International News in April 2006
Show all of 2006
Launch of A New Voice: The Canadian Music Creators Coalition
Canadian musicians, songwriters and producers unite to provide a new voice in Canadian copyright and cultural policy. Canada's leading artists to speak for themselves. more >
CCA Chairman visited Europe for cultural interaction
Chairman of Council for Cultural Affairs visited Europe to boost cultural interaction from March 31 to April 11. In this trip, Chairman Chiu Kun-liang visited France, Germany, and Poland. more >
Survey reveals ‘shocking’ fee results
Three-quarters of people paying up-front fees to agents in the entertainment industry receive no work from them in the following 12 months and in more than 90% of cases find that they fail to live up to expectations, according to The Stage’s nationwide survey, completed this week. more >
Agenda 21 for culture
The Agenda 21 for culture is the first document with worldwide mission that advocates establishing the groundwork of an undertaking by cities and local governments for cultural development. more >
Australia's IP policies could drag us back warn experts
Australian and International speakers have debated whether Australia’s intellectual property laws are holding the country back from becoming a knowledge-based economy at a recent conference. more >
Guideline Prepared to Design Five-Year Tourism, Culture Strategic Plan
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said it has prepared a guideline that would help design a sustainable five-year tourism and culture strategic plan. more >
Japan, a would-be cultural guardian
In the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at elevating its international status, a group of Japanese lawmakers is preparing a new landmark law to promote its crusade for the preservation of valuable cultural assets abroad. more >
Our cultural deficits
At a press conference yesterday in Beijing, an assistant to the Minister of Culture illustrated a "seriously unfavourable imbalance" suffered by the country in its international cultural exchanges. more >
Artistes Should Learn From Cuba - Manjata
Zambian artistes should learn from Cuba, community development minister Stephen Manjata has said. more >
Arts Officials Suspended On Fraud, Theft Charges
Two art officials have been suspended from their duties with immediate effect by the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture. more >
Chinese artists cross the red line
Police stage political crackdown on Beijing's booming contemporary gallery district. more >
Ethiopia develops five year plan
The Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism has prepared a guideline that will help create a sustainable five-year plan for culture. This includes a re-organisation of the Ministry, established in October 2005. more >
EUCLID launches new portal
EUCLID has launched a new website designed to be the first port-of-call for those interested in finding out the deadlines for European Union and UK funding. more >
Funding withdrawal 'an insult'
Welsh musicians want Wales to follow England by producing a music manifesto to secure the future of music education in schools. more >
Galleries sell five times more than auction houses
French art dealers have been cheered—and rather surprised—by the results of a study released last month, which showed that art galleries in France turned over five times more than auction houses in 2004. more >
Indigenous Languages in Final Throes
Hundreds of languages disappeared from Latin America and the Caribbean over the past 500 years, and many of the more than 600 that have survived could face the same fate in the not-so-distant future. more >
Into Africa: British Museum's reply to ownership debate
A circumcision mask from western Kenya and a headdress made from human hair from Uganda are among 140 artefacts from the British Museum that have gone on show in Nairobi - the first time the museum has lent objects to Africa. But the exhibition has sparked debate about whether such objects should be returned to their home countries for good. more >
Ndebele Focuses On Culture in His Budget
Premier Sbu Ndebele of South Africa has revealed plans to establish exhibitions and a new multimedia centre in his new budget. more >
P.E.I. artifacts turn up on eBay
Prince Edward Island's cultural affairs minister is planning to introduce legislation to make it harder to sell Island artifacts, after learning that they have been turning up on an online auction site. more >
SAC funding decisions to be made public
Performing arts companies in Scotland will have official judgements on whether they are worthy of subsidy made public by the Scottish Arts Council, in what the funding body has described as an attempt to increase ‘transparency’. more >
The biggest theft in British history
The Art Newspaper can reveal that the works of art stolen from property developer Harry Hyams on 1 February were worth around £80 million, making it Britain’s largest robbery ever. more >
Visual Artists Forge Ahead
