Category: issues

The UK government wants to “change the system whereby arts companies can enter Britain on a joint visa. This could force every member of a visiting group to apply individually for work permits – and be charged more to do so. The proposals could be disastrous for the arts, said Tim Hawkins, producer of the Edinburgh Fringe’s renowned Aurora Nova festival of foreign performance. ‘We bring about 200-300 foreign performers to the UK each year. If we had to do an individual application for each, it would be a nightmare’.”

Welsh culture minister Alun Pugh is being forced to postpone plans to directly fund his country’s six large arts organizations, taking the process away from the Welsh Arts Council. “There’s a great deal of party political mischief-making going on at the moment. They (the other parties) enjoy giving the government a bloody nose when they can get the arithmetic.”

Wales’ culture minister has proposed a plan to give artists a legally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. But critics say its a bizarre suggestion: “There are all sorts of practical difficulties. How do you define an artist? Many of us may lay claim to the title. How far would the right to freedom of expression extend? Could a playwright commissioned by BBC Wales to write a TV play insist it is broadcast even when the BBC doesn’t want to show it?”

Welsh Culture Minister Alun Pugh’s proposal to fund the country’s major arts organizations directly, cutting the Welsh Arts Council out of the process has artists screaming. “The Welsh arts world is in uproar over Mr Pugh’s proposals, fearing that by ending the ‘arm’s- length’ funding principle they would politicise culture and lead to an undesirable two-tier system.”

Jay Handelman notes the diminishing presence of arts coverage in American newspapers. Why isn’t it obvious the arts deserve coverage? “Maybe critics and reporters aren’t doing enough to make editors and readers realize the importance of such stories and the many areas they touch.”

Britain is considering a bill that would make it illegal to insult religions. “I am deeply concerned for all performers and entertainers, because the climate in which we work will be very different if the government gets its way. If the wording of the revised bill is read carefully, it can be seen that the new freedoms the government provides with one hand it deftly removes with the other.”

We’ve done post-modernism. So does that mean modernism is dead? Well, critics have been trying to club modernism to death for decades. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still wreak enormous influence…

‘Trepidation’ is probably the best word to describe the feelings of Canada’s arts leaders as they await the ascension of the country’s new Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. “Yet the last time Conservatives did take the reins, under Brian Mulroney, cultural nationalists recall it as a golden age… This time, the cultural industries are watching to see how the Conservatives face three tests. The first involves honouring Canada Council funding promises. The second involves federal-provincial turf issues. The third concerns whether they’ll top up the huge arts and heritage building projects now under way in Toronto and other cities.”

As backers of Miami’s new $450 million performing arts center make their final funding push, the time has come to decide on a name for the place, and as has become commonplace, the naming rights are being offered to anyone willing to pony up a cool $30 million. “If [that] seems a little steep, the PAC Foundation is offering more modest sponsorship opportunities, including the Ballet Opera House stage. A glossy brochure labeled ‘Legacy: Yours & Ours’ lists dozens of building parts that could be yours for the branding, ranging from the powder room and lavatory in the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House ($100,000) to the projection booth in the Carnival Symphony Hall ($250,000).”

Even for relatively well-to-do families, the cost of higher education in America has become prohibitive, and while there exists a plethora of grants, scholarships, and other financial aid options, seeking access to that assistance can quickly become a full-time job. “The level of detail is excruciating, the exposure humiliating, the work exhausting,” and at the end of all the work, many scholarships may not be the financial solution they first appear.