Category: issues

Canadian Auditor-General Sheila Fraser says oversight of Canada’s cultural spending is a mess. “The general state of oversight in funding and tax credits for the arts is poor, Fraser’s report found. Canadian Heritage, Telefilm Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency do not apply controls rigorously enough to ensure that requirements covering Canadian content, project selection and eligibility of expenses are met.”

“Over the past decade, the Colón, which opened in 1908, has had seven different artistic directors or coordinators, including one who held the job twice. That chronic instability might have reached a peak in October, when the new management was forced to suspend the entire 2006 season, only to reverse course in early November when a tentative labor accord with one of the theater’s two unions was announced.”

“Ottawa spent $2.2 billion on culture in 2002-3, including $1 billion for the CBC, Fraser said in her report. But Canada’s Heritage Department does not have a clear strategic plan for Canadian culture and the many agencies involved in cultural funding all seem to go their own way, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said.”

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would allow artists to donate their work to a museum and take a tax deduction for the full market value. “Under the bill, artists could donate their work during their lifetimes at full market value provided that it is properly appraised and handed over at least 18 months after it is created. The provision seems likely to open the way for more acquisitions by cash-strapped museums.”

There is so much copy-catting going on, it’s sometimes easy to think that artists have run out of original ideas. And yet, it’s not true. “There are original ideas getting traction — spurred by writers, artists, actors and musicians — that are out there if you want to look for them.”

Engineers have a plan to pump seawater under Venice in an attempt to raise the city by a foot. “The $117 million project entails digging 12 holes with a diameter of one foot within a six-mile area around the city, and pumping seawater into the ground at a depth of 2,298 feet. The seawater is expected to expand the sand that lies underneath, which combined with a topping of waterproof clay would eventually push up the soil.”

In 10 years Graham Sheffield and Sir John Tusa have turned around London’s Barbican. “This dynamic duo have managed to turn a derided behemoth into a cultural powerhouse. Once a byword for unfashionability, the Barbican has become a home for cutting-edge experimentalism and music and performance from around the world. Meeting them in the flesh, the two actually put you in mind more of another high-flying double-act that started out at roughly the same time – that of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, albeit without the acrimony.”

The cultural cognoscenti love to draw comparisons between art, music, and theatre patrons who are in it for the love of the form, and those who show up mainly for social reasons, or simply to get themselves noticed by other “arts people.” But is there any real truth to this longstanding legend of the self-interested patron? According to a new study which focuses on why people attend cultural events, the legend is true, to a degree. “The most common major motivation claimed by respondents for attending any or all arts events over the last 12 months was wanting to socialize with friends and family, followed by having an emotionally rewarding experience and gaining knowledge.” But arts organizations might want to take note of the study’s other finding: attendees are rarely completely satisfied with the experience.

Two new and surprisingly popular graphic novels released in Japan are causing observers to worry about a startling rise in Japanese animosity towards the country’s Asian neighbors. The long-form comics, sporting the titles Hating The Korean Wave and Introduction to China, openly mock what some Japanese see as inferior societies, and even advocate open confrontation with China and South Korea. Worse, the visual depictions of the various nationalities reveals an ugly racism that has permeated Japanese society for more than a century.

“If there was any point of agreement between publishers, authors and Google in a debate Thursday night over the giant Web company’s program to digitize the collections of major libraries and allow users to search them online, it seemed to be this: Information does not necessarily want to be free. Rather, the parties agreed, information wants to be found. But when it comes to how information will be found and who will share in the profits, the various sides remain far apart – not surprising, perhaps, since the issue has already landed in federal court.”