International News in December 2002
Show all of 2002
NEA to give $25 million in grants to 860 projects
The National Endowment for the Arts will announce US$25 million worth of grants today for 860 projects around the country. more >
Money drying up
Money has been the big arts story of 2002. After a decade of prosperity and expansion, arts institutions found themselves struggling to survive. more >
Arts classes now required at UC
Visual and performing arts classes like dance, choir and music theory were once grouped in as electives with courses in history and other social sciences but, beginning with the Class of 2003, students must have one year of visual and performing-arts coursework if they want to enter the University of California system. more >
Group is launching new types of licenses
Nonprofit organisation Creative Commons, will soon launch its first projects aimed at promoting creativity and collaboration by developing new forms of copyright while reinvigorating the ever-shrinking sphere of copyright-free works: the public domain. more >
Institute seeks directory on Nigerian authors
Chairman and Managing Director of Rimax Institute, Chief Livinus I. Okwara, has called for a compilation of Nigerian authors to enable the government know the needs of such authors and respond to them. more >
Laying the basis for cultural impoverishment
According to UNESCO, in the 18 years to 1998, annual world trade-related to 'cultural industries' quadrupled from US$95 to US$388 billion. In light of the importance of cultural industries on economic strength, Zimbabwe must move to excel in its cultural work so as not to lose its cultural heritage and resources to those who simply know better how to use them. more >
N.J. Votes to kill poetry post
State lawmakers have taken a first step today toward abolishing the position of New Jersey poet laureate. The action follows protests over a poem by current poet laureate Amiri Baraka that implies Israel had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. more >
Paying for our museums
One year after six London museums, led by the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert, dropped all admission charges, visitor numbers have risen strongly. However, the change was supposed to remove a barrier to knowledge for the worse off. This has not happened. more >
Pepetela a reference for Angolan literature
The 'National Prize of Culture and Arts' in the category of literature was won by the writer, Artur Pestana 'Pepetela' who was the highlight of the ceremony in that category, for his achievements over the past twelve months. more >
Valdemar Bastos to create African orchestra
The Angolan singer Valdemar Bastos is engaged in a project meant to create an African orchestra, integrating musicians from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Cote D'ivoire. more >
Cuba focuses on exporting its art
The great Cuban modernists - Wilfredo Lam, Mariano Rodriguez and Amelia Palaez del Casal - long have been internationally recognized. Their work is found in museums worldwide. But increasingly, the island's newer art is getting international attention, with the United States its biggest market. more >
Marcos sculpture defaced in blast
A bomb defaced a giant stone bust of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos on a northern Philippine hillside yesterday, blowing off its eyes and nose. more >
Doha to get photography museum
A multi-million dollar museum, which will house the globally renowned Spira Collection of some of the rarest photographic equipment such as cameras and accessories as well as antique pictures, will be built in Doha shortly. more >
Chinese officials study broadway musicals
A team from the Chinese Ministry of Culture comes to Broadway to try to learn its secrets. more >
True definition of Asian art may be long in the making
Over the last five to 10 years there has been a push throughout the region for Asians to take back control of their artistic destinies. This has certainly been the case in Japan. more >
Creative Scotland Awards short-list announced
Twenty Scottish artists, including Alasdair Gray, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Richard Demarco, have been selected to go through to the final round of the Creative Scotland Awards 2003. more >
A severe dearth of museums
One by one, Greece's major archaeological museums are closing down for refurbishment ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games. more >
'A Beam of Light' illuminates the needs of artists, refugees
A painting exhibition opening today at Dar Al Anda Gallery in Lweibdeh is working to raise funds to help both refugees and Iraqi artists in Jordan. more >
UNESCO displays the therapeutic effect of painting
As part of celebrations of Human Rights Day, the UNESCO Amman office opened the 'Expressions — Paintings as Therapy' exhibition with works created by students with low vision. more >
Italy promises loan of Parthenon sculpture
Italian culture minister Giuliano Urbani has promised to return a fragment of the 5th century BC Parthenon to Greece on a long-term loan. more >
Paintings by Omani children published
A special booklet, 'Omani Children Draw Their Rights', has been jointly published by the Ministry of Social Development, the Omani Society for Fine Arts and the Unicef. more >
A tireless champion of the arts
Shirley Thomson may be leaving her job as director of the Canada Council, but her superlative track record suggests we will hear more from her. more >
Cultural cringe as review eyes arts
Fifteen of the nation's most prominent cultural institutions including the National Gallery, National Museum and National Library are under pressure to justify their existence to the Government. more >
Top museums unite to fight Aboriginal claims
