Category: issues

“Storefront theaters and other small, non-profit performing arts venues that haven’t had the means to bring their spaces up to City of Chicago building and fire codes may be eligible for help from the city’s largest philanthropy.” Arts organizations with budgets under $500,000 will be the beneficiaries of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s new $660,000 fund.

Why are Missouri arts groups worried about the Kansas City Symphony suing the state for arts funding promised to the arts but never delivered on? “Other arts groups in the state should be thanking the symphony, rather than reacting in fear. Legislation enacted in 1994 called for 50 percent of the income taxes paid by out-of-state athletes and entertainers who worked in Missouri to be put in a trust fund to support the Missouri Arts Council and the arts. The symphony contends in a lawsuit filed last month that the legislature has continually shortchanged the fund.”

“How do I love Guidestar? Let me count the ways. Guidestar.org is a Williamsburg, Va.-based website that posts all of the IRS filings of the nation’s charities and nonprofits. Guidestar itself is a so-called 501(c)(3) public charity, supported by many of the foundations it reports on.”

The city’s European Capital of Culture plans have transformed te landscape. “Never before has so much effort, money and intelligence been committed to urban regeneration. Yes, you can mention Barcelona and Berlin, but they were nothing like so far gone as Liverpool circa 1980, when all hope had been abandoned in an inferno of official neglect and wilful self- destruction. The turnaround amazes: the city centre population has risen by 21 per cent since 2000.”

Five years ago California’s state funding on the arts was decimated, leaving the state 50th in per capita spending on the arts. There was hope that this year there would be some increases in arts funding, but that was just a passing fancy…

Missouri arts spporters are pressuring the Kansas City Symphony to drop its lawsuit aainst the state for more funding. “Six statewide arts groups signed a letter asking the Symphony to reconsider its position because they feared Gov. Matt Blunt would cut all arts funding from his Jan. 24 budget proposal.”

Artists in Ottawa are pessimistic that the city’s new budget will short arts support. “Ottawa artists have already endured years of stingy budgets that have traditionally left the city, on a per capita basis, last among the nation’s seven largest urban centres in municipal arts funding.”

“There are enormous differences in culture, structure and attitude between Great Britain and the United States regarding philanthropy. If the government wishes to encourage a more active culture of giving in this country, it should study these differences – particularly as a new generation of wealthy donors in England is now seeking to leave its mark on the public sphere.”

“Recent public appearances by three former Cuban officials linked to harsh political purges in the cultural sector during the 1960s and ’70s has aroused the ire of some of the island’s intellectuals and artists.”

2006 was supposed to be a rough year for Denver’s main performing arts center. But the center bucked expectations, posting significant attendance gains and an increase in subscriptions. Still, “the fiscal year ending June 30 also included 18 layoffs, $1.4 million in administrative cuts and deferrals to badly needed facility improvements. So wary company officials were talking Tuesday more in terms of stabilization than full recovery.”