A federal US judge has allowed the rejection of a decorated art cow proposed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The animal rights group wanted to enter its cow – bearing anti-meat messages – from New York’s art-cow parade currently on view in the city. – Yahoo! (Reuters)
Tag: 07.26.00
COMBATING LOOTED ART
A committee of MPs in the English Parliament proposed laws yesterday to make it a criminal offense to trade in looted artifacts and stolen artwork. The move is to combat the growing illicit market for illegally exported objects, estimated at between £150 million and £2 billion a year. Suggested measures included setting up a national database of stolen art, expediting legislation to facilitate the return of Nazi-looted art, and allowing museum trustees to return human remains on display in British museums. – The Guardian
- NEED HELP: “At present, there are no import controls on cultural property entering Britain unless they are subject to other controls, for example in relation to firearms – a position that many in the museums trade find untenable.” – The Independent (UK)
DOES A NEW LIBRARY REALLY NEED BOOKS?
Marquette University is building a new library. Only one problem – too many books to get in the way. Originally the $70 million library was to be conventional – just bigger. “But that began to seem old-fashioned. Now, the proposal is to keep books in the old library, and in the new one create a cyber cafe, complete with Internet hookups, a ‘technology warehouse,’ and spaces for live video conferences and large, computer-driven presentations. ” – Chicago Tribune
HOW TO BE A POP MUSIC STAR
A Seattleite is one of the internet’s hottest musicians – he recently almost won a Yahoo award, and his music is consistently one of the Top Ten MP3 downloads. One thing – he’s never performed in public and says he knows nothing about the recording industry. “But then again, if you’re taking in $10,000 a month without touring, doing promotions or even lifting a finger, who needs a record contract?” – Seattle Times
CLOSED PARK CANCELS NY PHIL
This week’s New York Philharmonic concert in Central Park had to be cancelled after public officials closed the park because of a health scare. – BBC MusicMagazine
“ARTS MAYOR” TO THE RESCUE
Thomas Menino, Boston’s self-styled arts mayor, wants desperately to help out the city’s baseball team. “In a plan championed by the mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Menino effectively told Boston’s struggling artists the following: If you help me drum up support for subsidized housing for the Sox, there might be some cash in it for you.” – Boston Herald
EXHIBITION ETHICS
“Do you cancel a play if it provokes violence on the streets? Do you accept an exhibition of paintings collected by a businessman jailed for defrauding shareholders?” Such ethical dilemmas were discussed Monday at ‘Turn up the Heat’, an ethics conference of arts administrators in Sydney. – Sydney Morning Herald
ARTS WINDFALL
Britain’s Culture Secretary Chris Smith unveiled a huge funding package for the arts Tuesday to rejuvenate the country’s arts infrastructures – regional theatres in particular – that have suffered tremendously during more than twenty years of lackluster government support. The Arts Council of England will receive an extra £100m a year from 2003, the biggest increase in funding in its 44-year history. “What it says is that access to arts and creativity is a basic, like health and education.” – The Guardian
- AND THE SQUEAKY WHEEL… Arts Council Chairman Gerry Robinson has been lobbying the government for an extra £100 million in arts funding for months – and yesterday’s announcement proves they heard him loud and clear. “He badgered the Prime Minister and Chancellor to the point where, he believes, “I seriously p***ed people off. At the end of the day, someone like Blair or Brown will say, ‘Oh, for Chrissakes just give them the money.'” – The Telegraph (UK)
THE $543 LUNCH
Philadelphia restaurant critic goes for lunch in New York’s hot new restaurant. “It is enough to do a triple take at the prices, even as you settle into the Brazilian rosewood and gold-trimmed opulence of the dining room, with its Neapolitan fabrics, polished black columns and exploding rose bouquets. Did I just order a $50 appetizer? An $80 steak? Coca-Cola for $8? Uh-huh.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
SENSITIVE NEW AGE GUYS
Guy movies may no longer fall into the category or beat-em-up, shoot-em-up, testosterone-y macho propaganda – there seems to be a new wave of films that present more feeling, sensitive men. “John Wayne on a prairie, the man alone, definitely is something I can’t relate to,” says one director. “I want to love, I have needs. Men around me in my life, they’ve got needs. In this day and age, I think it’s become necessary to depict that.” – The Age (Melbourne) 07/26/00