Category: issues

A US federal judge has struck down a local law in Wichita, Kansas that allowed signers of a petition to yank “objectionable” books from the public library. – MSNBC (AP, REUTERS) 09/22/00

After a comprehensive review of 50 years of arts education research and nearly 200 existing studies, researchers concluded that spatial-temporal reasoning improves for children when they learn to make music and improves temporarily for adults when they listen to certain kinds of music. However, researchers uncovered no generalizable, causal links between studying the arts and improvement in SAT scores, grades or reading scores, challenging a popular argument that the arts can and should be used to buttress other types of learning. – Washington Post 09/21/00

The National Endowment for the Arts finally got a budget increase from the US Congress yesterday – an additional $7 million this year, for a total of $105 million. But the extra money comes with a catch. – Washington Post 09/21/00

New report says that music and book publishers could lose billions of dollars over the next few years because of the internet and digital copying. On the other hand, “it predicted that musicians will gain $1 billion, authors $1.3 billion, and third party service companies $2.8 billion by 2005 in ‘a historic transfer of revenues’,” due to artists choosing to distribute their own work. – The Age (Melbourne) 09/21/00

The artist’s job is to “experience (mostly emotions), to mould it into a the grammar, syntax and vocabulary of a universal language in order to communicate the echo of their idiosyncratic language. They are forever mediating between us and their experience. Rightly so, the quality of an artist is measured by his ability to loyally represent his unique language to us. The smaller the distance between the original experience (the emotion of the artist) and its external representation – the more prominent the artist.” – The Idler 09/20/00

Pedestrian traffic through New York’s rejuvenated Times Square in the heart of the city’s theatre district has gotten so heavy that the city is considering closing streets off to cars, widening sidewalks and making other pedestrian-friendly moves. – New York Post 09/20/00

Now Italian authorities are getting upset about the corruption of their language by English. “Critics complain that not enough effort was being made to coin new Italian words instead of borrowing foreign ones.” – BBC 09/20/00

A broadcaster mixes up the soundtracks of a Catholic broadcast and a porn channel. “For two hours, millions of Roman Catholics watched video of cardinals singing hymns and praying, set to the orgasmic moaning and caterwauling of porn stars like Shyla Foxxx, Kaitlyn Ashley and Caressa Savage. Conversely, male viewers of the Fantasy Channel, sitting on sofas with their pants to their ankles, were treated to porn that featured holy incantations.” – Salon 09/20/00

News of an extra $70 million in funding wasn’t enough to excite Australia’s state theater companies. While the overall government spending represents a 23% increase for the arts sector, the four largest theater companies will only see a 4 1/2% raise – barely more than inflation. – The Age (Melbourne)

UK Culture Secretary Chris Smith responded to recent attacks by artists (David Hockney, Doris Lessing, V. S. Naipaul, among them) criticizing the “dumbing down” of British culture: Arts funding has actually increased 60% during the Labour Party’s first five years. “I don’t call that the action of a philistine government.” – Sydney Morning Herald 09/19/00