International News in February 2006
Show all of 2006
Bahamian Culture Under Threat
A working draft of the National Cultural Policy for The Bahamas confirms what many observers have been saying for years: key aspects of Bahamian culture are under threat and in some cases face extinction. more >
Americans for the Arts sponsors continuation of the Cultural Policy Listserv
We are very pleased and gratified to be able to announce that Americans for the Arts has graciously agreed to continue our listserv, which has grown to over 5,000 subscribers in the space of just a few years, and provide for future access to the Center’s many policy and research publications. more >
Americans for the Arts sponsors continuation of the Cultural Policy Listserv
We are very pleased and gratified to be able to announce that Americans for the Arts has graciously agreed to continue our listserv, which has grown to over 5,000 subscribers in the space of just a few years, and provide for future access to the Center’s many policy and research publications. more >
Gauteng artists lead the NAC's grants list
Is the National Arts Council (NAC) propping up provinces that can't get their act together and fund artists who live there? Or, by contrast, is it funding rich, urbanised provinces to the detriment of artists elsewhere? more >
The arts column: sinister shadow falls over arts funding
After a quiet start as Culture Minister, David Lammy has fired his first shot across the bows. At the Association of British Orchestras' conference last month, his speech made rumbling noises about that old bugbear, the Arts Council, an agency funded by his own Department of Culture, Media and Sport. more >
First Nordic Culture Forum
Artists, administrators from the culture sector, politicians and civil servants from throughout the Nordic Region gathered for Culture Forum in Copenhagen on Monday 27 February. Key figures in Nordic culture came together for the first time to discuss an interdisciplinary platform for the development of Nordic art and culture. more >
Joint initiatives 'could bring the US and Muslim world closer'
Joint partnerships in the media, technological and cultural fields could help bridge the gap between the US and the Islamic world, leaders who convened here for the Third US-Muslim World Forum said yesterday. more >
Minister offers compensation
The Minister of Culture and Communication and minister in charge of the Montreal region, Mrs. Line Beauchamp, announced today that a sum of $2.5M will be reserved for assistance to the artistic and cultural organisations which underwent losses because of the boycott of cultural activities last autumn. more >
Parthenon fragment returned to Greece
A fairly nondescript piece of stone could have an impact on the future of the Parthenon Marbles dispute. Last month Heidelberg University decided to return its small fragment of the frieze to Greece. more >
Seoul to spend W7.6tr on cultural drive
Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to spend around 7.6 trillion won ($7 billion) on expanding cultural facilities over the next 10 years. more >
'Beware of Big Brother control of the arts'
Professor Phil Cooke, director of the Centre for Advanced Studies at Cardiff University, claims in a hard-hitting report for the Institute of Welsh Affairs that the Assembly Government and its Culture Ministry 'are principally interested in exerting control upon rather than inducing innovation in the arts in Wales'. more >
An Italian offer U.S. museums shouldn't refuse?
Buttiglione called the Met's agreement to swap the contested antiquities for long-term loans "a model" for resolving the disputes with other museums, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, which houses more than 40 objects that Italian authorities claim were looted. more >
Arts education can boost confidence, test scores
Every now and again, standardized testing in public schools alerts us to some problem in our educational system. Presented with declining test scores, educators and administrators must struggle with how to remedy these problems in the face of personnel, budgetary and time constraints. more >
Keep Arts Council chief, Minister urged
Culture Minister Alun Pugh has been urged to reappoint Geraint Talfan Davies as chairman of the Arts Council of Wales by one of the nation's most important music societies. more >
London cartoon museum opens
London's first cartoon museum, with 3,000 books and 1,200 images, covers three centuries, from Georgian Rowlandson watercolours of ancient bawds selling off country maids to wrinkled rakes, to scurrilous suggestions so recent that the ink is barely dry, teasing out the tangled affairs of Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and George Bush. more >
New web resource for library staff working with disabled people
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has launched a new web resource to provide information and learning for public library staff relating to access and equal opportunities for disabled people. more >
Picasso, Dali paintings stolen from Brazil museum
Gunmen have robbed a Rio de Janeiro art museum of their most valuable paintings including a Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Dali, the Chacara do Ceu museum director said. more >
Starving artist becoming a term of the past?
A revolutionary idea is sweeping through arts communities and threatening to make the term “starving artist” obsolete. This new idea was hatched in a taxi cab in New York City three years ago and the Artist Pension Trust has already spread from Los Angeles to London with plans for expansion from Mumbai to Moscow in the very near future. more >
Upheaval at Getty Trust unearths flaws
The resignation last week of Barry Munitz, the embattled president and chief executive of the Getty Trust, the country's biggest art philanthropy, is the latest proof that there's a problem built into the whole enterprise. It's been there since the trust was founded nearly a quarter of a century ago to administer the estate that J. Paul Getty left behind. more >
Writer fears ban for opera on bomber
A Welsh playwright fears he could be prosecuted under planned new laws banning the glorification of terrorism after he penned an opera about a Palestinian suicide bomber. more >
Rocked to our foundations
Genocide, crimes against humanity, religious persecution: Slobodan Milosovic isn’t short of charges to face at his trial in The Hague. But one charge in particular is intriguing: “The intentional and wanton destruction of religious and cultural buildings of the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat communities.” more >
Poll claims Scots lack interest in the arts
Scots are a nation of stay-at-homes compared to the rest of the UK when it comes to art galleries, theatres and arts events, new research suggests. more >
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage to Enter into Force on 20 April
Thirty States have now ratified the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage, adopted in October 2003 by the UNESCO General Conference, allowing it to enter into force on 20 April 2006, that is three months after the 30th instrument of ratification has been deposited. more >
For art's sake?
