Category: issues

As centers of research, universities have a wealth of knowledge to profit from. “But successfully exploiting them is another matter. With some notable exceptions, the businesses set up by universities to commercialise their intellectual property have lost millions in recent years.” – Sydney Morning Herald 12/18/00

A new culture minister in New Zealand got everyone’s hopes up for some government attention as 2000 dawned. “Then there was a giddy anticipation from the cultural sector, which behaved like an ignored child showered with attention. As the year ends, the reality has sunk in that if politics exhibits any art it is the art of pragmatism.” – New Zealand Herald 12/18/00

“Cultural protectionism is in vogue throughout Europe, evidence of a growing fear that the continent’s old national cultures are under threat. The EU’s role is significant. Although it claims to act benignly, serving as a mere facilitator of culture, its policies display somewhat different, culturally integrationist aims. It believes in the propagation of an official European culture.” – The Telegraph (UK) 12/16/00

— named by Clinton this week. Winners include Maya Angelou, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Itzhak Perlman, and National Public Radio’s Cultural Programming Division. – New York Times 12/15/00 

As minister of arts you get to decide who gets money to do what. “It’s the feel-good job that basically comes down to deciding which arts companies, projects and artists you’re going to assign money to, the job that makes you look popular even when your other job doesn’t.” And yet there are the downsides too… – The Age (Melbourne) 12/15/00

“The issue is not whether classical ballet is a great art form; let’s postulate that it is. The question is about the role of art in the community. Should public money be used to help perfect an elitist exercise so that all may benefit by watching it, or should it be used to promote sundry inclusive art forms (Make-A-Circus, as one example) so that all may benefit by participating in them?” – San Francisco Chronicle 12/14/00

“For the TV industry, a Republican administration is generally welcomed, since the GOP largely believes in letting the marketplace, not regulation, rule the day. Overall, entertainment toppers are concerned that the reputed ills of Hollywood may be the one issue a nearly evenly divided Congress can agree on.” – Variety 12/14/00

Australian painters, sculptors, composers, authors, film makers and other artistic creators have finally won the right to “stop their work being mistreated or wrongly attributed under laws passed last week. It has taken seven years, two governments and a handful of ministers to get rights most of the rest of the Western world has long taken for granted.” – The Age (Melbourne) 12/14/00

New York’s innovative Symphony Space, home to a variety of arts programming, is expanding to take over and renovate the Thalia Theatre next door. – New York Times 12/14/00 

What are graduates of Australia’s universities earning? First-year dentists get $50,000. “At the other end of the scale, visual arts graduates and linguists remain in the doldrums. Between 30 and 40 per cent of those graduates looking for work are still unable to find full-time work four months after leaving university. Assuming they got work, graduates working in art and design could expect to earn $28,000, well below the national average.” – Sydney Morning Herald 12/14/00