International News in March 2010
Show all of 2010
Banking on culture
The MLA joined Britain's leading cultural and heritage organisations to launch their vision for the future of arts and culture. Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future shows how investing in culture and heritage can help Britain's social and economic recovery from recession. more >
Ruth Mackenzie: 'There's no time to mess around'
As the new director of the Cultural Olympiad, Ruth Mackenzie has just two years to come up with a world-beating programme. more >
Starving artists
Support - federal or state - for individuals has all but ended, an unspoken issue when the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts came to town. more >
Government Of Scotland Provides Support For Creative Industries
Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop will lead the UK delegation at an informal meeting of the Council of EU Culture Ministers, organised by the Spanish presidency and being held in Barcelona tomorrow. more >
Freedom to Create launches new website
The new website, www.freedomtocreate.com, is an online portal to the organisation's grant-making, investments and the Freedom to Create Prize. more >
In Spain, Internet piracy is part of the culture
Illegal downloading of movies and TV shows is so prevalent that studios may give up selling DVDs in the country. more >
Spanish EU Presidency - EU defends value of culture as a source of wealth and warns of dangers such as piracy
During this first working session, Mercedes Elvira de Palacio, the Ministry of Culture Under Secretary, spoke in favour of the need to overcome the gulf between economy and culture. more >
China to boost cultural tourism
Cultural tourism in China is facing a golden opportunity for development with favorable policies and growing demand, a senior official said here Sunday. more >
Culture minister praises UNESCO workshop
Angolan minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva, Tuesday in Luanda said that the workshop on "Promotion and Research of UNESCO's Conventions" will help the sector's members upgrade their knowledge on implementing of the international legal instruments methods in Angola. more >
Directory of African cultural institutions and organisations to be published
The Arterial Network seeks to publish a directory of African cultural institutions and organisations this year. Please visit the country cultural profiles section of the Arts in Africa website (www.artsinafrica.com) and check whether your organisation is listed. more >
Feds defend $450K for art, design shows
The State Department is poised to spend nearly a half-million dollars on a pair of upcoming art and architecture exhibitions in Italy, an expense that fiscal watchdogs criticize with the nation's budget picture stuck in the red. more >
House considering penny tax for arts bill
HB 1049 would enable every Georgia county to hold a referendum on dedicating up to one penny of sales tax for arts and cultural groups and other economic development projects. Each county would be able to decide how to split its penny -- or fraction of a penny. more >
Libraries may collapse in a decade: Russia Cultural Minister
"The editions printed back in the Soviet era will be worn out by then, and newly published books are unaffordable. The average price of a new book is about 300 roubles now," Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev said . more >
Montenegro and Bulgaria will sign culture cooperation agreement
This three-year program of cooperation relates to the field of music, theater, visual arts, publishing, protection of cultural assets, protection of copyrights, cinema, prevention of illegal export, import and transfer of works of art, direct cooperation between related institutions and other types of cooperation. more >
New national opera company to be created
Arts Minister Martin Cullen has announced the establishment of an Irish National Opera. Formed from the merger of two State-funded companies, Opera Ireland and Opera Theatre Company, the company will be based in Dublin and will also tour nationwide. more >
New online space for Young Researchers
Today LabforCulture.org launched the Young Researchers Forum, an online space to share, collaborate, network and reflect. It aims to strengthen the community of young researcher’s so their work is peer to peer supported and more accessible in the wider research community. more >
Recession-busting lottery boom adds millions to heritage fund
Thanks to an increase in lottery ticket sales, the Heritage Lottery Fund will have an extra £25m a year to distribute in grants from now until 2018. Good causes in the arts and sport will be hearing similar good news about their share of lottery profits. more >
What's the matter with Sweden?
As American musicians wait to see whether Obama's landmark health-care legislation-- finally signed last week after a year of heated debate and concessions-- will do anything to relieve their worries about surging medical costs, countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Canada make it easier for bands to focus on the creative arts by providing not only universal health care, but often cold hard cash, too. more >
NEA's Rocco Landesman tours country to underscore link between arts and jobs
On Friday morning, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman was not jetting from city to town observing the country's arts machinery, but sitting in the agency's conference room reporting back. more >
Orchestrating a boom
These are the good days for domestic symphony orchestras, but while some are shining musically others are searching for ways to regain their relevance in a society where music is mainly served in mp3 format and on karaoke channels. more >
South African stars to miss out on World Cup
Musicians plan protests over being left out of opening ceremony in favour of foreign acts. more >
Tate, British Museum Plead Against Arts Funding Cuts
The heads of the British Museum, Tate, National Theatre and Southbank Centre pleaded for the next government to avoid cutting cultural funding, as U.K. voters prepare to vote in a general election. more >
The Mountaintop: Hit play. No subsidy. Time to rethink government arts funding
Government arts funding distorts the market against unfunded but potentially hit plays, like The Mountaintop, portraying Martin Luther King's final day. more >
Theatre an instrument of artistic manifestation - Minister
The Angolan Ministry of Culture (MINCULT) Saturday in Luanda considered theatre in Angola as a great instrument of political and artistic manifestation, contributing to awaken the society about the country’s big causes since the struggle for independency. more >
Follow the money
The arts are booming in Britain, thanks to a decade of investment. To jeopardise this would be cultural – and economic – folly, argues Royal Opera House boss Tony Hall.
