Category: issues

The review acknowledges that “since its inception the Australia Council has played a central role in ensuring the vitality and resilience of the Australian arts sector”. Exactly. But this successful outcome has been the product of the very system they now propose dismantling.

“Founded in a surge of national cultural enthusiasm that began in the 1950s and 1960s and peaked in the 1970s, Canadian performance groups are often housed in heritage buildings that were repurposed for their use in the 1970s and 1980s.”

“Throughout the country, Roman temples, Crusader castles and medieval mosques have been subject to shelling, gunfire and military occupation. What is more, the collapse of authority has led to widespread theft and looting.”

“As readership drives itself half crazy with sampling, hypertexting and interacting, sequels say to the reader: here is continuity. Here is stability. Here is something you know — taken on a step, sure. Adapted as it’s adopted. But at a certain fundamental level, familiar.”

“When Kickstarter started out it decided not to prioritise (or curate) which creations were most important. It stayed away from the term ‘art’ and spelled out its mission statement as a new way to support any kind of ‘creativity’. The public would decide what was important and increasingly their dollars are veering away from art to invention. A profound shift is under way – from the aesthetic to the interactive.”

“Two videos posted Sunday on YouTube show at least five people wearing balaclavas jumping and shouting during a mass in the main cathedral of the city of Cologne.” Church staff immediately removed the protestors, three of whom now face prosecution for disrupting religious services, a crime under German law carrying a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment.

“A group of right-wing activists in St. Petersburg has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Madonna, claiming that the pop star’s Aug. 9 concert promoted homosexuality and offended Orthodox believers.”

“Talking about cutting arts funding is a diversionary tactic, both in terms of the amount of money that would actually be saved by doing so, and in terms of a philosophical discussion about what the proper funding of government is.”

“Analysts thrilled by the idea that Apple wants to get into TV have convinced themselves that they can untie the cable bundle, and give us when-we-want-it-how-we-want-it video the same way it changed the music industry 12 years ago. But they are missing something important.”

The judge handed down a verdict of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” and protestors thronged the court.