Category: issues

The National Endowment for the Arts finally has a new leader, after a year. Outspoken poet (they seem to be everywhere these days) Dana Gioia takes over in February after being unanimously confirmed for the job by the US Senate. “The NEA has been leaderless for too long. I am looking forward to a strong chairman who understands the values of artists, because he is one, and who understands the role of cultural policy, and above all who will invigorate the agency.”

England’s culture minister has written an article in a German newspaper saying England ought to be more like Germany when it comes to culture. “England has a great cultural tradition past and present. (But) perhaps in Britain we simply lack the passion of the Germans to debate culture. We shouldn’t be so shy about talking about culture. British politicians should not be shy about giving culture a high priority in public debate. “Germany is one of the biggest cultural powers in Europe. Britain too. So I hope that the courage that Germany has proved itself to have in the debate about grasping cultural identity will also rub off to some extent on to your English cousins.”

Poet Dana Gioia has been unanimously confirmed by the US Senate as the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Leading the National Endowment for the Arts is a great privilege and an enormous responsibility. Both the arts and arts education face many challenges at present, and the Endowment has much to do.”

After a disappointing announcement of flat funding for the arts by the Scottish government, “the chairman of the Scottish Arts Council has called for a public inquiry to stave off financial catastrophe in the arts and to nurture the sector for future generations.”

What do we mean by greatness? “The distinction is easier to identify in the performing arts than scientists might credit. Greatness is by definition rare, and fast becoming rarer. Perhaps because so much of the art of interpretation is fakable on film, the magnetism of high performance has been dulled and mediocrity can pass, on first impression, for mastery, while genius is obscured by cheap gesture. Since human nature abhors a vacuum, greatness gets bestowed on whoever catches the public eye.”

The Scottish government’s new budget hacks away at arts budgets. The Scottish Opera, “which has had a number of financial crises in recent years, said it was ‘dismayed’ last night to receive, in real terms, a budget cut and it is expected that it will have to cut the number of operas it has planned. All three of the other national arts companies, and the National Theatre plan, also emerged as cultural casualties in the new budget announced yesterday.”

Standing ovations have become the automatic response for all too many performances. Doesn’t matter whether they’ve earned it or not. “This un-thought-through enthusiasm has become – pardon the expression – a knee jerk response. Call it ovation inflation, it is yet one more example of our society’s tendency to supersize every experience, emotion and commodity.”

“Since the mid-nineties, various Toronto artists have attempted, in fits and starts, to revive the salon tradition by repositioning it as a multi-media drop-in, not a formal symposium. Artists in the city quickly realized that showing works in private homes can be a lot less trouble than begging (and paying) dealers for space or negotiating the byzantine, committee-driven world of publicly funded galleries.”

The struggle between the vision of art and the business of art is neverending. But in tighter economic times, the battles seem more dramatic, more public. “What conclusion can be drawn from this eternal square dance between the powers of money and the powers of art? Artistic directors can’t be slaves to money, but they can’t be defiantly unrealistic, either.”

Critics say that the British government’s plan to raise university fees for students will make arts courses unaffordable. Students will be encouraged not to study the arts because their earning potential after graduation is lower. “The colleges will find themselves in a dilemma because arts courses – with expensive materials and practical tuition – are inevitably costly to run, and yet by charging more affordable fees to attract more students, colleges stand to get less government support.”