Category: issues

“Keeping a nonprofit theater — or any other artistic operation — going is a constant struggle in an age of vacillating government support and sometimes fickle corporate and personal giving… Just as a performer will call on a range of techniques to master a difficult part, nonprofits employ all sorts of techniques, from the traditional (ask the board, write the grant) to the unorthodox (go-go dancers and poker games), to lure contributors.”

The film version of The DaVinci Code hits theatres this month, and the Louvre is bracing for a tidal wave of vistors as a result. After all, the legendary museum plays a crucial role in the story, and officials allowed director Ron Howard to film several key scenes in its galleries. Despite the logistical difficulties involved (the book calls for a character to tear down a priceless Caravaggio painting, for instance,) the Louvre and the Hollywooders reported no conflicts.

“The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has done more to promote the arts than any in a generation, but that enthusiasm did not extend to a graduate-student art show that opened this week in a city-owned building near the Brooklyn Bridge. After visiting the exhibition, which featured a penis sculpture, a caged rat and a sexually charged video, the Brooklyn parks commissioner ordered it closed on Thursday and changed the locks to the building.”

“Taking a page from the current flurry of big deals from telecom to banking, arts groups are merging and forming alliances at an unprecedented pace. In recent months, at least a dozen groups around the country have teamed up… One factor behind the deals: The growing role of corporate executives on cultural organizations’ boards. Groups have been recruiting veterans from the private sector to bring business acumen to their back offices. Another driver: a small cadre of consultants carving out a niche advising arts mergers. And increasingly, big foundations, with less money to spend, are giving money to groups only when a partnership is involved, to make sure their dollars are spent efficiently.”

“Jeremy Eichler, a classical music writer for The New York Times, will be the Globe’s new classical music critic. Joining the staff on Monday to cover pop music will be Sarah Rodman. She comes from the Boston Herald, where for the last six years she was a staff columnist covering pop music and entertainment. The Globe’s new theater critic will be staff writer Louise Kennedy. She has worked as assistant book editor, assistant Living/Arts editor, assistant magazine editor, food editor, home editor, and, since 2001, arts reporter.”

“A Leipzig performance artist has found an original way of disrupting neo-Nazi marches and demonstrations. When the skinheads come to town, the German Apple Front is there to meet them — complete with its very own Führer of fruit. The group was founded after the right-wing NPD party was voted into the Saxony state parliament.”

So what does the Canadian government’s newly announced arts budget mean for the arts? “Good news in that the 302-page document actually contains measures, albeit modest ones, with some application to the arts. Bad news in that these measures aren’t commensurate with what arts organizations say they need and, for some, indicate a worrying direction on the part of the government.”

“Nonprofit America is serious business: There are currently over 1.3 million nonprofit corporations in America, employing 11 million people with 5.7 million more working as volunteers. One in 10 working Americans works for a nonprofit. Nonprofits account for roughly 10 percent of the GNP, with over 100 universities and colleges offering nonprofit-management degrees and certificates However, the size of the nonprofit sector is no indication of its health. In fact, nonprofits are in trouble…”

The new Canadian government has promised $50 million over two years for the Canada Council for the arts. “That’s well short of the more than $150 million over three years that had been promised by the previous Liberal government.”

“They will share the £2.1 million funding increase in 2007-8 – a rise of almost 14 per cent – bringing Executive spending on them up to a total of more than £22 million. The extra cash will be shared between Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, the Royal National Scottish Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the National Theatre for Scotland.”