Category: issues

Manhattan Plaza is a subsidized apartment complex for artists in New York. “The complex’s two towers consume the entire block bordered by Ninth and 10th avenues and 42nd and 43rd streets. Inside is the most talent-laden village in New York, its residents packed in as tightly as a pastrami on rye in a profoundly delicious deal subsidized by federal, state and city housing programs.” Rent is based on a percentage of your income.

Taxpayers in Ottawa are revolting over plans to hike taxes. “The tax-freeze movement finds itself pitted against members of the arts community who are banding together to fight council over proposed cuts. The proposed budget would wipe out funding for 28 major festivals, fairs and events. Critics of any cuts charge that arts spending in Ottawa is among the lowest for a municipality in Canada, at $3.89 per capita. A report by Toronto’s culture division last year found that Vancouver spends $17.71 per capita; Montreal tops the list at $26.62; Toronto spends $14.64.”

A day after an international group announced that the Canadian province of Saskatchewan would be the “2005 American Capital of Culture” governmental officials turned down the honor. “It turns out the Spanish-based organization of the same name wanted $500,000 US to pay for an international promotional package to extol the virtues of Saskatchewan’s ‘great cultural tradition in the editorial and audiovisual sectors, as well as in folk art and visual arts’.”

“It’s never been more fashionable or popular to be gay or lesbian than now, if television coverage is anything to go by. If they’re not building or renovating homes, they’re winning Oscars and thanking their boyfriends, getting married in San Francisco, or “zhushing” straight guys. Does this mean queer is the new black?”

And the “American Capital of Culture” for 2005 is… (what? You didn’t know there was such a thing? Me neither… shhh, just listen…) the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. OK. “The province has been elected as the American Capital of Culture for 2005 by an organization of the same name with headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. A news release from the group says the designation was made to coincide with the province’s 100th anniversary. But it’s not clear how much money the province would have to spend for that recognition.”

How many politicians do you know that artists will get behind and support? So London mayor Ken Livingstone must be one special guy. “With mayoral elections just three months away, a prestigious group of artists have banded together to get Ken Livingstone re-elected as mayor of London.”

Florida, which took a big bite out of its arts funding last year, may be ready to restore it. “A House budget panel voted 40-4 for a proposal to allocate $21 million in fees collected annually from corporations to fund state grants to local arts and historic preservation projects.”

“A German scientist who created an exhibition of human corpses has been cleared of allegations that he illegally obtained some of the bodies. Gunther von Hagens was accused in several press reports last year of using bodies from China and Kyrgyzstan. But prosecutors in Heidelberg, Germany, said the corpses had been sold legally by institutions such as hospitals… Dr von Hagens was allowed to buy the corpses from such institutions because they were legal custodians of the bodies if the relatives of the dead had not claimed them.”

“Under a proposed change to Canada’s child pornography law, depictions like that of children in sexual situations could be criminalized, say artists and writers. The proposed change removes ‘artistic merit’ as a defence for any written or visual material charged under child porn laws. If Bill C-12 is adopted, any film, painting or book depicting sexual activity involving people under 18 can only escape prosecution if a judge rules it serves ‘the public good and does not extend beyond the public good’.”

Samuel Huntington has sparked a firestorm of controversy. “Writing in the March-April issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Huntington – the noted author, scholar and chairman of Harvard University’s Academy for International and Area Studies – has identified a ‘major potential threat’ to this great nation’s ‘cultural and political integrity.’ The threat is: Mexicans. Other Hispanics, too, but mostly Mexicans.”