Category: issues

Too often, the debate over copyrights, file sharing, and new media seems intractable, with those for and against expanded consumer rights dug in and disinclined to even listen to the other side. But there are real thinkers participating in the debate, from musicians to lawyers and everyone in between. And as the issue of downloadable media slowly begins to sort itself out, more and more musicians are coming to the conclusion that the only people hurt by currently illegal file-trading practices are “people who are so rich they never deserve to be paid again.”

What’s more exciting – a great basketball game, or the theatre? Respondents to this Chicago Tribune query were pretty evenly divided.

A plan restructuring the 30-year-old Australia Arts Council that was loudly opposed by many has been approved. “The boards that give grants for community cultural development and new media projects will be killed off and their responsibilities spread across existing boards and two new departments. A $9million pool will be set up to fund projects the council deems significant. And an internal restructure will help staff become more active in finding projects to fund, rather than simply reacting to grant applications.”

Kennedy Center chairman Michael Kaiser defended his organization’s construction cost overruns and fire safety plans before a Congressional committee yesterday, taking issue with a General Accounting Office report which harshly criticized the performing arts complex. “Kaiser argued that the center overhauled its management of construction finances in 2003, after the GAO first found accounting problems.” The Kennedy Center is accountable to Congress rather than to a city entity, because Washington, D.C.’s civic budget is largely controlled by the federal government.

“Armed with colour-coded charts that show an embarrassingly small amount of truly Canadian programming on TV or Canadian feature films in our theatres, [two prominent Canadian actor-directors] lambasted the federal government yesterday for doing next to nothing to support or promote Canadian culture.” The union representing workers in the Canadian film and TV industries is demanding that Ottawa institute new regulations which would more or less require cinemas, video stores, and television networks to devote a certain percentage of their space to homegrown content. CanCon laws, as they are known, have been on the books for decades, but the regulations have been loosened in recent years, just as many see the threat of creeping Americanism growing stronger.

Washington’s Kennedy Center is under fire from the federal government’s General Accounting Office for cost overruns on several construction projects, and for failing to install what the GAO considers adequate fire safety equipment. Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser has called the GAO report “misleading,” and argues that it is based on incorrect and outdated information.

A new study says that Alberta ranks last in Canadian provinces in spending on the arts. “Data from 2002-2003 — the most recent year available “– show the arts in this province receive 160-dollars per person. The national average is 236-dollars.”

Clevelanders going out to theatre or concerts on weeknights may be eligible to come to work two hours late the next morning. “The “Late Out, Late In” promotion, announced Monday, is meant to encourage music and theater fans to enjoy the city’s nightlife, even on weeknights. The city’s tourism agency organized the promotion with participating employers.”

The IRS says that some non-profits have become a “hotbed of tax evasion and abuse.” Congress is threatening action. “The findings have already sent alarms through the nonprofit community. Last month the industry-convened Panel on the Nonprofit Sector offered a preliminary report on how laws could be tightened and practices improved to curb abuse. In some cases fraud and abuse are committed by the nonprofit itself, such as when a charity is established to benefit its main donor; in other cases, the nonprofit acts an enabler for tax-shelter promoters, such as when a municipality or union takes a fee to participate in a deal that allocates “profits” to it and losses to wealthy individuals.”

Foundation spending in the US increased to record levels in 2004. “An estimated $32.4 billion spilled out of the nation’s roughly 66,000 independent, community and corporate foundations in 2004, compared with $30.3 billion in the prior year, a 4.1 percent increase when adjusted for inflation.”