Category: issues

“Everywhere you look this year in Edinburgh there’s cabaret and variety: the genres have been becoming more popular over the years, notably with the huge success of La Clique, but this year their ubiquity is particularly noticeable.”

Beneath Paris lies a network of some 155 miles of tunnels known as “the catacombs”–an underground labyrinth that serves as the weekend playground for bands of urban explorers. “It’s like Paris in the 17th century. This is a chance to know its underground carbon copy.”

Students these days study only about 14 hours a week, down from 24 in the early 1960s, according to a report released Thursday by the American Enterprise Institute.

“The Edinburgh Festival Fringe officially opens today, Friday August 6, with fringe bosses and venue managers in optimistic mood as ticket sales run at levels well ahead of this time in previous years.”

Shan Jixiang, who heads the government’s administration for cultural heritage, told state media, “Bulldozers have razed many historical blocks. The protection of cultural heritage in China has entered the most difficult, grave and critical period.” Shan made a point of criticizing the waste of building materials and the “boring” new cityscapes.

“There is a very modern reason to make these brutal comparisons. To put it simply, there is no other way to criticise art – unless you believe in an absolute cultural standard.”

“Maybe four people out of 11,000 said they were close to closing the doors. Many more said they were cutting and they were fearful and didn’t know which risks to take.”

“Over the past two decades, a quiet revolution in the life of St George’s Cathedral has brought it alive” – using professionals rather than amateurs – “with activities involving music, visual art, sculpture, architecture and literature, harking back to medieval traditions in Europe that placed churches at the heart of communal cultural life.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) will reduce to two weeks the processing of petitions for those coming in under visas specific to artists and athletes.

Matti Bunzl is the organization’s new artistic director, effective at the conclusion of this fall’s festival. Bunzl succeeds Lawrence “Ren” Weschler, who after four years in the position will move into a consulting role and focus on his literary career.