Category: issues

Dick Cheney is George Bush’s running mate, but of interest to cultural people is his wife Lynne, who was chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities in George Sr’s administration. When she left NEH, though, she attacked it. Cheney appeared on ABC’s ‘This Week’ last Sunday, “and told interviewer Cokie Roberts that she had tried to eliminate the agency because ‘the Endowment, under the Clinton administration, evolved into something outrageous,’ and that ‘it was such a misuse of taxpayer money.'” – Backstage 08/04/00

Computers are useful tools, to be sure. But using them is also changing the way we think. “The computer is a new semiotic channel. When it processes information it changes that information. Consider, for example, the hunt-and-browse method of research one does when actually working in library stacks. Compare this to the Boolean search procedures one uses when doing computer assisted research. This change is bound make a difference in the knowledge produced, but as yet we do not know in what way.” – The Idler 08/04/00

Various levels of Australian governments spent a combined $199 per person on cultural activities in 1998-99, says a new report. That was up $9.40 from the previous year. – The Age (Melbourne) 08/04/00 

There are plenty of prominent Aussie actors and directors who have made it big worldwide – Mel Gibson, Cate Blanchette, and Geoffrey Rush, just to name a few. But what version of Australia are they presenting to the world (and to Australians)? “A bloke could be forgiven for starting to wonder exactly who owns this country.” – Feed 08/04/00

“Ever wonder what would happen if several leading entertainment firms decided to work together? Korea is about to find out as five business giants in various entertainment fields signed a cooperative contract Wednesday to start just such a joint venture.” – Korea Herald

With only 1% of businesses investing in the arts, Australian Prime Minister John Howard decided it was about time to create an arts business foundation that would encourage funding from the private sector.  “What we are trying to encourage is recognition that it’s not just about handing over a cheque. It’s about two partners looking for the longer term.” – The Age (Melbourne)

What if they threw a party and nobody came? Sydney’s arts companies are reporting that the Sydney Olympic Organizing Committee has botched the arts festival by not promoting it properly and failing to deliver tickets. “Arts companies have complained that some events have sold as little as 8 per cent of tickets with just six weeks until the festival’s opening.” – The Australian

“Think of mathematics as the Latin of modern times. Across the world, it plays, as several historians have noted, the role that Latin played for Europeans in the Middle Ages. It’s the international language of vital work. It unites those whose thoughts produce big changes, and it helps make those changes occur. We who know nothing of mathematics (like Europeans who knew nothing of Latin in, say, 1350) are fated to be, in a crucial sense, more spectators than participants at the central dramas of our lifetime.” – National Post (Canada)

Once admired as one of Europe’s most art-friendly cities, with collections rivaling those of several European capitals, Glasgow has seen its museums and galleries fall into disrepair and financial turmoil in recent years. No surprise why – funding cuts, due in large part to a remapping of municipal four years ago. “What is required is a change in the way the museums – and perhaps other cultural assets – are funded.” – The Telegraph (UK)

While the Napster controversy has enjoyed an avalanche of media attention, how much of it can be considered “good journalism”? “Too often the complicated dispute between the online start-up and the music industry has been painted in the most simplistic terms – a reductive tale of forward-thinking entrepreneurs outsmarting head-in-the-sand label executives. From the get-go, disturbing signs suggested the press was more interested in advancing Napster’s story as a David-vs.-Goliath tale than in seriously addressing the intricate issues at hand.” – Salon