International News in March 2006
Show all of 2006
Calls for arts row Minister to resign
Culture Minister Alun Pugh yesterday rejected claims he broke the ministerial code of conduct for public appointments. more >
More participation from the public, creative power and variety of cultural elements
Cultural affairs are continuous. They take time to cultivate. Speaking of cultural policies, Chairman of Council for Cultural Affairs, Chiu Kun-Liang said, "Cultural affairs should be based on current society and expand its width and depth." more >
Britons lead spending on culture and recreation but government takes a more miserly approach
France and Germany might be regarded as cultural strongholds, while the United States and Australia are known for their fondness of sporting and leisure pursuits, but according to figures released yesterday, Britain beats them all by spending more per household on recreation and culture than any other developed country. more >
Cost of visas stop tours
One of Britain's leading symphony orchestras has been forced to scrap an American tour, partly because of the "mind-blowing palaver" and cost of securing visas for 100 players and staff. more >
Making the Case for Culture
Early findings show U.S. households among leaders in industrialized nations in spending on recreation and culture, but Government spending lags near bottom. What is the ROI of culture? How do we understand the value of investment in cultural activity? Who are the world's 'cultural superpowers?' These are some of the questions that "Making the Case for Culture," a new research project made possible by the collaboration of the Louise T. Blouin Foundation with the OECD, will seek to answer. more >
Namibia: Art a Vital Career Tool
With the ever-increasing failure and dropout rates at high school level, there is a need to encourage school-going children to develop their artistic talents while young as this would come in handy in future. more >
ASSESSING POLICIES FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES
This project proposes to evaluate the cultural policies introduced in National Action Plans on Social Inclusion under the European Union’s Open Method of Co-ordination by six member states in terms of their impact on promoting social inclusion of ethnic minorities, including Roma/Sinti groups. more >
Culture Division Lauded for Spearheading Protection of Country's Cultural Industries
Senator Donna Scott-Mottley has hailed the Culture Division of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, for leading the charge to protect the country's cultural industries. more >
Four Years After Scrapping Entry Charges - Free Admission Is Still A Growing Success
More than five million extra visits have taken place at once-charging national museums since entry fees were scrapped by the Government in December 2001, Culture Minister David Lammy announced today. more >
ACCC closes Indigenous art probe
A second major investigation into the Aboriginal art industry has been closed after it was unable to establish concrete evidence of fraud and misrepresentation. more >
Actors Back Bill to Protect Likenesses
Actors Paul Newman, Christopher Plummer and Charles Grodin, all state residents, said they worry technology has made it possible to access their films, images and voices, and to use that material to produce another product they know nothing about. more >
Angola: Third Conference On National Culture Set for September
The Culture Ministry announced Monday the holding on 12-16 September, here, of the Third Conference on National Culture to bring into focus the analysis of the institutionalisation process of the National Culture Council, which started in 1976. more >
Back to the drawing board
Not since the golden days of Disney have animated feature films been so popular ... and profitable. more >
Barbados creates national orchestra
The National Cultural Foundation of Barbados is in the midst of auditioning members for a new national initiative. The National Youth Steel Orchestra will be established soon, with auditions taking place over April. more >
Film industry needs talent, technology, support
Despite its advances in re-cent years, Viet Nam’s film industry still lacks professional talent, modern technology and needs more Government support, HCM City filmmakers say. more >
Heritage wars
Heritage is in demand. Ever more of the world's heritage is looted, destroyed, mutilated, shorn of context, hidden from scrutiny, auctioned on eBay. Why? Partly because its virtuous stewards treat nations and tribes as enduring entities with sacred rights to time-honoured legacies. more >
International discourse on non-Western Cultures in art
One of the outcomes of globalization has been a greater engagement with art from non- Western centers. The cultural specificities of these locations and issues related to the process of assimilation into the mainstream were the focus of a recent seminar held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. more >
REVIEW SUPPORTS ARM'S LENGTH FUNDING
Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Wales and for Northern Ireland, has just announced a major shake-up of quangos in Northern Ireland. But despite making sweeping changes, he has stuck with the principle of arm's-length funding for the arts. more >
Ringtones? MP3s? Beethoven would have been proud
What marks out classical downloading from pop-based genres is that classical music has so much more to gain. Digital technology is fast becoming the new vanguard in the fight for audiences. more >
S. Korean minister to promote arts to Asia
South Korea's new culture minister has stated that he will be promoting exchanges with Asia in order to boost the country's cultural image. He hopes to boost ties with Asian countries that have embraced Korean cultural products. more >
Arab culture center to open in Latvian capital
The first center promoting Arab culture in the Baltic states is to be opened in the Latvian capital, Riga, the Libyan-born director of the center said on Friday. more >
French MPs say song downloads must work on any player
The dominance of the Apple iPod hit its first European stumbling block yesterday when French MPs voted to force companies to allow music downloads to be played on all types of digital players, not just their own. more >
Report launched on culture and politics
A new report on culture will be launched this week in London. John Holden will be presenting his new thesis, Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy, which explores culture, politics and the public. more >
Six cultural institutions get millions in Ontario budget
The Art Gallery of Ontario and several other major cultural projects got a $49-million boost from the Ontario government in its annual budget. more >
South Africa: Summit Creates Platform for African Filmmakers
Spokesperson for the Department of Arts and Culture, Sandile Memela, said the department hoped this would assist in the development of a common policy for film and a strategy that would inform Nepad and the AU. more >
The 'culture industries' offensive