Several museums in Europe and the United States have issued a landmark declaration opposing the wholesale repatriation of cultural artefacts seized during imperial rule or by means now considered unethical. more >
Centenary of Cairo's Egyptian Museum celebrated with fanfare, ambitious plans
For decades now, Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum has needed redefining and modernising. Those who run it say the revolution has begun. more >
Japan's museums receive first report card from evaluation committee
'Japanese Arts Scene Monitor' has reported on the recent evaluation of Japan's four national museums, which were last year re-organised under the umbrella of the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum. more >
Stars back school music campaign
Leading classical musicians have called on the government to stop music being 'squeezed out' of school timetables. more >
State arts resources lacking for schools
Maine is among fewer than a half-dozen states that lack an expert on staff at the Department of Education who specializes in visual and performing arts, despite a mandate of the state's Learning Results program that requires school districts to fully implement visual and performing arts curricula for the graduating class of 2011. more >
To encourage great art, help great artists
Over the last decade, the National Endowment for the Arts has been reduced to supporting mainstream institutions, making grants based more on political considerations than on artistic merit. more >
Egypt recovers stolen art
Ancient works of art are the latest of Africa's antiquities to be returned to their rightful owners. more >
Networking young television producers on HIV/AIDS
A network of South Asian young television producers specializing on HIV/AIDS issues was established last week in a meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was attended by seventeen TV producers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. more >
Iranian filmmaker assists Afghan cinema's rebirth
This first feature film to be made in Afghanistan since the collapse of the Taliban, is directed by Iranian filmmaking prodigy Samira Makhmalbaf, 22. more >
Museums for reconciliation and history
Two centrally located museums, the Museum of History and Museum of Art, have opened in Seoul. Within the art museum, a digital unit called Media City is seen as part of a massive government campaign to promote the country’s information technology. more >
'Flip' comes in: Whatever happened to 'Ng'?
In the '90s an issue or two came out of the alternative literary magazine, Ng, brainchild of former fledgling writers and artists Mike Maniquiz and Sid Hildawa. Featuring photocopied reproductions of an artist's conceptual work or poet’s calligraphy, the magazine tried to blaze a new trail for the Philippine literary arts. more >
A re-awakening
Books are gradually finding their way back to the shelves, but not without the efforts of advocates and campaigners who are seeking a return of the good old culture of reading. more >
Classical music consumer segmentation study
The final report on the Classical Music Consumer Segmentation Study, an analysis of how Americans relate to classical music and their local orchestras, has been released. more >
Prize for translators
Greek and international translators may be interested in an award on offer from the Greek Government. more >
Protect Europe's film industry: lauded director
At a press conference following his win at the Polish Film Festival, director Ken Loach called on European countries to protect their film industries. more >
Taiwan, Tibet top Chinese blacklist
Internet sites on democracy, Tibet and Taiwan were among Web destinations most frequently blocked by the Chinese government, a Harvard study of Chinese online access has revealed. more >
They can't wait no more
Performing artistes in the country intensify their battle to reap the positive gains of their creativity now, not later. more >
US-Mexican organisations honored for work in the arts
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities has honored organisations across the United States and Mexico for outstanding programs encouraging young people's creativity. more >
Thai museum catalogues opium dreams and nightmares
First reactions to Thailand's giant new opium museum in the Golden Triangle are confused: pleasant surprise at cool air after the intense tropical heat, but then disorientation, shock, even fear. more >
National Gallery of Modern Art
Richard Pankhurst and Stanislaw Chojnacki, two most distinguished scholars on Ethiopian art, seem to agree that there is a need for a National Gallery of Modern Art. The need for a National Gallery of Modern Art raised during the Sixth International Conference on the History of Ethiopian Art by the two distinguished historians needs to be scrutinized by all concerned and particularly by the nation's intellectuals and government officials. more >
Upstart academy rekindles Mexico's musical soul
An upstart Mexico City academy, the House of Mexican Music, is teaching students to sing and play centuries-old songs on traditional instruments, helping to rescue disappearing local genres in the process. more >
Architecture vs contemporary art
What is the relationship between architecture and contemporary art? Is it possible that buildings are not only places where people live, but also something they can enjoy? Artists and architects from China and abroad are presenting their views on topics like these at the on-going 2002 Shanghai Biennale, the fourth ever. more >
Artist donates $136 000 to children's home
Victor Mavedzenge, a visual artist and poet, yesterday donated US$136 000 to the Just Children's Home in Harare to meet the children's upkeep. Mavedzenge last month held an exhibition entitled 'Quantum Soup for Oliver' at the Book Cafe. He sought to donate the proceeds to charity. more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >