Category: issues

A Boston man formed a company to import arts and culture to South Korea. Boston Ballet is the first to go, and it’s a good deal for the dance company. Tim Montgomery’s company pays all the bills and fees, and the company performs. Next up: the Boston Pops?

“Xclusive Tickets is about to go into liquidation after 18,000 tickets for the Reading, Leeds and V Festivals, and the Beijing Olympics, did not arrive. A total of 4,329 people who bought tickets from the company have been left out of pocket.”

It used to be, in the 1960s and ’70s, that the arts were considered good for national unity, for our sense of collective purpose and identity. We were seen then as a youngish, emerging country with an identity that needed forging. Then, in the 1980s and ’90s, the message changed. We began hearing that the creative arts were good for the economy. That argument continues today but with a bit of a twist: “Want a culture of innovation? Fund our artists.”

The center will house three theaters — a 2,800-seat hall for Broadway tours and other amplified shows; a 1,700-seat acoustic hall for opera, classical music and ballet; and a 300-seat hall for smaller performances — as well as a community room, rehearsal rooms, classrooms and offices.

More than $40-million in savings the federal government will reap from controversial cuts to arts and culture funding will be redirected to the Vancouver Olympic torch relay and two other programs, exacerbating fears that replacement initiatives are not in the cards.

“Architect Frank Gehry will no longer be a part of the project to build a permanent home for the Theater for a New Audience in the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the theater’s founder said Thursday. But the announcement came as a surprise to Mr. Gehry, who said he wasn’t told of the change.”

“As repo men and vulture investors circle, a question has been rippling: Will banks jettison their investments in the art world–their sponsorship of major events, institutions large and small? At stake are tens of millions of dollars in funding.”

The government has announced cuts in programs designed to promote Canadian arts. “[The Conservatives] are spending a lot on the creation side, but the whole point with Trade Routes in the first place was, what’s the point in creating all this content if it isn’t seen? With a small amount of money we were able to maximize what we were already spending, which was not insignificant,”

“Since 2006, Denmark, a largely homogenous country of 5 million people on Europe’s stormy northern coast, has been anointed the happiest place on earth by two very different surveys. The studies’ findings have upended dated international perceptions of Denmark as a quaint but chilly dairy exporter with a high suicide rate, recasting the country instead as a model of social harmony that is thriving in an era of globalization.”

“The Conservatives have earmarked 10 programs and parts of another to be eliminated and will reduce spending on two others, after a “strategic review” process that audited all Canadian Heritage programs for efficiency and effectiveness.”