Category: issues

“Perhaps never before in human history has so much energy been devoted to trying to establish citizenship tests to define national identity. Judging from the debates raging and the confused choices made, there is as little agreement within each country as there is between them.”

“Google is rebuffing the Bush administration’s demand for a peek at what millions of people have been looking up on the internet’s leading search engine — a request that underscores the potential for online databases to become tools for government surveillance… The government wants a list of all requests entered into Google’s search engine during an unspecified single week — a breakdown that could conceivably span tens of millions of queries… Yahoo, which runs the internet’s second-most used search engine, confirmed Thursday that it had complied with a similar government subpoena.”

Arts leaders across the UK are lining up to slam the Scottish government for its decision to fund several of Scotland’s largest arts groups directly, rather than going through an independent arts council, as has been the norm. One observer called the move an “erosion of the ‘arm’s length’ principle,” and the head of the Arts Council of Wales described himself as “gravely concerned” by the development. There is no sign, however, that the Scottish Executive is reconsidering the plan.

Everyone knows how big symphony orchestras and prestigious theatres get funded. But how do smaller arts groups, whether professional or amateur, come up with the cash and venue space to do what they do? The answers can be as varied as the groups themselves, and many organizations are constantly scrambling to make use of available resources, and generate new ones. In New Jersey, a new plan from the state arts council aims to channel money and resources to local, grass-roots arts groups more efficiently, and to assist the recipients in how to best direct their efforts.

“Peter B. Lewis, the Cleveland philanthropist known for his tough standards, is giving his alma mater, Princeton University, $101 million to expand its creative and performing arts activities, including the creation of an artists-in-residence program… Mr. Lewis, who said he chose the figure of $101 million to top the last large donation to the university ($100 million), called the arts ‘an important part of life I didn’t know when I was at Princeton and didn’t know when I was a kid.'”

The Scottish government abolishes the Scottish Arts Council, and creates “Creative Scotland, to develop an ‘escalator’ for talent in the arts.” The arts are to get £20 million in extra funding a year, and the Scottish Executive will fund Scottish Opera and other projects directly.

The Scottish government is coming under increased pressure not to approve a proposed overhaul of the region’s arts funding system without also significantly increasing what it spends on the arts. “Unless the Executive can show a substantial injection of new cash, it will be ‘moving the deckchairs around on the Titanic’, said one pessimistic observer of the arts scene.”

Is Lincoln Center’s big redevelopment back on track again? The controversial project has a new leader…

“Conventional wisdom used to say that emerging economies would make the ‘cheap’ stuff, while advanced nations would do the complicated creative work. But that notion has never really been true,” and as East Asian countries continue to advance their global business reputation, even the so-called creative industries are in danger of seeing their Western dominance fade.

Major changes are being proposed to the rules governing international touring groups who want to perform in Great Britain. “At present, non-EU touring stars can ‘sign in’ an army of musicians, bodyguards and manicurists on one temporary work permit… Under changes proposed by the Home Office any person wishing to travel to Britain as part of a touring group will have to make an individual application at a British consulate in their home country.” The new permit applications will cost £100 per person, where the group permits now cost only £153. Critics fear that large groups such as orchestras may cross Britain off their schedules rather than jump through the new hoops.