As artists and policy makers become wrapped in an ever tighter embrace, Munira Mirza challenges the modern consensus that the arts can transform society, and asks if the emphasis on producing art for the public good is causing long-term damage. more >
Indigenous Knowledge
The Department of Canadian Heritage entered into the exploration of Indigenous Knowledge and policy development with 2005’s National Gatherings on Indigenous Knowledge. more >
Renewed cultural policy to go to Cabinet soon
In Barbados, a new piece of legislation will be added to the cultural policy. The policy has been created over the past few years, the policy is expected to go to Cabinet next month. more >
The ideas interview: Sara Selwood
Why are the highest ranks of arts administration still dominated by men? John Sutherland meets the woman who plans to shake things up at the top. more >
The optimist versus the PM in the chase for a renaissance
Our cultural growth needs clear direction, David Throsby tells Sunanda Creagh. more >
'Churlish' Pugh accused of rubbishing strategy
Plaid Cymru claimed last night that Culture Minister Alun Pugh had "rubbished" virtually the entire communications strategy of the Arts Council of Wales. Owen John Thomas, who shadows Mr Pugh for Plaid, made the allegation after obtaining a copy of the draft strategy which had been annotated by the Minister. more >
China is the world’s second largest exporter of art
A UNESCO report on global trade in cultural goods and services includes two surprises. The first is that China has now become the second largest exporter of “visual arts”, accounting for 19% of world exports in this category (particularly statuary). more >
Culture Ministry to push exchanges with emerging markets
The Culture and Tourism Ministry said yesterday it will increase cultural exchanges with key emerging countries known as BRICs in a bid to strengthen the country's edge in the entertainment sector. more >
Italian opera out of notes
Italian opera, one of the country's most treasured cultural assets, is in financial crisis, with three top houses admitting that they are on the verge of bankruptcy. La Fenice in Venice, the Carlo Felice opera house in Genoa and the San Carlo in Naples all blame government spending cuts. more >
Minister warns Arts Council to shape up
The future looks uncertain for Arts Council England after the culture minister David Lammy strongly criticised it and called for reforms. more >
Museum chief exhibits fine timing
The J. Paul Getty Museum has confirmed its status as the richest and most indulgent -- and also the most riven -- art gallery in the world with the resignation of Barry Munitz, its president and chief executive for the past eight years. more >
Tiptoeing around China's ire
What is it about ballet dancers and politics? During the cold war, the defection of Russian ballet dancers to the West - most famously Rudolf Nureyev in 1961 - was a regular feature of the political landscape. Such defections were viewed by Western politicians as useful propaganda events to signal the west's superiority over the Soviet system. more >
£250,000 for art's sake, but nothing to show for it
From a book of sonnets on the G8 to a circle of 32 ancient stones, they are lauded as Scotland's most prestigious cultural works. But six years since the inception of the Creative Scotland Awards, an investigation by Scotland On Sunday can reveal that more than £250,000 has been paid out to projects that have still not been finished. more >
“You aren’t a dealer until you’ve been robbed”
As art prices continue to rise, and the sums paid are publicised, theft has become an increasingly serious problem at arts and antiques fairs. Not surprisingly, fair organisers are worried that publicity will discourage exhibitors, and despite the fact that the scale of theft is difficult to establish. The FBI estimates that about $6 billion worth of art per year is involved. more >
Call for cultural policy review
The Federal Government has been told it needs to show leadership in developing a new cultural policy for Australia. more >
Cultural Policy of Bangladesh
Bangladesh is developing its first cultural policy. The National Cultural Committee submitted its draft text to the government for approval in July 2005. The new cultural policy, intended to give the fragmented world of culture in Bangladesh more cohesion, was compiled based on the Unesco culture conventions. more >
Dancers are different, say scientists
Hebrew University researchers in Jerusalem say they've determined dancers are genetically different from the general population. Psychology Professor Richard Ebstein and colleagues say DNA examinations have determined dancers show consistent differences in two key genes from the general population. more >
Finnish Embassy Gives Big Bucks to Arts
The Finnish embassy will donate $N1,6 million into Namibian arts and culture development this year. more >
Iranian paper holds Holocaust cartoon contest
Iran's bestselling newspaper has launched a competition to find the best cartoon about the Holocaust in retaliation for the publication in many countries of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. The Iranian daily Hamshahri said the contest was designed to test the boundaries of free speech - the reason given by many Western newspapers for publishing the cartoons of Mohammed. more >
Minister Considers Cultural Research Low
The minister of Culture Boaventura Cardoso on Tuesday here recognised that scientific research in the cultural field is still low, despite the effort being made by the institution`s Scientific Board. more >
Small Gains for Cultural Programs in Bush Budget Plan
The small increases for cultural institutions and federal agencies presented yesterday in President Bush's 2007 budget request to Congress will curtail any expansion in new programs. more >
Welsh Assembly forced into direct funding u-turn
Wales culture minister Alun Pugh’s plan to split the country’s six largest performing arts organisations from Arts Council Wales and fund them directly from central government has been overturned by a coalition of opposition parties in the Welsh Assembly. more >
Ontario's Bev Oda named new heritage minister
Beverley Oda, the first Japanese Canadian elected to the House of Commons, has been named the new Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women. more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >