Category: issues

“California’s nonprofit arts groups pump $5.4 billion annually into the state’s economy, according to an economic impact study released Thursday by the California Arts Council. This represents a 152 percent increase since the last study was done in 1994.”

A new report suggests that Arts Council England should consider moving out of London. “The institute’s report suggested museum attendance outside London was half that of the capital’s. The report said there had to be more effort to encourage arts participation. The report said London was so much higher than the rest of the country because there were many more artistic venues in the capital.”

A jury has limited the payout of insurance to the developer rebuilding on the World Trade Center site, cutting $1 billion from the expected total. “The decision cast doubt on his financing for four office towers planned for the ambitious project designed for ground zero. Still, money seems assured for the $1.5 billion, 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, while federal funds will be available for a $2 billion transit center. A combination of private and federal money will pay for the planned memorial and a museum and performing arts center.”

“If 2003 was the year of uniformly negative news nationwide on the state arts-funding front, 2004 is shaping up to be the year of the definite maybe, with some states looking at boosting funding and some localities considering more cuts. And in Florida, which sustained deep arts-funding cuts last year, well-mobilized cultural organizations may find themselves feeling sorry/grateful for their advocacy efforts.”

“Charitable giving by America’s grant-making foundations — a universe of nearly 65,000 organizations — fell from $30.5 billion in 2001 and $30.4 billion in 2002 to approximately $29.7 billion in 2003. A downward shift of $800 million might, arguably, be small change when one compares it to America’s multitrillion-dollar economy, but for nonprofits, it is another sign that times have been tough, are still tough, and are likely to remain tough for the foreseeable future. A nearly $1 billion decline in giving in just three years, in fact, stands in stark contrast to the boom years of the late 1990s, when foundations, feeling flush and optimistic due to the dot-com stock market upswing, seemed to forever be moving their giving levels via a northern trajectory.”

Is it true that experts consider “greater Miami as a potential capital of arts in the Americas?” If so, the state of Florida isn’t stepping up to the table to support it happening.

A limited study of Broadway ticket pricing practices, under which two people sitting in the same section of a given theater may have paid wildly different prices depending on when and where they bought their tickets, suggests that, contrary to some industry concerns, variable pricing doesn’t seem to make consumers unhappy. “[C]onsumers were largely unaffected by price discrimination relative to uniform pricing, while producers experienced a 5 percent increase in profits… [O]n average, it looks like it didn’t make much difference to consumers whether there was price discrimination or not.”

When Pennsylvania’s Mountain Laurel Performing Arts Center closed its doors only five months after opening, arts supporters and state officials were aghast at what appeared to be a classic case of mismanagement and overreach. Now, the state Auditor General’s office is getting involved at the request of Pennsylvania legislators, investigating the decisions and deals that led to the construction of the $35 million venue. Mountain Laurel, located in the Pocono Mountains in the northeastern part of the state, was to have been the summer home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and planned to host summer concerts by the Philadelphia Orchestra as well.

Are there ideas or art that are dangerous to society? That’s the case made by some. “For every kid who watches The Matrix and shoots up his high school, we can cite millions more who saw the same movie and did nothing. Does this demonstrate that art is harmless? And if it is harmless, what’s the point of it? Sadly, I suspect that it is harmless, and that there is no point to it…”

A high school student who drew pictures of George Bush including one that “portrayed Bush as a devil launching a missile, with a caption reading ‘End the war — on terrorism'” was turned in to authorities by his teacher. “The 15-year-old boy’s art teacher at Prosser High School in Washington State turned the drawings over to school administrators, who notified police, who called the Secret Service.” The boy wasn’t arrested but was disciplined by the school.