Category: issues

“Founded more than a century ago, and with a mission ‘to foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts,’ the [American Academy of Arts and Letters] was long a reclusive institution and remains – even among some artists – a bit like a distant god, known mostly at those moments when it chooses to show its face.” It showed its face Monday, announcing a new crop of inductees.

“Throughout the 20th century, the SMPF (‘Service Municipal des Pompes Funebres’) was a one-stop shop for posthumous ceremonies. This is where coffins, wreaths and draperies were made, hearses were parked, and the funerals of Victor Hugo and Jean-Paul Sartre were arranged. Today, ‘Le 104’ (located at No. 104, Rue d’Aubervilliers in northern Paris) is a base for more than a dozen artists — including landscape designers, a cartoonist and a rapper — who are guests of Paris City Hall.”

“In the run-up to the 22 April pre-budget report, the Arts Council has been working on three possible scenarios, ranging from a 1.5 % cut, which would equate to £7m, to a 3% cut, which would see £14m wiped off the budget. This – taken with the cuts in Grants for the Arts (which is now under such severe pressure that people are being told not to apply), the financial difficulties facing councils looking to cut arts funding, and a drop in corporate sponsorship – is potentially catastrophic.”

“It’s never been easier to avoid paying for entertainment — pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters, some not yet released in theatres, can be downloaded, and illegal downloading of music is widespread and socially acceptable. Yet live music is thriving, with concert ticket sales doubling in the last decade despite prices of $200 or more for big names like U2.”

“Ticket sales have doubled since 2005 with last year’s festival the most successful to date, 43,500 festival goers racking up a record-breaking box office take of £660,000. The number of non-resident visitors leapt last year by 250% and generated, together with 479 visiting artists, more than 4,000 hotel bed nights for the city.”

“Over the past few years an ‘art squat’ subculture has been quietly growing in the UK to include not just opportunists like Ed, but creative and ambitious groups for whom the decision to squat – for working or living or both – comes as much from an idealistic, DIY ethos as it does from financial expediency.”

“We weren’t aware of it at the time, but today the Thatcher era looks to have been a golden age for British musical life. If the lady herself was no particular devotee of music and opera, many of her cabinet were, and in those days it was possible to see more Tory ministers at a single performance at Covent Garden or Glyndebourne than New Labour has ever mustered in the last 12 years.”

“To friend or not to friend is really a modern gloss on a much older dilemma: what is the appropriate relationship between the artist and the critic?”

“As a critic, I’m fair game for satire and complaints. What bothered me was the identity-theft bit. And how Fake Greg Cook was messing with my personal and professional relationships. It didn’t feel funny; it felt something like stalking.”