Tag: 11.26.02

Too Much Heavy Lifting

Why must the British government try to coerce arts organizations who want funding? The arts get attached to education, to multiculturalism, to every social good of the moment. “There is a feeling across the performing arts that subsidised companies have been drained of vital energies during the Blair years – or, at the very least, have been distracted from their core function of creating art. A resentment has crept in. Many performers don’t want to be educators.”

Closing The Borders On Culture

The US’s new visa controls are keeping many international artists from appearing in the country. “The long-term effects of the visa delays already are being felt. In addition to fewer U.S. concerts featuring artists from countries on the State Department’s terrorism watch list (which includes Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and Sudan), fewer albums from those artists will be released in the United States because record companies can’t count on performances to publicize the artists’ new songs. “The impact of this crisis will show up two to three years from now. This crisis will have a long- term impact on the music world and cultural exchange marketplace.”

New York’s Growing Arts Development

A study of the arts in New York says activity is expanding rapidly, and not just in traditional arts districts. “With an astonishing 52% growth rate over the past nine years, New York’s cultural industry is responsible for more than 150,000 jobs. While analysts foresee continued slow or flat employment growth for financial services, they predict the creative economy will continue growing, almost across the board.”

Director Attacks His Hosts

Mark Rylance, artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, was accepting the rarely given Special Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards this week when he suddenly made a sharp political turn. After saying he was proud to receive the award, he “suddenly made a passionate outburst against the money Britain spends on the arms trade. He held up a copy of yesterday’s Evening Standard Just The Job supplement on the Territorial Army and said: ‘This appalling trade is being promoted on these islands and is a reason I am ashamed to be here’.”

Another Swipe At Lilly

Meghan O’Rourke suggests that Ruth Lilly’s gift of $100 million to Poetry Magazine is a bad idea. “The gift, though well-intentioned, is foolish. The real problem is that the gift is the essence of bad philanthropy—an overblown act of generosity that undermines its own possible efficacy. Poetry, which had a staff of four, an annual budget of $600,000, and a circulation of approximately 12,000, is suddenly among the best-endowed cultural institutions in the world. If Lilly were truly interested in advancing poetry, the best way to do it would have been to spread the wealth around. Lilly should have given $10 million to 10 different magazines or started a nonprofit foundation with an elected board to hand out grants to writers. This would have started a conversation, not a cultural hegemony.”

Attacking The Judge Who Didn’t Read

Michael Kinsley’s claim not to have read all the books as a judge of this year’s National Book Awards has a fellow judge annoyed. “His failure to read more books represents an abdication of responsibility—and a cynicism about the literary enterprise. When was the last time someone boasted in print of not doing his job? Which raises the question: Why did he agree to judge the National Book Award?”

All Funded And No Place To Go?

Many applaud heiress Ruth Lilly’s gift of $100 million to Poetry magazine. And yes – giving money to something so worthwhile as poetry is a good thing. But really – what can a big slug of money do to help the cause? It’s not like funding our way to the moon, or underwriting research for a new drug. “The fact is, poetry’s current problems aren’t the sort that are easily solved by large infusions of money.”