News on the same topic is also available in Spanish: Artistas británicos lanzan un manifiesto pidiendo más inversión en las artes
more >
Nation’s Arts Community Applauds Health Care Reform Bill Passage
This bill ensures that the nation’s artists and arts workers will now receive increased access to the health coverage they deserve. more >
Solomon Islands paper makers to hold workshops in NZ
The event stems from a project first supported by New Zealand in 1994 to give villagers in Solomon Islands the chance to generate revenue from print and paper making and create a sustainable income. more >
Beauty Pageants finally included in Arts and Culture Policy
Initially, no mention (not even in passing) was made to beauty pageants within what had previously been believed to be the final draft of the policy in late January. more >
Council of Pacific Arts examines efforts to strengthen cultural sector
Culture representatives from around the Pacific have gathered this week to discuss ways to enhance the profile of culture in the region. more >
Iranian video game may score big in West
The Iranian engineering students, programmers and fantasy animators who created "Garshasp, the Monster Slayer" have proved that young Iranians can carve out opportunities for themselves against a backdrop of international sanctions, domestic deterrents and anti-government demonstrations. more >
Artists benefit from Olympic and Paralympic spotlight
The Cultural Olympiad put Canadian artists in the national and international spotlight, but government cuts to funding for the arts may make it difficult for them to benefit from the attention. more >
Arts in Wales braced for swingeing cuts
Arts organisations in Wales are bracing themselves for cuts that could see 20% of their budgets disappearing over three years. more >
Algerian Culture Minster arrives in Yemen
Algerian Minster of Culture Khalida Toumi arrived here on Sunday to attend the declaration of Tarim City in Yemen's eastern province of Hadramout as the capital of Islamic culture for 2010. more >
Arts funding under review
Creative New Zealand can't guarantee that arts groups that currently receive its funding on a regular basis will continue to do so. Creative NZ says it has supported some groups for more than three decades, but that may not be meeting the needs of the changing arts scene. more >
Arts must prove worth to keep funding
Arts organisations will have to start proving their value if they are to continue receiving government grants, a debate in London last night was told. more >
Back the arts by bringing the curtain down on gimmicks
The Government's scheme to provide one million free theatre tickets to under-26s was announced with much fanfare by former Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, in the autumn of 2008 but, sadly, has rapidly unravelled since. more >
Bulgaria Culture Minister Awarded for 'Lifetime Achievements'
Bulgaria Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov is to be awarded in Moscow for his lifetime achievements in art. Photo by BGNES Bulgaria Minister of Culture Vezhdi Rashidov is to be celebrated in Moscow for his lifetime artistic achievements. more >
Cuban Minister for Culture calls to preserve traditions
Abel Prieto Jiménez, minister for Culture, stated in Guantánamo that one of the main challenges of the nation is to preserve and transmit the love for traditions from one generation to the next one. more >
Cultural values meltdown
A visiting Moroccan minister has blamed the “lack of values” for the recurring financial crises that have been affecting world economies. Major financial crises occur when local culture gets separated from national economies, he said. more >
Culture from chaos: where next for Iraqi art?
