Category: issues

“Things are about as bad as they’ve ever been for the arts in Cleveland. Three of the region’s most important theatres (Ensemble, Dobama and Cleveland Public Theatre) cancelled the tail end of their 02/03 seasons earlier this year, mainly in an effort to stop the red ink. The Cleveland Film Society laid off half its staff after trying to compete with a made-for-TV “reality” series set in Iraq. Meanwhile, the majors are nervously raising and spending millions for huge capital projects…”

New Jersey’s state budget is now official, and the arts have survived. “The budget calls for $19 million in funding for arts and cultural programs. That’s a drop from the $31.7 million the state gave to arts groups last year but a far cry from McGreevey’s original budget proposal, which called for eliminating arts funding entirely.”

New York has restored some of its planne arts budget cuts. “While the arts budget will be cut by more than $11 million, another $16.2 million in planned cuts was restored, leaving cultural institutions surprised and relieved. ‘It’s a significant restoration. It will prevent us from having to do things like charging New York City school groups, closing galleries and closing days’.”

Arts advocates are considering suing the state of Missouri for more funding for the arts. “The state budget for the fiscal year that started Tuesday includes no money for Missouri arts, so the Missouri Arts Council had to dip into a separate trust fund to keep local arts programs going.”

A strike by arts workers threatens France’s cultural summer. “Theatres, films and television have been hit by moves to bring the show business industry to a halt in a dispute over the reduction of unemployment pay for ‘resting’ performing artists and technicians. This weekend, the Montpellier dance festival and the Tours jazz festival were among cancelled events while the opening of the summer’s biggest opera gathering, at Aix-en-Provence, was postponed. Paris’s top theatres called off plays and ballets at the last minute while trade unions prepared for ‘a fight to the finish’ over a decision to make it harder for freelance performers and temporary backstage staff to claim benefits.”

What makes Canada different from the United States? Quite a few things, actually, and the differences are growing. “Just when you had all but forgotten that carbon-based life exists above the 49th parallel, those sly Canadians have redefined their entire nation as Berkeley North. It’s like we woke up and suddenly we’re a European country.”

What kind of culture does Canada project to the rest of the world? To itself? “I moved to Toronto in April, 1996, and have been slowly discovering that Canada (as a land, as people, as a political identity) and its culture are not always in sync. This is not necessarily a bad thing. A place where fringe, marginal or esoteric sensibilities come to stand for a whole country can’t be that bad. But it may account for the lack of interest in Canadian popular culture locally. If you don’t see your life reflected in your own culture, why look in the first place?”

NEA chief Dana Gioia says there is a crisis in state arts funding. “He said although no state has eliminated arts budgeting, “the mere debate suggests that the political and social consensus that once existed on the necessity of public support for the arts and arts education is breaking down.”

French arts workers, angry about a reduction in their work benefits, are staging strikes, threatening major summer arts festivals. “The first three days of a July opera festival in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence have already been pushed back, with director Stephane Lissner warning that the entire three-week event could be in jeopardy. Also at risk is the Festival d’Avignon, one of Europe’s most prestigious drama festivals due to begin on July 8. The event drew 98,000 theater-lovers last year, according to culture ministry figures.”

“Summer festivals in France and throughout Europe have become big business. Last year about 900,000 spectators attended a staggering 650 music, dance and theater festivals across France. French tourism has already suffered this year from the sharp drop in the value of the dollar, the political fallout from the war with Iraq (which France opposed) and fears of the SARS virus. In cities like Avignon and Aix-en-Provence festival organizers and local business rely heavily on the income from the summer festivals, and the cancellations could be financially disastrous.”