Category: issues

“It’s a process familiar to anyone who has watched the evolution of SoHo in New York or most other downtown revitalizations. However positive the impact on the Kansas City art scene – attracting new galleries and people like the Tylers away from the East Coast – urban renewal has also threatened to squeeze out the artists who pioneered its progress.”

Tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets Friday to protest deep budget cuts proposed by the Berlusconi government. “Theaters in several cities staged simultaneous evening performances of ‘requiem’ funeral masses by Mozart, Verdi and Brahms ‘for the announced death of all cultural activities,’ due to reduced arts funding.”

Why are Australian arts in such bad shape? Director Barrie Kosky thinks he knows: “[There is a] terrible arts funding dilemma in Australia but that’s just the skin. Look at the muscle and the bone and the blood system, see what it’s actually about. It’s about fear. There has to be something inherently distrustful of art in the Australian psyche for there to be such problems. I don’t think it’s ultimately about money. To me, it’s fear of sadness, fear of going within yourself, fear of the heart of darkness.”

The Canadian government has decided to double the budget of the Canada Council, bumping it to $300 million per year. Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla called it a “rebirth of the Canada Council” when she made the announcement in Montreal.

A campaign was launched in Glasgow last week to demand “cultural” rights for all residents of the UK. “The campaign was launched in Scotland after the Cultural Commission – which delivered its plan for Scotland this summer – said all citizens should have four cultural rights: to fulfil their creative potential, to take part in cultural life, to an enriching communal life in a satisfying environment, and to participate in designing and implementing cultural policy. lasgow City Council also said it was creating a charter of “cultural entitlements” for its citizens, which may be implemented as early as next year.”

Ticket prices for arts events have been rising faster than the rate of inflation over the past decade. But “for arts organizations, artists fees and construction materials costs have risen steadily. Groups that don’t own their performance venue are paying more for rent than they did in 1995, while those that do own their space pay more for such items as building maintenance, utilities and security.”

San Francisco is bursting with arts activity. And most of the region’s myriad arts groups are doing well, both artistically and financially. Still, 63 percent of artists in the Bay Area earn less than $7,000 a year from their art…

“The Frida Kahlo Corporation, created by Isolda Kahlo, is busy exploiting the artist’s name with a series of products. “The family has marketed Frida Kahlo jewellery and clothing after her niece won the rights to register the name as a brand. But the commercialisation of the painter, who died in 1954 at the age of 47, has provoked a row between her friends, family and critics.”

Britain, more than any other country, is fictionalising its public and political life for the entertainment of the cultural elite.

The Boston Globe’s A&E section takes a big hit as prominent critics take buyouts. “Veteran reporters slated to leave that section of the paper include pop/rock music writer Steve Morse, theater critic Ed Siegel, feature writer Jack Thomas, classical music critic Richard Dyer and arts reporter Maureen Dezell. The Globe announced the buyout package in October as a cost-cutting attempt to avoid layoffs by cutting 35 newsroom positions.”