Category: issues

“Creative Scotland has been told to “achieve more” by the Scottish government in return for its 2011/12 budget being frozen. The body, responsible for arts and film, will see its budget stay at £35.5m, protecting funding for existing organisations.”

“I think it is possible to argue that both trade and diplomacy are culture for slow learners, that what happens with music and books, with painting and poetry, how they move and spread, how they do not recognise borders, how they find translators, is a blueprint for what happens later with goods and services and with treaties between governments.”

An illustrated tour – from 16th-century metal stays (meant to align crooked spines), through the introduction of whalebone, the invention of sports corsets and maternity corsets, to the development (not what you’d think) that finally convinced America to switch to more flexible foundation wear.

An early read of the Scottish budget brings us news that the Scottish arts and culture budget will be a great deal more protected than that in England.

“Researchers sampled 50,000 comments at random from each dataset and analyzed whether each one was a reply to a news post or to another comment, and how many were replies to discussions that already had a crowd of comments.”

“What do all these professional managers and entrepreneurs have in common? Little or no experience or expertise in education. (Instead, they have degrees in government and law, along with nontraditional entries into education and strong ties to alternative certification, such as Teach for America). Further, they all represent and promote a cultural faith in the power of leadership above the importance of experience or expertise.”

“The Geminis and The Gillers: Elitist and rewarding obscurity. The Geminis give awards to shows hardly anybody has seen. This year, the Giller Prize – also a TV program, take note – goes to a book hardly anybody can buy. It’s a Canadian thing, and a major mistake – rewarding obscurity, underlining the gulf between the arts elite, the TV academy elite and the public.”

“Members of a new generation of digitally savvy humanists argue it is time to stop looking for inspiration in the next political or philosophical ‘ism’ and start exploring how technology is changing our understanding of the liberal arts.”

“Jane Moss, Lincoln Center’s vice president for programming and the organizer of the festival, said that visa applications were made in May and that about half of the 50-member troupe involved in the show had received visas by Oct. 13, but the rest were sent for further review by State Department officials.”

The national arts funding body already cut deeply. Now it’s time for local governments. “Local authorities have to balance what they’ve got, and culture, arts and leisure funding is not statutory. So it is going to be one of the first things that local authorities are going to look at.”