Category: issues

“The adult entertainment industry is not only seeing its DVD sales plummet as consumers watch more porn online, but the estimated $13 billion industry is also having its own version of a Napster moment – named after the Silicon Valley company that transformed the music industry by allowing users to share songs free online.”

“The most frequent argument for having a big endowment is that it’s supposed to tide schools over tough times. It sure isn’t working out that way. Between July 1 and Nov. 30 last year, endowments at 435 surveyed schools lost 23% of their value.”

A new NEA chief hasn’t been chosen yet. In the meantime, 30 famous people say what they would do if they had control of the NEA. Anne Coulter? Really?

“The proposed changes will meet the government’s requirement that ACE saves 15% on its grant in aid administration costs by 2010. ACE is also seeking to make equivalent savings on its National Lottery administration costs, making the total saving £6.5 million a year.”

“The Italian design house announced that four well-known fashion editors will each window-dress one of its flagship stores. The guest merchandisers’ work is organized to coincide with Fashion Week in each of the four cities. In a business where conflicts of interest occur every day, this is a step too far and poorly timed. Fashion does not need such a public blow to its credibility during an economic crisis that has it quite literally — and at times, unfairly — having to justify its existence.”

“This infusion of the arts into the Obamas’ public rituals and family routines comes after eight years in which George W. Bush seldom was seen in Washington’s halls of culture. Taking the Obama past as prelude, there’s a fair amount of evidence to support arts partisans’ hopes for a White House attuned to music, theater, fine arts and dance.”

“In this new era of lengthening unemployment lines and shrinking university endowments, questions about the importance of the humanities in a complex and technologically demanding world have taken on new urgency. Previous economic downturns have often led to decreased enrollment in the disciplines loosely grouped under the term ‘humanities.”

“What the statistics do not tell us – and what psychologists most want to know – is exactly which people are most at risk. The vast majority of depressed, hopeless people do not commit suicide, so why do some do it?” One researcher thinks he may have found an answer.

“One of the largest venues regularly presenting dance and musicals, the 2,750-seat City Center has more Madoff investors on its board than any other major New York performing-arts group. Madoff himself was a director for at least a decade, until his arrest on Dec. 11, according to City Center tax returns. … The contracting economy and the Madoff investments could clip the wings of [City Center’s president,] one of the city’s cultural leaders.” NOTE: A spokesperson for New York City Center has said that the original renovation budget was $150 million (not $300 as stated by Bloomberg), and that the renovation plans were modified several months before the Madoff situation was revealed. City Center also says that plans for the renovation have not been affected by Madoff

“Hopes are running high in the arts because all eyes and ears are on Barack Obama, and Obama’s eyes and ears seem to be attuned to the arts. But go back a little more than 10 years and you discover that Obama, an Illinois state senator at the time, was even then getting an earful from arts and cultural institutions — and apparently receiving their message loud and clear.”