UK Teachers Fear Disappearing Arts Education Is Harming Students Instruction in the arts is shrinking in Britain as the school calendar gets more crowded. "More than 80 per cent of UK headteachers say they battle to find time to schedule arts lessons, while almost 90 per cent of teachers worry that the sidelining of arts is affecting their students' ability to think imaginatively. According to the survey of 695 primary, secondary and sixth-form teachers, two-thirds believe the reduction in arts teaching will be detrimental to the fabric of the country, resulting in a diminished creative industry and fewer artists." The Guardian (UK) 03/16/03
In Colorado - Arts Supporters Fail To Educate Legislators In Colorado, where the state arts budget has been slashed 55 percent, "the arts community has spent much time and oxygen organizing a proactive response to the systematic dismantling of the state's arts council, which has annoyed members of the joint budget committee less than if a fly were to land in their soup. Artists yell indignantly about the shame of Colorado falling into 50th place in state arts funding without having the slightest notion that those who think of the arts as an entitlement wear that stat - not to mention that ubiquitous button - like a badge of honor. What we have here is a failure not only to communicate, but to educate." Denver Post 03/17/03
Missouri Considers A State Of No Arts Funding Missouri weighs the consequences of zeroing out state arts funding. "The possibility of a future without a Missouri state arts agency raises basic questions: Is there symbolic value in a state arts council beyond the money it distributes? And at a time when both the federal and state governments face mounting deficits, should tax money be spent on the arts, which some lawmakers view as a luxury?" Kansas City Star 03/17/03
New Jersey May Restore Some Arts Funding New Jersey Governor James McGreevey is reconsidering abolishing state arts funding. A spokesman for the governor's office says that "a decision has been made to find the means to provide funding for arts communities across the state," and that "it would not be unreasonable for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts to get back about half of the $18 million it lost." NJ.com (AP) 03/17/03
Fixing A "Mistake?" "In his budget address, Gov. McGreevey proposed eliminating $43 million earmarked for various cultural programs. Among the funds eliminated were $18 million in grant money for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, $10 million for the New Jersey Cultural Trust, $4 million in grants for the Historical Commission and $3 million in Cultural Enrichment Grants. Individual institutions also got cut, including $2.7 million for the Newark Museum." Newark Star-Ledger 03/16/03
The BBC - Power To The People Is the BBC "arrogant, unfairly subsidised, dumbed-down, imperialistic and creatively barren." Those are certainly the charges critics fling at Britain's national broadcaster. And now there's to be a major review of the corporation leading to its charter renewal in 2006. "So the past few months have seen the BBC launch a charm counter-offensive. If, as a columnist and media pundit, you turn around in the pub you find yourself facing a free drink wielded with intent by a top executive who will tell you of the wonderful highbrow things being made by his or her department..." The Observer (UK) 03/16/03
Another Blow For Troubled English National Opera Tony Legge, the company's head of music, resigned after plans for shrinking the company's staff and repertoire were announced. Legge's decision was a shock to company members. "People looked to him as having artistic integrity. We only have to assume he didn't want to be part of what the future holds." The Guardian (UK) 03/18/03
Musicians Looking To Reverse Decline Of Industry Fortunes As musicians gathered last week in Austin Texas for the South By Southwest Festival, there was a common theme running through the proceedings. "In panels and seminars, in casual conversation and passionate addresses, many insiders at SXSW seemed to be looking to the past for the values and integrity - in both making music and doing business - that will lead to a brighter future for an industry in decline." Boston Globe 03/17/03
Caroline Michel Rises To The Top Caroline Michel has just been made managing director and publisher of HarperPress, the literary division of the publishing giant HarperCollins" where she'll be one of the most powerful women in publishing. "She has long since proved her doubters comprehensively wrong. But her new job will nevertheless demand all her promotional skills and should also test the depths of her seemingly bottomless supplies of optimism. To put it bluntly, the glaring problem with HarperCollins, as far as the bien pensants of British literary life are concerned, is that it's owned by Rupert Murdoch." The Observer (UK) 03/16/03
Anti-War Words "The Iraq crisis, following on from 11 September, has set off an unprecedented explosion of anti-war poetry. A bad time for the world has turned into a boom time for people with an itch to express themselves in lines which don't quite reach the edge of the page. The internet is much to blame, of course." London Evening Standard 03/17/03
Will Soft Bestseller Market Affect Literary Market? "Book sales, particularly fiction, have been suffering since 11 September, and the impending war is prolonging the depression. You wouldn't know it from a glance at the New York Times bestseller list - John Grisham, James Patterson, Michael Crichton, Jeffrey Archer - but the thriller market especially seems to be suffering. One publisher estimates that submissions of thrillers from agents are down by 30 per cent on previous years. Some agents fear that if publishers are not making the expected returns on their guaranteed big-hitters, the first casualty will be the debut novels and literary fiction that represent more of a gamble. Not everyone agrees, however." The Observer (UK) 03/16/03
