Canadian Artists Wonder Why Government Cutting Programs

The government has announced cuts in programs designed to promote Canadian arts. “[The Conservatives] are spending a lot on the creation side, but the whole point with Trade Routes in the first place was, what’s the point in creating all this content if it isn’t seen? With a small amount of money we were able to maximize what we were already spending, which was not insignificant,”

All About Busking, A To Z

The best place to be a street performer: “North America, because people there embrace the circus culture and live performance, and they’re used to tipping. In the U.K. they’ll pay if you make them laugh. In Australia, where tipping isn’t a common practice, you have to put on an exhibition of great skill before they’ll part with money. You can earn a lot in Japan, but it costs so much to live there, it’s almost not worthwhile. Canadians are generous and kind…”

The Olympics Of The Dance World

“The competition, named after the dancer and training organization’s co-founder, Adeline Genée, has been running annually since 1931.Only since 2000 has the Genée competition taken place outside London. The 57 semi-finalists, all but eight of them female, are ballet students aged 15 to 19, who passed the academy’s Advanced 2 examination with distinction or have been awarded a Solo Seal. This year’s candidates come from Australia, Canada, Britain, the U.S. and from as far away as Indonesia and Brazil, all told 11 of the 79 countries where the Royal Academy of Dance is active. “

The Happiest Place On Earth: Denmark?

“Since 2006, Denmark, a largely homogenous country of 5 million people on Europe’s stormy northern coast, has been anointed the happiest place on earth by two very different surveys. The studies’ findings have upended dated international perceptions of Denmark as a quaint but chilly dairy exporter with a high suicide rate, recasting the country instead as a model of social harmony that is thriving in an era of globalization.”

Texas Ballet Theatre’s Plan To Survive

As part of its plan to raise what it now says is “at least” $2 million by mid-September or face the prospect of closing its doors, Texas Ballet Theater plans to use recorded music for the 2008-09 performance season and will seek to “pay or settle” $850,000 in debt with creditors, including Bass Performance Hall and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Product Placement Run Amok?

“Product placement is almost as old as cinema itself. Brandchannel.com reports that there are 15 ‘featured brands’ in The Dark Knight and a whopping 95 in Sex and the City. But it’s hard to say how much money changes hands in these deals: product placement at the cinema remains entirely unregulated, both in the US and in the foreign markets that screen its films.”

Historian: Chinese Discovered America, Sparked Italian Renaissance

Six years ago, Gavin Menzies “caused apoplexy among historians with his controversial theory that vast fleets of Chinese adventurers in multi-masted junks beat Christopher Columbus to the Americas and mapped the entire world centuries before the European explorers.” Now he contends that “the Chinese, once again sailing under the eunuch Admiral Zheng He, sparked the Italian Renaissance and that Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions were directly influenced by Chinese technical drawings.”