Category: issues

There is a proposal to build a giant Wal-Mart next to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, on parking lots owned by The Miami Herald. “Of all the bad ideas ever proffered for downtown Miami, this is the worst. And shockingly so in a time and a place where we have already invested more than $500 million in public funds to create a downtown cultural precinct.”

“During the next three years, we wish to place a statutory duty upon our local authorities to promote culture and the arts. This is not for control’s sake. Rather, it reflects our desire to provide high quality cultural experiences to each and every one of our communities in the spirit of the One Wales programme [the country’s coalition agreement].

“While politicians and lobbyists debate massive, years-long investments to increase North American energy supplies, Dockside Green dramatically cuts energy use now. Conservation and efficiency have generally been treated condescendingly in the U.S. energy debate, like the bright but annoying student whose hand always shoots up first.”

“Since Aug. 8, the federal government has canceled at least six cultural and media subsidy programs totalling $18-million a year. In all cases, the cuts have been quietly communicated to stakeholders, with no official public announcements.”

“There is a great deal at stake in the 2012 Cultural Olympics by way of national pride and economic interest, more than is fully apparent, or fully accepted by the creative industries. The run-up to next month’s cultural jamboree has been notably unhappy.”

In a report published yesterday, the UN’s Committee on Human Rights criticises the phenomenon of “libel tourism”, where foreign businessmen and millionaires use the High Court in London to sue foreign publishers under claimant-friendly defamation laws.”

“The figures highlight the growing dilemma facing university admissions staff as they attempt to select the brightest candidates for popular courses amidst claims of growing grade inflation following 26 consecutive years of rises in the A-level pass rate.”

“This is a not a time for self-limiting arts organisations, but a time for open societies, open places and open prospects. Arts organisations, and particularly festivals, should not be constrained by nostalgic or parochial considerations. The only way forward is to be genuinely ambitious and innovative, and to seek to make intelligent and appropriate responses to developments in the world beyond the arts.”

“No one can accuse The New York Times of papering over its mistakes. America’s most famous newspaper today issued a formal correction to a review of a Broadway production of West Side Story published no less than 48 years ago.”