Category: issues

Boston’s mayor Thomas Menino has announced big arts initiatives. But after 18 months, he still hasn’t appointed someone to head up his cultural department.  “It’s an absolute disgrace that that position has not been filled. The fact that there isn’t a strong (arts) leader you can go to and work with (in City Hall) is an outrage. The city is floundering around without the kind of arts leadership other cities have.” – Boston Herald

Piracy of intellectual property has been big business in the former republics of the Soviet Union, and frankly, government hasn’t done much to curb it. But local governments are beginning to take the issue more seriously, and the reasons are simple: lost sales and jobs, police raids and expensive legal disputes over famous patents and trademarks, as well as uncollected taxes, excises and customs duties. Conservative estimates place losses to businesses and governments in the Baltic states, Russia and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States at billions of dollars this year. – Moscow Times

Australian artists have been fighting to make sure their ability to make vital tax deductions isn’t taken away by the government. Now, thanks to the Australian Senate, painters/actors/waiters/taxi drivers/ earning less than $40,000 (Australian) will be able to claim deductions for off-course income. – The Age (Melbourne)

The National Trust for Historic Preservation releases a list of 11 places it calls “most endangered, including the summer home in Washington where Abraham Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. ‘We either save them now or we lose them forever.'” – CNN

Last month the Museo de Monterrey – one of Mexico’s leading art museums – closed when the industrial group FEMSA announced that it was pulling its support. The consensus in Mexico is that a new generation of corporate leaders is abandoning its predecessors’ commitment to arts and cultural institutions.” – San Antonio Express-News

The Australian senate debates new business taxes that will have far-reaching implications for artists. “It will be the difference between having a lively and energetic arts sector and having one that is struggling on its knees.” – The Age (Melbourne)

And other top arts stories – new Columbia University study reveals how television reports the arts. – Boston Herald

Peter Sellars takes on the directorship of Australia’s Adelaide Festival and rails against globalism. “Sellars said it was an obscenity to call the arts community an industry. He questioned whether some artists did things only for show, suggesting unheralded actions were more important.” – The Age (Melbourne)

— about rating TV shows for violence and content, new studies show that parents aren’t using the ratings. “Two in five parents have a V-chip or other form of technology to block out objectionable programming, one study found, and half of those with the devices use them. But the researchers found that awareness of the age and content ratings put on shows, such as TV-G (suitable for all ages), to be used in conjunction with the V-chips, has dropped from 70% in 1997 to just 50% this year. Furthermore, nine out of 10 parents couldn’t accurately identify the age ratings for a sample of shows their children watched.” – Los Angeles Times

London is the place to be these days. Great food (imagine!) smart theatre, interesting music, and hip artists and art. There’s something new in the air and the the whole idea of what London is has changed in less than a generation. – New York Times