Category: issues

“This is not the newest idea on the block. It’s very traditional. But we’ve become very used to the idea of someone in a boardroom giving us a check and we hand them a piece of art and cross our fingers. The longer history of art is actually one of patronage that involves the artist’s audience.”

“The Hargreaves report recommends legalising the practice of copying music and films and seeks to relax the rules around ‘transformative works’ – reworkings of existing content. It also calls for a new agency to mediate between those wanting to license music, film and other digital content and rights owners.”

“The difference between the non- and for-profit art colleges may not be the quality of the education but the nature of the student. Those taking classes at for-profits schools tend to be older than 18 to 22; the average age of an Art Institute student, for example, is 25. The students are more racially and ethnically diverse and less affluent than those at nonprofits.”

“Saratoga Performing Arts Center is stable, but its classical pillars – Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City Ballet – are on financially shaky ground, officials said Wednesday. The orchestra, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and the ballet have deficits of $14.5 million and $6 million, respectively.”

“We, the arts, have done ourselves quite a lot of damage because our lobbying against it [cuts] has been over-hysterical and over-extreme. For the first time in my life, I am finding reasonable, sensible people – like Treasury civil servants, journalists whose politics would be left of centre – beginning to question the need for public subsidy.”

The Da Vinci Code brought the Rosslyn Chapel to the world’s attention. But perhaps the idea of a hidden code there isn’t so outlandish after all…

“Once decried as ‘Disneyland North’ for its lightweight content and sanitized presentations, the Canadian Museum of Civilization is now admired by professionals and the public alike, its 1.23 million annual visits the highest attendance for any Canadian cultural institution.”

“Fortunately, the classic 1949 film with Orson Welles, The Third Man, climaxes in a dramatic chase through Vienna’s sewers. Capitalizing on that, [the city] launched a Third Man Tour of the subterranean waterways. Today, it’s an underground hit. [And] Vienna isn’t alone in plumbing the depths of tourism.”

“Three applications filed May 3 — the day after the raid — with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office by Disney Enterprises Inc. state an intention to use the mark for a range of products, including entertainment and education services, clothing, toys, games and Christmas stockings.”

“Its funding represents one penny for every $18 in the state budget, and it stays away from even a breath of controversy. But lately this tiny agency has become a huge annoyance to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, and though it is part of the office of Secretary of State – her own department – she has launched a public campaign to get more authority over it.”