Category: issues

“A night on the town in Lansdale [PA], a blue-collar borough of 17,000 people, hasn’t the widest range of options, but 60 or so more were just added – conveniently located between the hardware and health-food stores.”

A reader writes to Slate asking if clicking on the display ads on favorite Web sites (and letting pop-up ads run their course instead of closing them) actually helps those Web sites – “or am I just annoying myself for no good reason?” And the answer is …

Ireland’s arts minister “has said he will not scrap the artists’ exemption as proposed by the Commission on Taxation.” He “described as ‘nonsense’ the suggestion that the exemption costs the exchequer between €36 million and €38 million every year.”

“In Vancouver’s arts community, there are a lot of mixed feelings these days about the Olympics. There has been talk of boycotting the Cultural Olympiad since the recent announcement of deep cuts in B.C.’s funding for the arts – primarily through the cancellation of gaming grants.”

“What is new about Harvard’s venture, more than five years in the making, is that it is the first time that public broadcasters can remember a regular college course’s being presented on television. What’s more, it is also a highly produced multimedia event, with high-definition video, interactive Webcasts, podcasts, a new book and a speaking tour.”

“Britain’s great heritage of castles and religious buildings stands to benefit by a boost of up to £40m under a Conservative government, the shadow culture secretary has revealed.”

John McCann: “Let’s consolidate the numerous national discipline-specific arts service organizations into one robust, influential, and vital American Institute for the Arts. Each discipline would have its own division where areas of specific need could be addressed, yet the new Institute would provide substantial economies of scale (no need for many CEO’s, development officers, etc. etc.), and a cohesive, coordinated approach toward three significant outcomes.”

She gave an 11-minute address about the arts as a prelude to performances by guests Sara Bareilles, Yo-Yo Ma and Trisha Yearwood.

As the Communist nation rejoined the world economy during the 1990s, “hundreds, and then thousands, of farming villages began organizing themselves to sell their traditional crafts,” bringing in up to $1 billion last year. But the global recession has hit them hard: “if nothing changes by the end of the year, half of them will have collapsed entirely, with a loss of some five million jobs.”

“Ten Republican senators have written to National Endowment for the Arts chairman Rocco Landesman, expressing concern that the Obama administration may have violated federal law by trying to use the agency for political purposes – something the White House and NEA have denied.”