Category: issues

For the first time in years, Saratoga’s (NY) Performing Arts Center has balanced its books. “Auditors found no major problems with SPAC’s finances, a major achievement following a scathing 2004 state audit that cited mismanagement and poor business practices.”

New Yorkers are flocking to lectures. “The current enthusiasm for lectures and spoken-word events calls to mind the 19th century, when crowds flocked to hear Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain and Henry Ward Beecher lecture. At the peak of the country’s lecture craze in the 1850’s, nearly 400,000 people a week attended lectures in the northern and western parts of the country. But why the resurgence now?”

“There’s more at stake here than Dan Brown’s royalties. If the judge in London rules that the set of ideas Leigh and Baigent espoused can be copyrighted, it would set a troubling precedent that could trip up authors and filmmakers who craft works around any new historic or scientific research. It’s worth noting that a federal judge in New York rejected a lawsuit against Brown last year by novelist Lewis Perdue, saying any similarity between their books was in ideas that could not be copyrighted.”

The contentious effort to build something – anything, really – at the site of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks in New York has stalled once again, and city and state officials are fuming. Talks to jumpstart the project broke down after Larry Silverstein, the developer chosen to spearhead the Ground Zero project, reportedly attempted to up the cost of the project by $1 billion. Silverstein insists he did nothing improper, but New York Governor George Pataki was unusually blunt in declaring that “this guy has betrayed the public’s trust.”

Nine percent of all U.S. non-profit executives quit their jobs every year, according to a new study, and 75% expect to depart within five years. Among the factors contributing to early exec burnout is the omnipresent problem of dysfunctional boards who either don’t fully engage, or don’t really understand the non-profit mission. “Exacerbating the high-turnover problem is the lack of succession planning” at many non-profits.

Atlanta has been one of the fastest-growing cities in America for over a decade now, and its boom has sparked an arts building explosion as well. But unlike in many other cities, much of Atlanta’s new arts infrastructure is spreading to the suburbs, and these aren’t small-town projects. A $145 million performing arts center is rising in suburban Cobb County, and millions more are being sunk into various projects around the metro area.

A new study conducted by the University of Chicago concludes that the city’s arts organizations are failing to connect with a racially and economically diverse populace, and are drawing most of their support from affluent whites. “Admission fees, hours of operation and transportation are areas institutions may need to reconsider if they wish to broaden attendance, say the researchers.”

Lots of money is flowing into Liverpool for its Capital of Culture year. But some of the local artists are complaining: “It’s as if the people running 2008 have no confidence in what’s already here. There are lots of government agendas being worked out. People are getting grants because they are good at filling in forms. But money isn’t coming into the music scene: it’s going to consultants. The clubs that really fuel the music are unfunded and almost off the radar as far as the official bodies are concerned.”

“They say a creative organisation does not depend on individuals but on people working within an organisation where creativity is simply part of the expectation. Internal structures are understood and changed; boundaries (to understanding) are treated similarly and new domains are formed.”

“Wanted: an educational visionary with the political skills of a senator and the diplomatic polish of a secretary of state. The successful candidate will be a scholar of national prominence, a charismatic speaker, a successful fundraiser. Bold leadership required; affable personality preferred. The post is university president — a job where the spotlight is bright, stakes are enormous and, some say, expectations are impossible to meet.”