Category: issues

Last April, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate assistants at NYU had the right to unionize. The university subsequently appealed the decision and now, just as school is about to begin, the notoriously overworked and underpaid GAs are awaiting the Board’s decision. – Village Voice

Arts education programs by more than a dozen Boston area arts groups that work with more than 30 schools may have to be curtailed after the Massachusetts governor vetoes $5.2 million in spending slated for Boston schools. “This is the single largest act of destruction for arts education in Boston.” – Boston Herald

“Clearly, if San Francisco is becoming too expensive for some folks to live in, it’s also becoming too expensive for others to create in. While the booming dot-com economy may have something to do with squeezing artists out, dot-communists themselves are not necessarily the enemy. At least that’s what the Institute for Unpopular Culture will set out to prove tomorrow night.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Laguna Beach’s colorful 70-year-old Pageant of the Masters arts festival is leaving town. “The five-member Festival of Arts board voted unanimously Tuesday night to move the prestigious pageant and the festival art show to a $30 million complex in San Clemente after next year. Festival officials expect to clear $2 million annually – instead of the current $75,000 – to donate to the arts community.” – Orange County Register 08/16/00

“While the major media establishments struggle to figure out how to use the Internet, many celebrities are taking advantage of a medium that offers more creative freedom at a lower cost. And they’re being greeted by a number of smart online companies such as Artistdirect, which creates Web sites for celebrities, and Atomic Pop, which is headed by Al Teller, the former head of MCA Music Entertainment Group and CBS Records.” – Yahoo! (Inter@ctive Week) 08/15/00

Tobacco companies have been major funders of Canadian arts. But new regulations curtail tobacco sponsorships. A survey of 152 arts groups finds that “more than half of the groups now receiving tobacco money will be forced to reduce the size and scope of their productions. It also found that arts groups will seek new sources of revenue rather than ask existing sponsors for more money.” – CBC

Hollywood has the capacity to excite the public about just about anything – which is why NASA has been bending over backwards to help Hollywood make its space movies more authentic. It goes something like this: if people get space-crazy, NASA may get more support from Congress. – The Age (Melbourne) (AP)

A delegation of North Korean poets, painters, and scholars will return to see their families in South Korea for the first time in 50 years – many of their family members have only been able to see their relatives’ art at overseas exhibitions in China and Japan. – Korea Herald 08/15/00

One month after the Roman Coliseum hosted its first theatrical event in 1,500 years, a pop concert planned for the amphitheaters of ancient Pompeii and Paestum may be next. Despite widespread concerns over possible damage to the ruins, Italy’s culture minister promised that more of Italy’s famous monuments will present entertainment. – Times of India (AP) 08/14/00

• A Boston pilot program “teams students with five local cultural institutions. The students act as apprentices to artists in five disciplines: dance, portraiture, storytelling, Vietnamese silk painting and puppetry-theater arts. In addition to the cultural experience, the students are also gaining job training and literacy skills. The students are required to keep a daily journal, show up on time, and act professionally and respectfully. For their time – five hours a day, five days a week, for five weeks – the program’s participants receive $6 an hour.” – Boston Herald 08/14/00