Category: issues

Focus on the possible misdeeds of philanthropist Alberto Vilar has got arts organizations and colleges thinking about how they accept gifts. “Nationwide, gifts tarnished by scandal represent a tiny share of campus philanthropy, but the dollar total is rising. In 2003, The Chronicle of Higher Education estimated that campuses had received more than $100 million from firms or individuals investigated, accused or convicted of white-collar swindling.”

Scotland is undergoing a debate about the accessibility and quality of its support for the arts. Is one incompatible with the other? “We must not confuse accessibility with the lowest common denominator. You should aim to put out the best art exhibitions, the best musical performance, the best book festival and then you make that accessible. My belief is that this shows the greatest respect of all to the individual to whom you are trying to create access, to say ‘we have the best here’.”

“In an era when megamillionaires are made faster than ever, fund-raising experts have grown more cautious about whom they anoint as board members and about ensuring that pledges are in hand before money is spent. Yet at the same time, arts groups say, there is no sure-fire way to predict or guard against a reversal of fortune. And as corporate and government aid declines, cultural institutions need to take what they can get.”

London has finally embarked on a redesign of its beleagured South Bank Arts Centre. But no sooner had progress started to be made than an ugly battle between the Centre’s chief executive and the local government overseers spilled over into the press. Now, it seems as if everyone in the city is choosing up sides, and the controversy is badly overshadowing what should be a collaborative project.

Mention ‘culture’ and ‘Los Angeles’ in the same sentence, and you’ll likely hear a few snickers. After all, this is Hollywood’s town, a city of car-crazy transplants with no real interest in the high arts, right? Wrong, says Donald Rosenberg. The myth of a cultureless L.A. probably wasn’t ever true, and it certainly isn’t true now. America’s second-largest city is buzzing with culture, and is fast becoming one of the country’s centers of artistic innovation.

There may not be a bigger cultural controversy in the world today than the furor surrounding Dan Brown’s novel, The DaVinci Code, and the cottage industry that has grown up around it. Thus far, the book and its fans have not been fazed by the criticisms of, among others, the Catholic Church, but opponents may finally have scored their first victory, as Westminster Abbey denies permission for a film version of the book to be shot inside.

Are the arts falling behind in a cultural universe that is expanding exponentially? “The culture is constantly evolving, under the pressures of changing demographics, audience behavior, seductive new technologies and the nature of making and consuming art. No organization, no artist can afford to assume that anything that’s working today will do so tomorrow.”

Suburban communities across the US are getting into community art projects. “Some of those forms aim for the sublime. Some are utilitarian. And some are all about community pride and boosterism.”

A New York curator says art is facing a crisis. “It’s a dismal time. Young artists in my city are very upset about being suborned by commerce, on an international scale now. Art has just been lassooed to serve the purposes of the larger society, which are totally commercial. It must be said some artists are glad enough to collaborate.”

As the range of entertainment options available to Americans gets ever wider, it seems to be increasingly difficult for arts organizations to draw a crowd, and by extension, to raise money. “It’s not only the will and wherewithal to give that can erode arts funding. Social needs, priorities and sensibilities change. A museum or new theater that was exciting to build and open isn’t necessarily as thrilling to fund five years later, when it’s up and running… The culture is constantly evolving, under the pressures of changing demographics, audience behavior, seductive new technologies and the nature of making and consuming art. No organization, no artist can afford to assume that anything that’s working today will do so tomorrow.”