“Shaw Communications Inc. vowed Tuesday to resume making monthly payments to the beleaguered Canadian television Fund although the company continued its volley of criticisms against the production fund… The CTF, a key source of funds for Canadian-made programming, has an annual budget of about $250-million, about $150-million of which comes from the country’s key cable and satellite TV companies.”
Author: sbergman
Alberta Leads Canada’s Cultural Spending
Alberta is frequently referred to as Canada’s answer to Texas – a conservative, cowboy-intensive enclave full of wide open spaces and unimaginable oil money. Now, an annual survey shows that, for the third year in a row, Albertans led the nation in per-capita spending on arts and culture. But there’s a catch: the lion’s share of the $3 billion Albertans spent on culture in 2005 went to pay for products (home entertainment systems, books, etc.) which can be enjoyed without ever leaving the couch.
DIY Degrees
So-called “interdisciplinary programs,” under which students at prestigious colleges and universities design their own majors and achieve a degree in something completely unique to their program of study, are becoming ever more common in the U.S. Moreover, designer degrees “can telegraph emerging fields of study and cultural interests. Gender studies and cognitive science departments got their starts as designer programs.”
Warner Looks To Buy EMI (Again)
Warner Music, the world’s fourth-largest recording company, is preparing a takeover bid for British music giant EMI, and says that the offer will likely be cash only. Warner and EMI have danced around each other for the better part of a decade, with each attempting to acquire the other at various times. “A merger of the firms would create a firm with about 25% of the global recorded music market,” and regulatory concerns could derail any attempt at joining the companies.
Pittsburgh Looks To Tax Non-Profits
In most American cities, non-profit groups expend at least a nominal amount of effort asking local government entities for money, which may or may not be forthcoming. But in the fiscally strapped city of Pittsburgh, nonprofits have actually been contributing money to the city government for the past couple of years. Now, the city has tired of the voluntary contribution system, and wants to require larger “contributions” (also known as “taxes”) from non-profits like hospitals that are actually turning large profits.
Nasty Microbe 1, Symphony Orchestra 0
Norway is in the grip of a nationwide flu epidemic, and this week, one of the country’s orchestras actually had to cancel a concert because of it. It’s not that the Trondheim Symphony was afraid of catching the bug from the audience – 30 of the ensemble’s 78 musicians were too sick to come to work themselves.
Bucking The Regional Orchestra Trend
Symphony Silicon Valley, which rose from the ashes of the bankrupt San Jose Symphony five years ago, has announced the second expansion of its schedule in as many seasons. “Bouncing off a $118,000 operating surplus last year, the orchestra has announced that its 2007-08 season will be larger than any of its first five, with eight programs stretching over 20 concerts.”
The Racial Politics Of Art
What does ethnicity have to do with art? It depends entirely on your perspective as an artist and, of course, your ethnicity. “The more people you work with and the more projects you do, your idea of what it means to be Puerto Rican, to be Latin American, to be American, unfolds. You end up not only with an idea of what your culture is but what it could be.”
St. Louis Symhony Prez Quitting
The president of the St. Louis Symphony has announced that he will step down at the end of the current season. In his time with the SLSO, Randy Adams has been credited with turning around the orchestra’s financial fortunes, but he also presided over a long musicians’ strike in 2005. “Adams said he decided to leave now because he wants his successor in place before the orchestra deals with a number of tough challenges.”
D.C. Ballet Company Loses Yet Another Exec
The executive director of Washington Ballet, who presided over a bitter labor dispute with the company’s dancers that saw the 2005 run of The Nutcracker canceled, has resigned unexpectedly to become the chief executive at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Jason Palmquist becomes the fourth executive to quit Washington Ballet since 1999.