Category: issues

Neil Kinnock, former leader of Britain’s Labour Party and currently vice-president in charge of reforming the European civil service for the European Union, has been appointed head of the British Council.

“One out of every eight people in North Carolina is a member, supporter or volunteer of an arts organization. The craft arts make about $538 million a year for North Carolina.”

As government officials consider drafting new oversight rules for non-profits, a Washington group proposes a code of ethics that non-profits could sign on to. “As a matter of fundamental principle, the nonprofit and philanthropic community should adhere to the highest ethical standards because it is the right thing to do. As a matter of pragmatic self-interest, the community should do so because public trust in our performance is the bedrock of our legitimacy.”

San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center has laid off its chief curator and eight others because of financial concerns. Curator Renny Pritikin, “who got his pink slip last week and left Friday, was widely respected by artists and curators, who admired his keen eye for contemporary art and willingness to blur the boundaries between so-called high and low art. Pritikin will not be replaced. Nor will the other laid-off employees, who worked in various departments – finance, operations, marketing and development.”

Three of New York’s most important cultural institutions have vacancies in their top jobs. Running Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera and the Public Theatre are among the most difficult arts jobs there are. And it’s not immediately obvious who the should get the jobs.

“More than 20,000 French artists, thinkers, film-makers, scientists, lawyers, doctors and academics have signed a petition accusing the centre-right government of ‘waging war on intelligence’ and instituting ‘a new state anti-intellectualism’.”

Last year the Florida State Legislature cut its arts funding by 75 percent. This year Arts and cultural groups are “fighting back to restore money that had been legally set aside for cultural and historic preservation. They have found surprisingly strong support, convincing many legislators that the arts are not just about culture but are also an economic issue important to tourism and jobs.”

“According to organisations connected with film, theatre, music, opera and dance, new American immigration and visa policies are making it extremely difficult, sometimes impossible, for foreign artists of all sorts to come to the US to perform and show their work. No one, it seems, is exempt.”

What kind of art has been made since 9/11? Can any conclusions about it yet be made? “Writers, musicians, filmmakers and theater artists have struggled to create art in its shadow — art inspired not only by anger and disbelief but also by the bedrock American values that the terrorists were unsuccessful at toppling. Indeed, what art in the post-9-11 era seems to have in common is a commitment to making sense of an experience that epitomized senselessness.”

A new study of audiences for the performing arts in America confirms a high rate of participation and consumption of the arts. “Approximately three-quarters of those participating in the newest survey reported attending one live professional performing arts event within the past 12 months. While this ranged from a high of 78% for Boston respondents to a low of 71% for those in Sarasota, the numbers nevertheless represent a significant level of continuity across a broad swath of the nation.”