A strong call and appeal was made for the de-politicisation of Namibian visual arts for harmony and progress last Friday evening during the long awaited inauguration meeting of a new and more representative arts body in the country. more >
Zimbabwe film industry needs boost
The continued downfall of Zimbabwe's film industry has come as a blessing in disguise for South Africa, which has managed to lure local top-notch actors, producers and directors more >
Arts funding joint statement
All sides involved in UK theatre and orchestras have issued a joint statement on future public funding. The statement asks the Arts Council "to give consideration to the structural problems facing the theatre and orchestral sectors..." more >
Cultural policy of Vietnam
For a long time, communist ideology determined the limits of cultural expression in Vietnam. Even though culture still serves social development, artists have enjoyed more artistic freedom for a decade now. more >
Experts stress national cultural policy
Senior culture experts have underlined the need for His Majesty's Government to prepare a 'National Culture Policy' for the preservation and promotion of the country's rich cultural heritage. more >
NGOs and the state: a cultural debate
An interview with Tzvetelina Iossifova, one of the founders and directors of the Red House Centre for Culture and Debate. more >
WIPO Committee on Traditional Knowledge and Folklore
The Ninth session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore ("the IGC") will take place in Geneva, 24-28 April 2006. more >
Angola: Country Attends Afro-American Culture International Conference
The Ministry of Culture will participate this Monday, until 15 April, with two specialists, in the 9th International Conference of African and Afro-American Culture, taking place in Santiago city, in Cuba. more >
Arts sector needs democracy boost, insists culture minister
David Lammy has urged the cultural sector to become more like the BBC and the NHS in the way it engages with the general public, if it is to achieve an improved funding settlement in future budgets. more >
Dutch Secretary of State Nicolaï: 'Culture directly promotes tourism'
Overseas cultural legacy is gaining significance in the Netherlands. But would developing countries not prefer to forget reminders of the Dutch slave trade and colonialism? Secretary of state Atzo Nicolaï: "Most Dutch people are completely unaware of the monuments that we have left in other parts of the world." more >
Survey on artists and health
The University of the Poor is seeking submissions for their new survey. It will focus on the issues facing artists, cultural workers and the healthcare system. more >
UK charity the Art Fund embraces the new
We know it for its tireless dedication to British heritage: without financial support from the Art Fund, some of the greatest works in museums throughout the UK would not be here, including The Rokeby Venus by Velázquez in the National Gallery in London. But now the Fund may be about to embark on a new adventure: to help the collecting of contemporary art. more >
Vietnam – Denmark Cultural Development and Exchange Fund launches
The Danish Embassy on April 7 launched the Vietnam - Denmark Cultural Development and Exchange Fund in Hanoi. more >
Vietnam-Japan Cultural Exchange Festival
The fourth annual Vietnam Japan Cultural Exchange Festival will be held in Hoi An town, central Quang Nam province, from August 5-7. more >
Brazil and England discuss the economics of creativity
Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil, and the deputy minister of Foreign Relations of the United Kingdom, David Triesman, met in London on Tuesday to discuss the establishment of an International Center for the Creative Economy. more >
Creative economics
The UK government is kidding itself if it thinks designers can revive the economy. more >
Emerging Artists: No Room to Grow
According to a recent Freelancer's Union report, New York city's creative sector—comprised of artists, photographers, designers, composers and writers—is facing increasing economic uncertainty related to a lack of stable employment. more >
Fed Govt moves to clean up Indigenous art fraud
The Federal Government is set to investigate allegations of criminal activity and exploitation in the Aboriginal art industry. more >
Intangible cultural heritage convention comes into force
The UNESCO convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003 will come into force next week. The Convention will encourage and emphasise the role of communities and groups as bearers of intangible cultural heritage. more >
Measuring emotion at the symphony
The movements of a conductor's baton, his free hand, and even his eyes guide an orchestra's performance. But what about when a conductor throws back his head, hops around the stage, or leaps into the air? Are these ego-driven excesses of exuberance, as some critics say, or an integral part of helping the musicians and the audience truly feel the music? more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >