Category: issues

“The name of the game was ‘Vem Aí A Troika,’ or ‘Here Comes the Troika.’… When it came out in November, its creators, one of whom is a former university math professor, promised: ‘Now you, too, can bring the country to ruin’.”

Naturally Malians and foreign scholars are grateful for financial aid from UNESCO and the European Union in preserving the ancient documents and repairing the historic buildings of Timbuktu and Djenné, especially after the recent invasion by hard-line Islamist rebels. Yet the rules around such funding are sometimes counterproductive – including, in one case, because the amounts requested are too low.

“Between 1990 and 2010 we closed 340 churches, and of those 46 were demolished. It may be necessary to give up an additional 1,000 buildings,” he said.

“To keep Washington focused less on fears of corruption than on the possible benefits of film trade with China — where the growing box office reached $2.7 billion last year — the U.S.-Asia Institute, a policy-oriented nonprofit, has begun including movie operations among the stops made by lawmakers and their staff on institute-sponsored trips to China.”

“You cannot project about the future. You cannot have an idea of a project or design a certain kind of artistic project from one year’s distance, because you actually don’t know if you can pay the rent next month.”

The cuts will be severe, but not as crippling or total as originally proposed.

Film critics, obviously.

“Currently, performers can be taxed in the foreign country they are working in, as well as their country of residence, due to a global treaty aimed at preventing tax evasion. The Performing Arts Employers Associations League Europe (PEARLE) wants to put a stop to this double taxation, claiming it is a ‘major hindrance’ for the arts sector.”

“While the Gillard government has a September 14 election in its sights, there is still no date for the release of its national cultural policy,” which had been expected months ago.

With a second theater soon to open alongside the historic original and a newish (2006) concert hall, Mariinsky mastermind Valery Gergiev hopes finally to satisfy the huge demand for tickets, presenting shows for up to 20,000 people each weekend.