War Stories That Can't Be Sold? Elite British fighters in Afghanistan have some action-packed stories. "Publishers and agents calculated that an action-packed book by one of these heroes would be worth £1 million, more if Hollywood bought the rights. But none of them wanted to write a book. Since 1996, members of the Regiment, as the SAS is known to special forces' cognoscenti, and the SBS had been ordered to sign confidentiality agreements, prohibiting them from discussing their time as elite soldiers without official sanction. If they refused to sign, they were thrown out. New recruits had to sign as a condition of service." The Guardian (UK) 03/16/03
Orange Prize Nominees Nominees for this year's Orange Prize - which goes to the best work of fiction by a woman writer - have been announced. "Carol Shields, who won the prize in 1998 with Larry's Party, is chosen for Unless. The other frontrunners are Zadie Smith's The Autograph Man, an examination of our modern obsession with celebrity and individualism which received mixed reviews; an Donna Tartt's The Little Friend, about the aftermath of a murder in the deep south as seen through a child's eyes. Also chosen are Alice Sebold's US bestseller The Lovely Bones, narrated from heaven by a murdered girl; Siri Hustvedt's complex saga of art and love, What I Loved; and Shena Mackay's unshowy study of ageing Bohemians, Heligoland." The Guardian (UK) 03/17/03
Shakespeare Was An Expert On How The Brain Works Moderb studies of the brain suggest that Shakespeare had an intuitive understanding of how the brain works. "Modern studies have shown the more a word is used in conversation, the less the brain responds to it. Our neurones get tired of hearing it. You can see this effect in the electrical activity of the brain's word centres. They stop sparking so much. 'Shakespeare knew that intuitively. Hence the rich variety of his vocabulary and his use of unexpected words or odd combinations of them - for instance, comparing mercy with rainfall to keep us on our toes and interested and involved in what he was saying. Other examples include the use of phrases such as 'a muse of fire' or 'a quintessence of dust'. They are startling and unanticipated and keep us stimulated." The Guardian (UK) 03/16/03
Book Magazine Cuts Circulation To Survive When Book magazine made a deal with Barnes & Noble three years ago, its fortunes soared. "Over the next 18 months, circulation of Book rose to 1.2 million from 100,000." Its ad rates tripled. But the cost of putting out the magazine outstripped its success, and B&N reconsidered the venture. Now the magazine will be relaunched as Barnes & Noble Presents Book and its circulation will be drastically cut to 150,000. The New York Times 03/17/03
Lower Price = More Ticket Buyers For Sydney Theatres After dropping ticket prices for younger patrons, several Sydney theatre companies report record increases in ticket sales - as much as 400 percent at one theatre. Sydney Morning Herald 03/18/03
Watering Down The Broadway Product (And It Is Product) Touring Broadway shows use scaled down sets, smaller casts and smaller orchestras. The lower budgets make the touring possible. But there are artistic compromises, and even though audiences will pay to see smaller versions of Broadway shows, it would be a mistake to think that Broadway itself could scale down and hold its allure. "What's troubling about the settlement of the musicians' strike is that the top level of Broadway entertainment and artistry, the brand-name level, has been subject to a watering down that may eventually inform the expectations of an audience." The New York Times 03/18/03
Going Bust On Blockbusters Appreciating art at blockbuster art shows has gotten near impossible. "As with any blockbuster you can't linger too long and you have to expect big crowds. But does there come a point when the crowds are too big, the jostling too irritating and the noise too distracting for any real enjoyment, let alone serious appreciation? To judge from the letters column of this paper this week, that point has been reached." The Independent (UK) 03/15/03
This Year's Maastricht - A Harder Sell War fears loom over this year's Maastricht Art Fair. "Traditionally this small Dutch city has been an annual mecca for serious collectors from all over the world. But officials here report that attendance at this, the world's largest art fair, will be down about 10 percent from last year. There are far fewer blockbusters than in recent years. Not only are great works of art getting harder to find, but often when dealers do have something extraordinary, they tend to hide it away during bad economic times, afraid that if it doesn't sell, it will become overexposed and therefore less desirable. Dealers definitely seemed to be holding back this year."
The New York Times 03/18/03
Bush Tax Plan Threatens Historic Preservation Incentives Tax credits for preserving historic buildings and building low-income housing have resulted in the rehab of tens of thousands of buildings in America. "These credits help make historic rehab and low-income housing projects viable for profit-minded developers who might otherwise opt for less risky ventures." But "despite the fact that they have helped stabilize neighborhoods, create businesses and jobs, and boost tax revenues in small towns and big cities alike, these incentives are in danger of being marginalized by a current White House proposal." OpinionJournal.com 03/18/03