"Creative economy''? "Creative industries''? People out there could be excused if they show little or no understanding about what such questions mean. more >
The rise of clip culture online
The telecommunications and broadcast industries' vision of the future of the internet invariably involves its convergence with television. more >
Uganda: Govt in Cultural Promotion
The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development has started a national culture policy to ensure that Uganda becomes culturally vibrant, cohesive and progressive. more >
Zimbabwe: New Era Dawns for Arts
SIDA is reviewing its funding mechanism of the arts and culture sector in Zimbabwe following the yet to be completed evaluation of the Zimbabwe Culture Fund. more >
China, Spain seek new channels to cement cultural exchanges
China and Spain are making joint efforts to promote the founding of an Institute of Confucius in Spain and a branch of the Cervantes Institute in Beijing in the near future, according to a document issued Wednesday at a China-Spain forum. more >
Wales puts on its dancing shoes
The future of dance in Wales is bright, according to Culture Minister Alun Pugh. more >
Syrian city is Islamic cultural capital
Hundreds of Arab and foreign dignitaries have gathered in the Syrian city of Aleppo for the opening ceremony at the start of its time as the Arab world's capital of Islamic culture for 2006. more >
Creativity cult fails to deliver goods
Here is an heretical thought: The focus on creativity and innovation to create wealth is misguided. It has not produced the expected results in economic development over the past decade. more >
Agency for Cultural Affairs' Budget Remains Stable for 2006
The Agency for Cultural Affairs' annual budget for this year has been announced. The Agency will head into financial year 2006 (which begins from 1 April) with 100.6 billion yen (AUD$1.15 billion), 0.9% less than they did last year. more >
Conference charts development of arts
A two-day conference that wrapped up in Hanoi yesterday discussed ways in which the arts could develop and expand from now until 2010. more >
It's official: music is good for children
Youth Music, the music charity responsible for the distribution of £10m a year of Lottery funding, has announced the results of a study into the role of music in childrens’ development. more >
Arts funding to break 'log jam'
The Scottish Arts Council unveiled plans to break what it called a "log jam" in arts funding yesterday. Fifty organisations picked for new "foundation" funding status will get a share of an extra £4 million, it said. more >
Department of Arts withholds funding to foundation
The Department of Arts and Culture of South Africa is sticking to a decision to discontinue funding the National Film and Video Foundation. They will withhold R12 million, until the foundation fulfils conditions of its funding arrangement. more >
Foreign media ownership laws to be relaxed
The Federal Government has unveilled its plan for a major relaxation of media ownership and digital broadcasting laws. Communications Minister Helen Coonan announced the proposals at a conference in Sydney. more >
Heritage minister demands answers on FilmFest failure
Both the Quebec and federal governments are probing what led to the failure of the New Montreal FilmFest last fall. The first and only FilmFest launched last October with the help of $2 million in federal, provincial and municipal funds but fizzled out, leaving a $1-million deficit. The festival’s organizer, L'Équipe Spectra, declared FilmFest dead in February. more >
Movies in a world slump
Final box-office figures show movie revenues took a plunge worldwide and in the U.S. in 2005. more >
Museum Collections Shrink As Tribes Reclaim Artifacts
The halls of the United States' museums, like those inside the public history museum here, are filled with thousands -- if not millions -- of American Indian artifacts. But slowly, many of the country's tribes are working to reclaim them. more >
Namibia launches National Heritage Council
The National Heritage Council for Namibia was recently opened by John Mutorwa, the Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture. more >
Online CD swapping by-passes copyright laws
A new online music service called La la Media aims to offer full-length CDs for $US1 by letting members trade used physical discs, in a new twist on the popular but legally challenged practice of online song swapping. La la founders argue that, unlike underground online file-sharing services, which have been sued for copyright infringement, La la is protected under an exception to the US Copyright Act. more >
Review to go ahead for Welsh arts
Arts in Wales will be reviewed, with the plan for an independent panel to do so being accepted by the Assemby's culture committee. more >
Sixty Years of Standard-Setting in Education, Science and Culture
The Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Koichiro Matsuura, today opened a symposium on “UNESCO: Sixty Years of Standard-Setting in Education, Science and Culture”. He noted that “perhaps surprisingly, this symposium is the first of its kind in which UNESCO’s standard-setting practices and experience are the subject of a general overview". more >
Tax ruling says dancers are independent contractors
A federal tax ruling handed down last week could have implications for arts groups across Canada and their performers. more >
Time to break the stranglehold of state funding
The air is heavy with rumours of an arts shakedown. Nothing to do with the fate of the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell whose stay in office has barely scratched the creative surface. No, it is the Arts Council of England that is on the brink, awaiting one last internal reorganisation at the end of the month, and this time it’s really the last. more >
WIPO establishes Creative Industries Division
WIPO has recently established the Creative Industries Division. This has been done in response to the growing interest and needs of the Member States of WIPO to address the economic developmental impact that intellectual property policies and practices have on the creative industries. The objective of the Division is to provide a focal point for related policy and industry discourse. more >
S. Korea to start cultural exchange project with Asian artists
South Korea will invite 150 cultural experts and artists from other Asian countries this year, the start of a 10-year program aimed at boosting cultural interaction in the region, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said Wednesday. more >
UNESCO looks at bettering arts education
Teachers, artists and politicians from around the world are gathering in Lisbon to discuss how teaching the arts can keep young people in school. more >
Bahamian minister reveals national policy draft
The Bahamas Minister for Culture, Prime Minister Perry Christie, made his first address in the new role. At the National Cultural Conclave, the Minister offered up a working draft of a national cultural policy. more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >