Canada has elaborate tax-credit laws used to encourage use of Canadian content in the movie and TV industries. But a new audit reveals that up to a third of the companies that took advantage of the tax breaks in the province of Quebec deliberately or accidentally misrepresented their labor and production costs. – National Post (Canada)
Category: issues
ODE TO GEEKS
Geeks are getting a lot of attention these days. “Some constants emerge from geek studies. Geeks are almost always depicted as deficient in traditional social skills but as possessing some special gift or talent in recompense. Writers tend to be divided over which side of this equation should be emphasized (usually to the exclusion of the other). Some fear that the spread of geekdom means an irreparable hole is being torn in the social fabric; others see geekdom as a less hidebound and authoritarian society in the making.” – The Atlantic Unbound
THE ART WORLD’S NOBEL
Two American and three European artists (composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, architect Richard Rogers, sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle, composer Hans Werner Henze, and painter Ellsworth Kelly) received the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale Award Tuesday. The lifetime achievement prizes are among the largest in the arts world, and come with a stipend of $140,000. – New York Times
GOING PUBLIC
The musicians’ coalition Artists Against Piracy kicked off its national campaign against copyright infringement with full-page ads in five major U.S. newspapers. “If A Song Means A Lot To You, Imagine What It Means To Us” read the headline, above a list of 68 musicians in favor of protecting their music through stricter copyright-law enforcement. – Billboard
“WORSE THAN THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION”
China’s booming tourist industry is threatening most of its precious cultural heritage and natural beauty, according to experts at a heritage preservation conference sponsored jointly by the government, the World Bank and UNESCO in Beijing last week. – China Times (Taiwan)
THE POLITICS OF GIVING MONEY AWAY
The MacArthur Foundation takes a breath to consider how it wants to spend its money. The so-called “genius” grants “symbolize how we would like to be known in the world – as a place that pays attention to releasing the potential of people.” – Chronicle of Higher Education
BEHIND THE BUBBLE
At a cost of $360 million, Beijing’s Grand National Opera House, now under construction, figured to be controversial. Its bubble shape and the fact it wasn’t designed by a Chinese architect makes for a triple whammy. But the real battle here is for the soul of the capital – protests erupt as old Beijing is cleared away to make room for the new. – Washington Post
ARTISTS AND THE NEW ECONOMY
“For the first time since the 18th Century, some observers believe, the arts world is poised on the edge of a massive shift in the way artists earn their keep. Nudged by the Internet and other technologies, a new paradigm is evolving, one that may render irrelevant the familiar quarrel over government funding of the arts.” – Chicago Tribune
SAME OLD STORY/NEW STANZA
Ireland is hot right now, and after decades of depression Dublin is roaring to life economically. But artists are getting squeezed out. “The opportunities for getting a studio space in the city are decreasing,” adds painter Mark Pepper, also from the Visual Arts Centre. “The commercial rents property owners can get for buildings now are huge, and artists can’t afford those rates.” – Irish Times
SAVING THE VIENNA FESTIVAL
After international protests over Austria’s inclusion of Jörg Haider’s right-wing Austrian Freedom Party in Austrian government, organizers of the Vienna Festival feared a disruption in this summer’s festival. But after issuing an open letter strongly condemning Haider and the government’s inclusion of him, and appealing to artists not to boycott, the festival has gone on as usual. – New York Times