In Australia, Individual Giving To The Arts Goes Up "A survey of corporate and private philanthropy to Australia's 28 major performing arts companies reveals that in 2008 individual support through bequests, gifts of money and prescribed private funds had increased from 2004 by 119 per cent to $20 million." The Australian 07/03/09

A Bit Of Heresy For The Fourth-Of-July Weekend "[T]he professional fireworks display is an exercise in pomposity, aggression, triumphalism, and hubris. The pyrotechnician - and, more importantly, his patron - intends to ornament the night sky beyond the powers of God himself. … Fireworks are imperialist and, as we used to say in school, hegemonic. That they are popularly believed to be populist entertainment does not say much for the populace." Slate 07/01/09

Does Facebook Activism Translate Into Real-World Action? "[W]hether our virtual virtuousness will result in real-world action is unpredictable, and has as much to do with human nature as it does with amassing enough numbers. This is the problem with activism born of social networking sites. ... Do our Facebook groups -- which are today often treated as the official barometer for a cause's importance; more members must signify more gravitas -- ever translate into significant change?" Washington Post 07/02/09

What Are Critics Really For, Anyway? Anne Midgette: "The role of a critic is to cover a field. This doesn't mean simply pandering to popular taste. It means doing one's best to convey a sense of what is going on in a given discipline by writing about every possible side of it. It means trying to convey a perspective that a reader who doesn't spend every night going to concerts/plays/films may not be able to gather himself; or offering a thoughtful take that might stimulate a reader who does go to everything to see something in a different light." Washington Post 07/01/09

Michael Kaiser: Dangerously Wrong Decisions Imperil Arts "While arts funding only fell 6% last year, many arts organizations are making drastic cuts to their programming. Many have canceled performances, eliminated educational programming, shortened seasons, or closed altogether. Others are 'dumbing down' their product; there is a widespread call to make programming more accessible (read boring). Still more are cutting their marketing dramatically; after all, they argue, who will notice if we spend less on communicating our (reduced) programming?" Huffington Post 06/29/09

Do Critics Matter? Well, Yes And No. "The critics spoke last Friday. 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' is a Hindenberg of a movie. The audience responded: So freakin' what? They forked over $215 million (and counting) to see the widely panned sequel about shape-shifting robots." So Post critics in film, theatre, books, TV and pop music consider the question: Do their judgments matter? (Book critic Ron Charles: "When I want to feel more relevant, I lie and say I'm a haberdasher.") Washington Post 07/01/09

Illinois A.G. Reaches Deal With Ticketmaster Subsidiary "Ticketmaster unit TicketsNow has agreed to curb deceptive tactics and pay $50,000 for consumer-fraud enforcement and education in an agreement with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan after her investigation into the unit's marketing practices. ... As part of the deal with Ms. Madigan's office, TicketsNow will stop operating Web sites that have misleading domain names or other deceptive tactics." Wall Street Journal 06/30/09

KenCen Takes 'Arts In Crisis' On The Road "Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser will meet with arts leaders in all 50 states and Puerto Rico over the next year, he said, beginning with visits to New York, Kalamazoo, Mich., Indianapolis and six other cities in the next two months. Since February, the center's 'Arts in Crisis' initiative [www.artsincrisis.org] has offered emergency planning advice for fundraising, budgeting, marketing or other strategies as box office revenues decline, along with donations and endowment income." AP 06/30/09

$25,000 Local Kresge Grant Makes Its Debut In Detroit "The Troy-based Kresge Foundation today announced $450,000 in grants to 18 local visual artists. The $25,000 no-strings fellowships, which inaugurate one of the country's most lucrative annual awards available to artists, are designed to give winners financial breathing room to allow them to focus on making art." The foundation's president "said that Kresge's grants in 2010 would recognize performing and literary artists." Detroit Free Press 06/30/09

Among Nonprofits Fearing Future, Arts Orgs Most Worried "Ninety-two percent of the nearly 100 respondents in a survey conducted in May by the Bridgespan Group said they were feeling the effects of the downturn. Eighty percent of charity officials reported that their organizations were experiencing financial stress, in another study conducted in April by the Johns Hopkins University's Listening Post Project. Nearly 40 percent of the 363 respondents described the stress as 'severe.'" Chronicle of Philanthropy 06/29/09

Did Atlanta Symphony Bid Dreams Adieu With Calatrava? "The costs and complexities of big-name architecture have fueled a revulsion against architectural spectacles in today's miserable economy -- including the engineering acrobatics Calatrava is famous for. Spectacle, in great boulevards and grand buildings, is one of the great pleasures of city living. Still ASO's leadership looks wise for recognizing that the times are simply not right for Calatrava's design." Atlanta Journal-Constitution 06/28/09

House Okays NEA, NEH Funding Increase (Next Up: Senate) "The House of Representatives today approved $170-million budgets for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2010: a 9.7% increase for each over their current $155 million. ... The issue now: the Senate Appropriations Committee's budget proposal for the cultural agencies calls for $161.3 million each...." Los Angeles Times 06/26/09

Critical Disruption - It's Time Critics Reconsidered... "The headline on the Guardian column reads, 'Art criticism is not a democracy.' It's an odd thing to write, since art criticism is, in point of fact, every bit a democracy these days, as the 129 comments appended to Jonathan Jones's work attest. And the 'professionals' had better figure out a way to stay on top of the pile before someone comes along and knocks them off for good." Inside the Classics 06/28/09

Napa's Copia Food Museum In Bankruptcy "A judge has ruled that a Napa food and wine museum founded by the late vintner Robert Mondavi can proceed with its plan to get out of bankruptcy, despite objections from some creditors." San Jose Mercury-News 06/26/09

The Wonderful World Of Disney, The Museum In San Francisco: "It will be the world's only museum dedicated to the life of Disney, who besides creating Mickey Mouse and "Bambi," palled around with surrealist master Salvador Dali, designed futuristic theme parks and had a rideable miniature train behind his Los Angeles-area home." San Francisco Chronicle 06/28/09