International News in August 2010
Show all of 2010
Promoting 'Cool Japan'
Eight years have passed since American journalist Douglas McGray first coined the phrase, but now the Japanese government is getting behind "Cool Japan" in a big way. more >
NEA head Rocco Landesman says arts can help country climb out of the recession
Landesman, who was appointed head of the NEA last year by President Barack Obama, is touring the country to promote his new slogan: Art Works. more >
Connecting the dots, again
The artist service and support organization Fractured Atlas has a knack for offering what's necessary and useful on the path from creative inspiration to realized experience. Their service areas may not be glamorous -- health and liability insurance, technology infrastructure, fiscal sponsorship -- but they are essential elements for independent artists or arts groups striving to connect the dots. more >
2011 Federal Budget The creative sector: not yet recovered
Pre-budget submission by the Canadian Conference of the Arts to the Standing Committee on Finance. more >
Caribbean culture policy book launched
After 15 years of work, thought and practice, Dr Suzanne Burke launched her book, Policing the Transnational: Cultural Policy Development in the Anglophone Caribbean (1962-2008. Her work focuses on the Caribbean cultural industries and cultural policy development. more >
Diplomatic sector made significant contributions to national development
Over the past 65 years, the Vietnam’s diplomatic sector has made significant progress, greatly contributing to the cause of national construction and defence. Together with many other national festivities, the diplomatic sector also marks its 65th anniversary on August 28. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pham Binh Minh granted VOV an interview on the sector’s achievements over the past 65 years. more >
Fighting for Control of the Web's Future
As data volumes continue to grow, it's clear that the Internet's infrastructure needs upgrading. What's not clear is who is going to pay for it. Web activists fear the development of a two-tier Internet, where corporations have priority and dissenting voices get pushed to the margins. more >
In Times of Crisis: Saving Art
In order to understand where art is headed in this new e-economy, we must remember where art has been and see the possible trajectories for the future. Tuesday a piece entitled, The High Cost of Free Culture, was posted by Bevin Carnes on the Huffington Post.
more >
Lee vows support for low-income people seeking cultural events
President Lee Myung-bak said Monday his government will step up efforts to help the working class and other low-income people enjoy more cultural activities such as movies, exhibitions and performances in line with his "fair society" campaign. more >
The directors' debate: Are arts funding cuts a good idea?
Theatre directors Adrian Jackson and David Parrish debate the pros and cons of Arts Council spending cuts. more >
Turning a corner towards inclusion in the arts
Minister for the Arts, David O’Byrne, today spoke of his vision for the arts and celebrated Tasmania’s vibrant arts culture at the Junction 2010 Regional Arts Festival. In a major coup, the national arts conference and festival is being held in Launceston and includes art installations and a high-level symposium to discuss innovative ways to engage the community in the arts. more >
America’s Biggest Businesses Set Flat Giving Budgets
Corporate profits are on the rebound, but most big businesses say it will be some time before they can give as much cash as they did before the recession, according to a Chronicle survey of 162 of the country’s largest corporations. more >
Cutting edge: radical arts funding
Britain's creative output is hugely imaginative. But when it comes to funding, the arts world is one of the most conservative industries in the country. David Lister, arts editor, argues that reducing budgets could radicalise culture more >
Shifting to the Future
Watch an exclusive Americans for the Arts video to find out more about the arts advocacy work of Zac Efron, Claire Danes, and Richard Linklater. more >
The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet
Two decades after its birth, the World Wide Web is in decline, as simpler, sleeker services — think apps — are less about the searching and more about the getting. Chris Anderson explains how this new paradigm reflects the inevitable course of capitalism. And Michael Wolff explains why the new breed of media titan is forsaking the Web for more promising (and profitable) pastures. more >
Endowment funds flourish in France
A new governmental provision enacted in 2008, known as a fonds de dotation, is helping museums raise funds privately. more >
A good economist knows the true value of the arts
Activities that are good in themselves are good for the economy, and activities that are bad in themselves are bad for the economy. The only intelligible meaning of “benefit to the economy” is the contribution – direct or indirect – the activity makes to the welfare of ordinary citizens. more >
'We will act as facilitators...’, stated the Minister of Culture designate
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, President of the Republic of Colombia, has designated Mariana Garcés Córdoba as the new Minister of Culture. more >
Seremos facilitadores de todos los procesos’, afirma la ministra designada de cultura
Juan Manuel Santos también confirmó al ex senador Jairo Clopatofsky como nuevo director de Coldeportes. Mariana Garcés Córdoba, quien desde hace más de 30 años se ha desempeñado en el área cultural, aceptó el reto de asumir una cartera con una nota alta. more >
Art for All… Or Else
An interview with Simon Brault, author of No Culture, No Future. more >
Artists don't do it for the money
THE Australia Council for the Arts has released a torrent of statistics and analyses put together by two university research teams, all of which add up to one stark fact: you would be mad to become an artist for the money. more >
China and Singapore Sign Co-production Agreement
China and Singapore on July 23rd signed a Film Coproduction Agreement on the sidelines of the 7th China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Co-operation (CSJCBC) in Beijing, China. more >
The arts need diversity schemes
Positive action programmes for minority groups should remain on the cultural agenda until there is no organic need for them. more >
Tories backtrack on broadband promise
The government has been accused of sabotaging its own broadband ambitions after reneging on a pre-election promise to reform the way high-speed fibre-optic networks are taxed in the UK. more >
$10m grants for new works
ARTISTS will benefit from a $10 million boost for new works and fellowships, and the role of the Australia Council will be expanded. But film and television makers should expect no immediate kindness if Labor is re-elected on Saturday. more >
Arts funding threat - 'Cuts could send the festivals into decline'
THERE is always a buzz of excitement about Edinburgh in August as the city transforms into the bustling centre of the artistic universe. But this year the dark clouds bringing the seemingly endless rain showers are not the only ones hovering over the world's biggest arts festival. The threat of savage public spending cuts that could just send the festivals into a spiral of decline
is troubling those who work in them
more >
Bill to Halt Certain Sales of Artwork May Be Dead
A bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to cover operating costs has all but died in the New York State Legislature, in the face of opposition from major cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the withdrawal of support from the bill’s Senate sponsor. more >
Britain plans dramatic cuts in the arts
Panicked curators, artistic directors and art critics are warning of London's potential fall from the vanguard of the global arts scene. more >
Full Video: The ABC's Mark Scott on cultural diplomacy
Mark Scott, Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has highlighted that public broadcasting is the most efficient and effective way of presenting Australia’s culture and institutions across the region, in a speech for Asialink-Asia Society AustralAsia Centre. more >
Globalising our cultural tour de force
Gene Sherman is dismayed that a week before the federal election neither of the two main parties have uttered the ''a'' word. more >
Not starving, saving: creativity pays
Forget the stereotype of the starving artist living in squalor.The arts sector is a vibrant and entrepreneurial part of the economy, with above-average employment growth and five times more small-business owners and sole traders than the total workforce, according to research to be released this week by the Australia Council. more >
Teaching diversity - why discuss diversity?