We know about the devastation and looting – but what impact has war had on Iraq's artistic heritage? Seven years after the invasion, Hadani Ditmars returns to Baghdad to find out. more >
Culture Minister discusses co-operation with partners
The Angolan minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva, discussed Tuesday, in Luanda, with partners, issues related to intervention in the execution of cultural projects this year. Rosa Cruz e Silva explained this year's Government action programmes, and requested support for their implementation. more >
Federal budget approach to arts funding contrasts provincial plan
Blog by Janet Smith. Two governments faced with hard times. Two very different approaches to arts funding during a recession. more >
Google partners with Italy for groundbreaking book scanning deal
Blog by Mercedes Bunz. Google and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage have reached an agreement to digitise up to a million out-of-copyright works at the national libraries in Florence and Rome, including some by Galileo. more >
Half of publishers refused participation
The omission for want of space of about 50 percent of the publishing houses which applied to participate in the Riyadh Book Fair has come in for severe criticism. more >
Head of NEA sees arts as economic boost
The new chairmen of the National Endowment for the Arts hails Philadelphia for its use of the arts as an economic engine. more >
JCCI meeting to set guidelines for cultural club
The Jeddah Information and Culture Club will be established following the first meeting of its founding members on Tuesday, according to Turrad Al-Asmari, a founding member and the director of media at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI). more >
Margaret Hodge: the arts are a ‘closed shop’
Is networking the most important talent you need to get on in the arts? Increasing reliance on internships – 40% of graduates entering the arts are working unpaid – is not happening in a vacuum; it’s occurring within a wider ecology of recession. more >
Moroccan culture minister arrives in Doha
Moroccan Culture Minister Bensalem Hamesh arrived in Doha yesterday to attend the opening ceremony of the Moroccan cultural week due to kick off here on Monday and runs for five days. more >
NEA chairman gets an earful on city tour
On the latest leg of a national fact-finding tour, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman put boots on the ground in San Diego yesterday. The visit, the first California stop on the chairman’s “Art Works” tour of American cities, came in the wake of major arts-funding disappointment for San Diego. more >
New deputy culture minister for artistic affairs appointed
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini appointed Hamid Shahabadi as deputy culture minister for artistic affairs here on Monday. more >
Program primes businesses for arts support
Business for the Arts -- also known as BftA -- unveiled its artsVest program, a matching grant initiative for local organizations. more >
Some art collectors now adding terrorism coverage
The price of the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 on both the insurance industry and the American psyche was high, but part of that toll is being paid by art gallery owners, museums and even some high end collectors of art, especially in New York City and a few other presumed areas of potential future terrorist acts. more >
National Arts Council Visits Luderitz
The National Arts Council of Namibia (NAC) who aims to encourage widespread public participation in arts, met with approximately 50 young people at the Luderitz Youth Centre to discuss and work out ways on how young people can build strong art organisations on local level, while promoting awareness of the value of arts and thereby also develop professional development of art leaders. more >
Swiss Arts Council opens Joburg office
The liaison office of Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, in Southern Africa, announces the opening of a new office in Newtown, Johannesburg. more >
The Participatory Museum
The Participatory Museum is a practical guide to working with community members and visitors to make cultural institutions more dynamic, relevant, essential places. more >
Flaherty keeps status quo for arts and culture
No new cash, but no cuts either, drawing a mixed reaction from Canadian artists. more >
Romania and Bulgaria jointly present cultural values in Europe
Minister of Culture and National Patrimony Hunor Kelemen and his Bulgarian counterpart Vezhdi Rashidov had an informal meeting on Wednesday, in Bucharest, during which they tackled the topic of the common effort both countries needed to make, so that their shared cultural identity and values should be known to Europe. more >
Why we need a ministry of joined-up thinking
While the Government’s smart-economy framework plan implicitly recognises the important role the cultural and creative sectors will play, it could be argued that both sectors are still poorly understood and fragmented. more >
Obama Wants to Consolidate Curriculum Programs
A chief concern is that the consolidation would lead to the neglect of issues Congress has long identified as national priorities, such as teaching U.S. history, boosting arts education, and distributing books to needy children. more >
Welcome to the culture club
Trying to encourage take-up of cultural services can be tough. A recent MJ debate, organised with Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE), asked how we can engage young people in the arts. more >
Barcelona libraries paid out 100,000 euros in copyright payments last year
Under European law, municipalities must pay a management company for copyright, but now the Spanish Federation of Municipalities (FEM) is negotiating an agreement with the Ministry of Culture for it to take over the payments. more >
Minister of Culture, electronic books increased by 35 percent in 2009
The Minister of Culture of Spain said, electronic books increased by 35 percent in 2009, along with 375 million books. more >
President Ben Ali announces set of measures in sector of culture
President Ben Ali announces set of measures in sector of culture, among others, the restoration and maintenance of all archeological and historical monuments in the city of Kairouan, the proclamation of 2010 as the “Year of the Cinema” and the promotion of reading and of the book in Tunisia. more >
Publishing Scotland tackles "challenging" report
Controversy over the future structure of Scottish publishing continued to simmer at the annual conference of Publishing Scotland in Edinburgh yesterday (24th February). more >
Tunisian film producer appointed Chairwoman of “Fonds Sud Cinema” in France
The Tunisian film producer, Dora Bouchoucha, was recently appointed by the French Minister of Culture and Communication, Mr. Frederic Mitterrand as the chairwoman of the commission of the “Fonds Sud Cinema”. more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >