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Headline
News
May 9, 2008
Congress sees eye to eye on helping one immigrant group -- entertainers
Los Angeles Times, 4/27/2008
"With support from both sides of the aisle, the House and Senate are working to clear visa hurdles for fashion models, singers and pro athletes to enter the country. . . . The ARTS (Arts Require Timely Service) Act, sponsored by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), would give the Department of Homeland Security a 30-day window to process visas for performers and their crews. If it failed to meet that deadline, it would have to offer 15-day expedited processing free to artists invited by a nonprofit organization."
Drawing Lessons
New York Times, 4/27/2008
Mentioning that Barack Obama "has gotten on the arts-education bandwagon," Ann Hulbert critiques advocates who base their arguments upon arts education's link to improved academic performance. "An emphasis on the arts’ utility in the quest to reach math and reading benchmarks may seem politically smart, but the science it rests on turns out to be shaky." As investigators affiliated with Harvard’s Project Zero have found, there is indeed a link (at least in the U.S.) but no causal relationship between arts involvement and greater academic success.
Group aims to aid arts via new tax
Reporter-Herald (Loveland, CO), 4/23/2008
"Dance, theater, natural history and science could create a driving economic force in Northern Colorado through tourism, supporters of a proposed Science and Cultural Facilities District said Tuesday. For three years, a 12-member steering committee has worked on the plans for the proposed district. The committee members’ work will come to fruition in November if they can gather enough signatures to get the district proposal on the ballot." Denver created a similar district in 1989, which in 2005 "distributed $34 million to qualified organizations, and the area brought in $387 million in outside revenue."
Hollywood Taking Sides in Network Neutrality Debate
All About Jazz, 4/29/2008
"Hollywood believes the Internet is the key to its future. But its constituents are again squabbling over how to get there. As in the recent television writers strike, the major studios are at odds with some members of the creative community over digital distribution. This time it's about a public policy issue known as network neutrality. . . . Major movie studios and record labels are concerned that net neutrality could eliminate a potential tool for fighting online piracy. Meanwhile, independent artists want to ensure that they can disseminate their work freely."
Key Facts on Corporate Foundations
Foundation Center, 2008
"Giving by the nation’s nearly 2,600 grantmaking corporate foundations grew to an estimated $4.4 billion in 2007, up about 7 percent from 2006. Adjusted for inflation, corporate foundation giving increased 3.7 percent in the latest year. An important factor contributing to the growth in 2007 giving has been new gifts coming from corporations into their foundations. In 2006, gifts into corporate foundations rose over 9 percent to $4.4 billion."
Miami Art Machine
New York Magazine, 4/27/2008
"Thanks to the appearance of an exponentially more fabulous Art Basel Miami Beach fair each December since 2002, the once-tattered resort town has gained a new sense of itself as an aesthetic destination. . . . Now members of the local Establishment, enamored with their smart new friends—collectors, artists, and curators from around the world—want to see if they can get them to stick around. It’s partly about wishing to be taken seriously as a cultural alternative to New York and Los Angeles. But it’s also a bet that fertilizing the creative class is good economic-development policy—especially in a city hit hard by the real-estate meltdown. Which is why a local developer and collector, Craig Robins, is starting a free postgraduate art program in Miami."
New Bills Would Limit Liability on Use of 'Orphan Works'
Digital Media Wire, 4/25/2008
"A bipartisan group of powerful lawmakers this week introduced legislation that would mitigate the legal risk and potential damages associated with the use of 'orphan works,' or songs, books or other copyrighted media where the creator or owner cannot be identified. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are sponsoring the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 in the Senate, while House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) introduced The Orphan Works Act of 2008 in the House. The bills would enable creators to use orphaned works after documenting a 'good faith' search for their owners, submitting a 'Notice of Use' with the copyright office, and providing attribution to any original owner."
New N.E. database tallies culture’s fiscal benefits
Providence Business News, 4/25/2008
"Rhode Island’s arts and culture sector includes 1,750 nonprofits, businesses and professionals who pay their employees more than $350 million per year and contribute more than $750 million per year to the state’s economy, a new regional database reveals." A free service of the New England Foundation for the Arts, "CultureCount, New England’s Cultural Database,” was unveiled April 24 and is "the only regional cultural database in the country," according to NEFA.
Opera buffs enter a new stage: Will travel for 'Tosca'
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/20/2008
"America is experiencing an opera boom, with 114 opera companies now in the United States —- more than half of them formed since 1970, according to the trade group Opera America. Annual admissions to live opera performances are estimated at 20 million —- nearly the same attendance as NFL football games (22 million, including playoffs, in 2006-07), according to The American, an online journal.
And while there has been much hand-wringing in recent years over declining interest in 'high' arts in general, opera is gaining in popularity, according to the most comprehensive recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts. From 1992 to 2002, the opera audience grew by 8.2 percent —- the largest increase of all the performing arts, the study found. Opera buffs are so dedicated to their art form that the Met now sends high-definition simulcasts into movie theaters worldwide, including seven in metro Atlanta. And the San Francisco Opera this year began showing digital movies of its productions in 121 U.S. theaters, including three in Atlanta's suburbs. For many, however, even high-quality movies are no substitute for live performance. So well-heeled opera fans travel to see opera, whether in San Francisco or Atlanta, where about one-quarter of the audience this season came from outside the metro area."
Orlando gives fine arts a good ride
Miami Herald, 4/27/2008
"Since Walt Disney World opened almost 40 years ago, theme parks have transformed [Orlando, FL] from a city surrounded by citrus groves and small communities to a booming tourist magnet. But the prosperity has also brought a less widely publicized boom: a thriving arts and culture scene. . . . In 1989, the aggregate budgets of Orlando's arts and culture groups were just over $10 million; almost two decades later, the figure is about $40 million. . . . [A]rts leaders praise Disney and Universal for their flexibility in letting employees work with arts groups or serve on boards, as well as for their financial contributions to Orlando arts and culture."
Proposed new piracy penalties advance in House
CNet News.com, 4/30/2008
"A congressional proposal designed to stiffen penalties and enforcement against pirates and counterfeiters moved a step closer to becoming law on Wednesday. As expected, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a copyright holder-backed enforcement proposal known as the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property, or Pro-IP, Act, which is chiefly sponsored by the committee's chairman, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). . . . The revised 68-page measure does not contain a controversial provision that would have dramatically increased fines in copyright infringement lawsuits."
Reach out and touch someone
San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/27/2008
"Theaters have a vested interest in drawing hard-to-reach audiences with 'pay what you can' shows - it's a 'worthwhile investment,'" says James Hebert. "Pay what you can" is geared to young audiences who "are weaned on the flexibility of the Internet and accustomed to defining and controlling their cultural experiences, from assembling iTunes playlists to racking up TiVo recordings to crafting avatars on games like World of Warcraft."
Senate committee vote targets media ownership rule
Reuters, 4/24/2008
"A U.S. senate committee moved a step closer on Thursday to overturning a decision by regulators that loosened media ownership restrictions in the 20 biggest U.S. cities, even as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp moved closer to expanding media ownership in the New York region. . . . The Senate Commerce Committee voted on Thursday to endorse a resolution that would nullify rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in December that eased a 32-year-old ban on ownership of a newspaper and broadcast outlet in a single market."
State deficit brings arts funding back to earth
Dayton Daily News (OH), 4/22/2008
"Especially when it comes to arts funding, what goes up is likely to come back down. The Ohio Arts Council, which made national news when it boosted support 11 percent last year, announced a 10 percent cut Tuesday, April 22, in response to a shortfall in the 2008-9 state government budget. Gov. Ted Strickland has directed state agencies including the OAC to find $733 million in savings because of a projected deficit that could go as high as $1.9 billion."
Tougher Graduation Requirements Proposed In Hartford
Hartford Courant (CT), 4/22/2008
"Hartford School Superintendent Steven J. Adamowski tonight [April 22] will propose the most dramatic increase in high school graduation requirements in decades. . . . Beginning with this fall's incoming freshman class, the class of 2012, Hartford high school students will need a minimum of 25 credits to graduate, up from a minimum of 21 credits, under Adamowski's proposal. High school students also will be required to pass end-of-course exams, do a special project or internship their senior year and take classes in world languages and the arts. Adamowski's revisions mirror — and actually go beyond — increased graduation requirements state education officials recommended last fall for all public high schools."
Tourism money may be redirected to the arts
Winston-Salem Journal (NC), 4/30/2008
In North Carolina, "[t]he Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County would receive a significantly bigger portion of the county's hotel-occupancy tax if a resolution before the board of county commissioners gains approval at the local and state levels. However, the redistribution of the tax money is likely to lead to job cuts at Visit Winston-Salem, which is the city's chief marketing arm to visitors."
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