers and artists enjoy the kinds of freedom that their counterparts in the west take for granted but which, unfortunately, are far from the norm in the developing world. In the past decade, however, activists of vir tually all faiths have objected vociferously to such freedom for artists.”

Peter G. Davis is one of America’s most prominent critics. “In recent years, and especially since Adam Moss has been the editor, the magazine’s classical music coverage has dwindled considerably. It also marks the third time New York has fired a longtime, senior critic, raising the question of serious age discrimination. Dance critic Tobi Tobias was axed four years ago, after 22 years at the magazine, theater critic John Simon was let go on the eve of his 80th birthday two years ago, after 37 years. He was replaced by a 28-year-old theater critic.”

Toronto has been on a remarkable spending spree, building new arts facilities and greatly expanding others. But is it enough? “In the U.S., especially New York, there is an ethos of cultural philanthropy that doesn’t exist here. The Toronto projects couldn’t get off the ground until the federal and provincial governments got the fiscal ball rolling.”

“Could modern networking technologies reconnect larger groups of people to their local governments? What if there were a way to preserve the deliberative aspects of the town meeting — still stoutly defended by conservatives and progressives alike — without requiring busy, work-stressed residents to assemble at the same time and place? In fact, promising experiments are underway to encourage citizen input in regional planning, drafting of regulations, and even to use “wiki” technology to collectively draft laws.”