A forum focusing upon the teaching of diversity issues and whether or not we should be discussing diversity in our schools and with our students is being hosted by the NZ National Commission for UNESCO as part of the NZ Diversity Action Forum 2010 in Christchurch this month. more >
Training - an investment in the future of a healthy arts infrastructure
An interview with Brett Egan, Director, DeVos Institute of Arts Management, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. more >
Plum Benefit to Cultural Post: Tax-Free Housing
Museums say their leaders are entitled to the same tax break given to university presidents and others whose housing, by law, is not treated as income because their employers require them to live on a “business premises.” more >
Fears for future arts funding
Australian Chamber Orchestra's artistic director Richard Tognetti says he fears for the future of the arts because of potential government cuts. more >
How a ‘spiral of engagement’ of Culture, Sustainability & Policy intends to create an Ecological Age by 2050
Culture|Futures is an expanding, positive ‘spiral of engagement’: a collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an ‘Ecological Age’ by 2050. more >
In defence of the Australia Council
A recent call for an overhaul of the Australia Council misses the real culprit. If Australian cultural policy is in disarray, it is not the Australia Council that is at fault; it is the Department for Water, Heritage and the Arts. more >
Show us some policy, arts groups urge political parties
Australia's leading arts organisations have made an unprecedented intervention in the federal election campaign, complaining about the way the arts have been ignored by the major parties. more >
Turkey goes global as cultural outreach follows foreign policy forays
A new Turkish cultural center joins airline flights and radio and television broadcasts in expanding the country's reach around the globe, with a UK office on the way and more planned for Moscow and Damascus. Experts say such 'public diplomacy' efforts complement Ankara's ambitious foreign policy by helping present Turkey's changing image to the world. more >
Anger at customs clampdown
Stricter enforcement of UK bond rules pushes dealers’ credit lines to the limit. more >
Arts funding inquiry will not report until after spending review
House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Chair John Whittingdale has warned that its inquiry into arts funding will not be complete until after the government’s comprehensive spending review, which will set the main culture budget for the next four years. more >
Creative accounting
Fierce competition for the philanthropic dollar has forced artistic companies to come up with new ways of attracting money. more >
Expediting cultural diplomacy - artist visas get more streamlined
Even though "there are plenty of artists who work in the United States who come in and come out on tourist visas," the notoriously inefficient process of obtaining artists' work visas may become more streamlined. more >
Govt committed to welfare of artists, cultural artisans: Jilani
Federal Minister for Culture Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani has said that incumbent Government committed for the welfare of Artists and Cultural Artisans and taking keen interest in this regard, this was stated by the Federal Minister while chairing the Pakistan Culture and Arts Foundation Relief Fund Committee meeting here today. more >
Review stirs concerns over arts funding
The independent review of the arts in Canberra has been welcomed by arts groups but has raised questions about funding details and support for public art. more >
PBS Innovating Multi-Platforms
PBS President Paula Kerger spoke to the media during the Television Critics Association summer press tour yesterday discussing their participation in the launch of the Apple iPad. PBS created the “Super Why!” app which has been very successful improving vocabulary and strengthening literary skills. more >
Richard Mills joins culture war over heritage
It was supposed to be a discussion about the Australia Council's new "artistic vibrancy" policy. more >
This is what happens when arts funding is outsourced
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to bring US-style arts philanthropy to Britain. If New York is anything to go by it would be a disaster. more >
World Orchestra for Peace to promote UNESCO’s message through music
The United Nations cultural agency has selected the World Orchestra for Peace, an ensemble of musicians from more than 40 countries, to help promote its message and programmes and raise public awareness of its work on key issues. more >
Abu Dhabi Art 2010: The platform set to shape the contemporary art scene with international, regional and local representatives
Tourism Development & Investment Company 'TDIC' and Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage 'ADACH' announced today that a series of exhibitions, public programmes and workshops, as well as educational activities, will take place for the second consecutive year at Abu Dhabi Art 2010, in November at Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi. more >
Contracts help culture - Minister
The latest theatrical and concert season in Russia is over. Before the next one starts, there is some time to analyze the developments in cultural life, to point out the opportunities for growth and to spot the most painful problems. The Russian Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeyev dedicated his interview for the Federal TV channel to these aspects. more >
Suggestions for politicians in search of a cheap arts policy
The perception at election time is that politicians can get ahead only by rolling out the pork barrel and spending up big. But while we'd all love more money for the arts, there are a lot of things that could make us all culturally richer for not much more than the cost of political will, taking the lead, changing some rules and tweaking a few settings. more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >