Cultural News

 


 

Sept. 2 – Sept. 8, 2011

 


 

Featured Story

Five global firms shortlisted for grand Bihar museum

News One, 4 September 2011

 

PATNA – "The Bihar government has shortlisted five global architecture firms to design and build a world class museum in Patna, according to the state building construction department. To be built on 17 acres of land in the heart the city, the museum will showcase Bihar’s heritage dating to the Buddha and Mahavir. 'The theme will be Bihar’s contribution to the history of the world’s civilisation,' Bihar Art and Culture Minister Sukhda Pandey said. 'Vaishali here was the first democracy in the world.' According to the department, the shortlisted firms are the New York-based Studio Art, Tokyo-based Maki and Associates, Boston-based Safadi Art, London-based Foster and Partner, and Oslo-based Snøhetta. Each firm will submit a proposal by November and one among them will be selected by year-end. The timeline for completion is four years. A brainchild of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the new museum seeks to join the ranks of Grand Egyptian Museum (Egypt), Louvre-Lens (France), Guggenheim in Bilbao (Spain) and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg (Canada), an official said. Earlier this year, the department had floated a global tender to engage architects. 'These five were shortlisted from 22 on the basis their wide global experience in designing and building,' the official said. Toronto-based Lord Cultural Resources has been selected as the master consultant for the project. Last month, its top officials had made a conceptual presentation before Nitish Kumar. The firm has been master consultant in about 1,800 such projects in 48 countries, including the National September 11 Memorial and Museum (New York), National Museum (Singapore), King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture at Dhahran (Saudi Arabia) and West Kowloon Cultural District (Hong Kong). ..."




Cultural News, a free service of Lord Cultural Resources, is released at the end of every week by our Librarians: Brenda Taylor and Danielle Manning. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest digest of cultural news.

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Our Clients in the News

AGO hires Heather Conway as chief business officer
Martin Knelman, Toronto Star, 7 September 2011

TORONTO – “After a search that went on for months, the Art Gallery of Ontario has filled the crucial and newly created

position of CBO, chief business officer.

Heather Conway, a veteran of the corporate trenches, is the new key player. Next week she moves in full-time

at the quirky and mercurial museum on the Grange.

There has been no official announcement, but Conway’s appointment was enthusiastically confirmed by CEO

Matthew Teitelbaum when the Star called.

“I am thrilled to have Heather joining our leadership team,” says Teitelbaum. “She will have a major role as we

try to implement a sustainable model in changing times. The goal is to make the AGO more relevant and

increase our footprint in the community.” …”

We can pay for Port Lands plan, Waterfront Toronto says
Daniel Dale, Toronto Star, 7 September 2011

TORONTO – “In a challenge to Mayor Rob Ford, Waterfront Toronto’s board chair says the agency will have no problem coming up with the money for flood protection in the Port Lands.
Ford cited Waterfront Toronto’s supposed inability to fund the $634 million flood protection project as a main reason council should dismiss its plans for a Port Lands neighbourhood and put the city-owned Toronto Port Lands Company in charge of area development.
If Waterfront Toronto can provide a convincing funding plan, Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, will have a harder time selling their preferred Port Lands vision to council.
Board chair Mark Wilson said Tuesday Waterfront Toronto does not have the $634 million in hand, but would fund the project the same way similar ones are funded “all over the world”: borrowing against the hundreds of millions of dollars in increased land values and new tax revenue it will likely generate. …”

TIFF’s big opening gala gamble pays off

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star, 7 September 2011

 

TORONTO – “For the first time in the 36-year history of the Toronto International Film Festival, the opening-night gala and the parties sandwiching the screening are the hottest tickets in town.

It’s all thanks to TIFF’s decision to ditch the conventional opening feature — usually a Canadian title — for a documentary about the world’s biggest rock band, following the path of festivals like Cannes and Venice that favour star power for the opening slot.

From the Sky Down, starring U2 and directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, features the tantalizing lure of Bono and The Edge (other band members Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. are not confirmed) walking the red carpet for the world premiere of the movie at Roy Thomson Hall Thursday night. They’ve also been invited to the pre-gala cocktail bash at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and the huge after-party at the Liberty Grand. …”

 


Museums

 

Dia Annexes Even More Space for Its Planned Chelsea Museum

Julia Halperin, ARTINFO, 7 September 2011

 

NEW YORK — “Reminder: the Whitney isn't the only marquee art name opening a giant new space in Chelsea in the coming years. The Dia Art Foundation confirmed yesterday that it has completed an $11.5 million purchase of a new building at 541 West 22nd Street, adding some extra legroom to the 50,000-square-foot expanse next door that it has been planning to transform into a ground-floor exhibition venue. …”

 

Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley Announces New Branding and Logo

Museumpublicity.com, 7 September 2011

Allentown, PA – “The Allentown Art Museum has announced a new logo and branding initiative. Designed by Klunk & Millan, the new visual identity is a striking reflection of the Art Museum’s exterior facade and provides viewers with a reassuring feeling of forward movement, both into the future and into the spectrum of world-renowned art.
This new logo will serve as a critical piece of a new Art Museum branding campaign and internet presence. The newly designed Art Museum website is scheduled for launch in October 2011.
Currently closed to the public, the Allentown Art Museum is undergoing a dramatic expansion and renovation. Reopening on October 16, 2011, the new Art Museum will feature greatly increased museum space, enhanced museum operations, new galleries and programs, and much more.”

Iconic Japan cartoon cat gets his own museum

Global Museum, 6 September 2011

 

JAPAN – “He's a small, blue robot cat from the future who's been the inspiration for an animated TV series, served as Japan's cartoon cultural ambassador and is beloved around the world.

Now, the iconic Doraemon has his own museum on the outskirts of Tokyo - though he shares the space with his creator, Fujiko F. Fujio.

The museum collection features 50,000 items, many of which are original drawings, as well as a desk and other things used by Fujio until his death in 1996. The museum building also includes a small theatre and coffeeshop. …”

 

MBAM: de nouveaux espaces éducatifs en 2012

Éric Clément, La Presse, 6 September 2011

 

MONTREAL – “Le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (MBAM) a donné le coup d’envoi, cet après-midi, des travaux

d’agrandissement de ses espaces éducatifs qui deviendront en septembre 2012 le StudiO Arts & Éducation

Michel de la Chenelière.

Fondateur d’une maison d’édition de manuels scolaires, Michel de la Chenelière a en effet accordé un très gros

don personnel au MBAM dans le but de favoriser l’accès à l’art à des dizaines de milliers de jeunes. …”

 

Réouverture du Musée des cultures à Bâle

Artclair.com, 6 September 2011

 

BALE, SUISSE – “Après deux ans de travaux, le Musée des cultures de Bâle rouvre ses portes. Il est le plus grand musée ethnographique de Suisse et l’un des plus importants d’Europe.  Le 6 septembre 2011, après deux années de travaux, le musée de Bâle rouvre au public. Son site a été réaménagé. Les architectes bâlois Herzog et de Meuron ont procédé à la reconstruction, à la rénovation et à l’expansion du lieu. …”

 

Museum for the people: Architects renovate and expand museum using sustainable design

World Architecture News, 5 September 2011

 

OAKLAND, CA – “Originally designed by Pulitzer‐winning architect, Kevin Roche and renowned landscape architect, Dan Kiley, the Oakland Museum is an icon of mid‐century modernism. Roche's design united Oakland's collections of art, history, and natural sciences under one roof, which had previously been housed in different museums across the city. Inspired by the vision of OMCA as a "museum for the people," Roche designed a community gathering place, with terraced gardens, a central courtyard, walkways, koi pond, and outdoor sculpture courts that continue to provide an urban park for Oakland residents and visitors. …”

 

Museum Schloss Moyland Foundation: The museum of modern and contemporary art with the world's largest Beuys collection is celebrating its reopening 17 and 18 September 2011

e-flux, 5 September 2011

 

BEDBURG-HAU, GERMANY - “As of 17 September 2011, the Museum Schloss Moyland will present its collection based on a whole new concept and in a castle interior that has been correspondingly redesigned. The Museum Schloss Moyland is one of the leading art museums in the state of North-Rhine-Westphalia and constitutes an international Beuys Centre.

Key Aspects of the New Concept

The museum will present focal points of its collection in regular rotating exhibitions extending over three floors of the castle building and including complexes that have rarely been shown before. The museum's unique holdings of works by Joseph Beuys will make up the nucleus of these presentations combined with the stocks of the foundation's own Joseph Beuys Archive. The new thematic concept aims to promote the oeuvre of Joseph Beuys, to highlight the diversity and particularities of the museum's collection and to spur the visitor to make new discoveries. As Dr. Bettina Paust, Artistic Director of the Museum Schloss Moyland Foundation, explains: "The new presentation form at Museum Schloss Moyland is centred on the artwork yet avoids theatrical exaggeration." The redesign of the interior of the castle building is also aligned with this new principle. The structural measures were carried out by the architects Hilmer & Sattler and Albrecht (Berlin/Munich). …”

 

From telegram to 3G: A museum on history of communication

Sevim Şentürk, Today’s Zaman, 4 September 2011

 

ISTANBUL – “Communication has become quite easy nowadays. Distances have become closer and we can now have instant access to our loved ones with a range advanced technology tools, including 3G devices and the Internet. We are quite lucky considering this was not the case in the not-so-distant past. There was a time when it was a lot more difficult to stay in touch with family and friends; today's generation is not familiar with the limitation of communication options as they have never experienced such days. We may occasionally hear stories of the inadequacy of services and poor conditions from our grandparents. Now, however, we have the opportunity to observe the progress of communication tools through the years. Türk Telekom, a leading communication provider in Turkey, has brought together a variety of communication devices from the past, which had been sitting idle in archives, in an attempt to highlight how the people have communicated since the 1800s. …”

 

SCAD to Open Major Teaching Museum Devoted to Contemporary Art and Design

Levent Ozler, Dexigner, 3 September 2011

 

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA – “The new SCAD [Savannah College of Art and Design] Museum of Art is a significantly expanded and re-imagined contemporary art and design museum conceived and designed expressly to enrich the educational milieu for SCAD students, professors, and art and design enthusiasts. SCAD Museum of Art re-opens to the public on Saturday, October 29. Inaugural exhibitions at the new museum include: Bill Viola, "The Crossing"; Liza Lou, "Let the Light In"; Kendall Buster, "New Growth: Stratum Field"; a solo exhibition of recent works by Kehinde Wiley; and selections from the SCAD Museum of Art's Permanent Collection, including the Evans Collection of African American Art, presented in the new Walter O. Evans Center for African American Studies within the museum. "SCAD has a tradition of fostering innovative and dynamic art experiences, and the SCAD Museum of Art advances this rich tradition," commented SCAD President Paula Wallace, who initiated and oversaw the development of the expanded museum in Savannah. "Rather than a place to view artworks in isolation, our museum is a kinetic think-tank, a collaborative wellspring of ideas and inspiration for SCAD students and professors." …”

 

Rise and fall of the British Empire museum

As the scale of unethical disposals emerges, who knew what?

Gareth Harris, The Art Newspaper, From issue 227, September 2011, Published online 3 Sep 11 (Museums)

 

BRISTOL – “When the director of the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum was dismissed earlier this year, the chairman of the Bristol-based museum’s trustees, Sir Neil Cossons, gave as the reason “the unauthorised disposal of museum objects”, and the director’s “abuse of his position”. According to Cossons, the trustees fired Gareth Griffiths in February and immediately called in the Avon and Somerset police. In March, the British publication, Museums Journal, reported that two items from the collection were available on the open market. One month later, New Zealand magazine, Listener, reported that four items had passed through the hands of a London dealer. Further research now reveals that at least 150 items left the Bristol museum’s collection, taken away for sale by ethnographic art dealer Douglas Barrett. In addition, another police investigation, this time by the Art and Antiques Unit of the Metropolitan Police, had started in July 2010, having received information from the Commonwealth Institute, which gave around 11,800 items to the museum (BECM) in 2003. Barrett says that he has done nothing wrong, and that he selected the objects openly from the stores with Griffiths, and paid £115,000 in three installments to the museum for some of the pieces. …”

 

Travelling space show costs too much for Cdn museums

The Canadian Press, CTV News, 3 September 2011

 

MONTREAL — “The Canadian Space Agency's elaborate plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2010 with a travelling international exhibit backfired because the show was too big. The original idea was to bring "Cosmomania: The Incredible Space Adventure" from France to Canada to criss-cross the country and visit museums and science centres. Emails provided under an access-to-information request show several centres were told they couldn't present the Cosmomania exhibit -- or they rejected it -- because of a lack of space. The information obtained by The Canadian Press reveals Cosmomania ended up costing taxpayers $637,756. That included $288,226 to rent it from the French museum that originally organized the exhibit. The idea was the show would be free for the public and that the space agency would pick up all shipping, set-up and dismantling costs. Cosmomania, a 50-year retrospective of space exploration, was originally organized by the Cite de l'espace museum near Toulouse and visited several French cities. …”

 

Japanese American National Museum searching for new director

Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, 2 September 2011

 

LOS ANGELES – “The Japanese American National Museum is going through its second leadership transition since 2008, this one promising to end with the ascension of a new generation at the Little Tokyo institution. Both its past directors had been on board since before it opened in 1992. Museum officials announced this week that Akemi Kikumura Yano has stepped down as executive director after nearly three years, and that two of her deputies will serve as interim co-executive directors while a national search goes forward to find a new leader.  Yano was at the museum for 24 years as a curator, program director and executive; her predecessor, Irene Y. Hirano, led the museum from 1988 to 2009. …”

 

Bonnie Pitman: Expanding the Art Museum’s Reach

Jerome Weeks, Art&Seek, September 1, 2011   1:39 PM

 

DALLAS, TEXAS - “Bonnie Pitman stepped down as the director of the Dallas Museum of Art in April for health reasons. Even as she did, studies that Pitman led at the DMA have begun to help museums modernize and expand the ways they present themselves. KERA’s Jerome Weeks reports this may be Pitman’s most important legacy to the art world. When Bonnie Pitman came to the DMA in 2000 as deputy director, she quickly saw the museum was not drawing the numbers of people it should. She held public conversations with some 400 Dallasites of all walks of life to learn why, and she discovered, as she says, “The people who knew us loved us. The people who didn’t know us, didn’t know as at all.” The DMA had no settled image or brand or appeal; there was no clear public awareness of just what it held, what it was about. So the DMA hired the research firm, Randi Korn & Associates. Museums often survey visitors for demographic data like income, age, media preferences. But Pitman was after very different information. Beginning in 2003, the firm interviewed nearly four thousand visitors to determine: Why do we go to museums? Pitman: “Do you want to be involved in learning from scholars, creating works, responding to artists? What type of experience do you want to have?” …”

 

St. Marys Museum given $58K

Stratford Beacon Herald, 1 September 2011

 

ST. MARY’S, ON – “From museums to farms and from St. Marys to Sebringville there was provincial money flowing Tuesday.

The St. Marys Museum was given a $53,000 grant, while De Wetering Hill Farms and Erbcroft Farms were each given a

$7,250 grant.

The museum will use $15,000 to get a microfilm reader to preserve the Journal Argus newspapers and begin the

digitization of the archival collection. …”


Architecture

 

Expansion Planned for New York’s Center for Architecture

Rogers Marvel Architects is designing the new, 2,000-square-foot space, which is slated to open in early 2012.

Architectural Record, 7 September 2011

NEW YORK – “When AIA New York opened its Center for Architecture in 2003 in the heart of Greenwich Village, it was among a handful of AIA chapters that offered a communal space intended to both serve members and engage the public. The center quickly became a vibrant gathering spot and found itself squeezed for space. Now, eight years, 20 exhibitions, and more than 1,000 public programs later, it is expanding.
On July 22, AIA New York signed a 10-year lease for the ground floor and basement of 532 Laguardia Place, its neighbor to the south, a five-story brick building with rental apartments on the upper floors. The new space will add 2,000 square feet—1,200 at street level and 800 below—to the center’s existing 12,000 square feet, a 16 percent increase. …”

Korean Starchitect H-Sang Seung on Helming the Gwangju Biennale With an Imprisoned Ai Weiwei

Janelle Zara, ARTINFO, 7 September 2011

SOUTH KOREA – “H-Sang Seung, the founder of Seoul-based architectural firm IROJE, is a giant in Korean architecture, renowned the world over. Aside from the commercial, residential, religious, and educational buildings he's designed in Seoul, his work has been showcased in Venice, Tokyo, and Abu Dhabi.
Seung served as the artistic co-director of this year's Gwangju Design Biennale, a title he shared with Chinese artist and architect Ai Weiwei before, during, and after Ai's three-month detention. At the intersection of Seung's architectural vision and goals of promoting discourse on the definition of design, this year's festivities are categorically more poignant and provocative than years past. He sat down with ARTINFO to discuss his goals for the biennale, persevering as only half of a directorial team, and what he means by the slogan "design is design is not design." …”

Get a First Look at the New Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Designed by Brad Cloepfil

ARTINFO, 6 September 2011

 

DENVER, COLORADO – “Designing a museum for an artist known for his terribilità is no easy assignment, which is why Brad Cloepfil, whose Clyfford Still Museum is scheduled to open in Denver on November 18, must be glad that the legendarily ornery Abstract Expressionist is dead. The first photographs to be released of the anxiously anticipated building, however, suggest that the architect has paid close attention to the late artist's temperament — with the result reflecting both Still's exacting expectations for his art and his personal astringency.  Cloepfil, of Allied Works Architecture, has designed the museum to be the ideal place to see Still's work; the architect said that he felt the building "should settle into the earth and engage the surface of the prairie." …”

 

superunion architects + powerhouse company: jøssingfjord museum

designboom, 2 September 2011

 

JǾSSINGFJORD, NORWAY - “Norwegian firm Superunion Architects has collaborated with Danish and Dutch practice Powerhouse Company to propose the 'Jøssingfjord Museum' for the National Association of Norwegian Architects Competition to create a new cultural facility for Jøssingfjord, Norway. Paying homage to the past occurrence of mining activities in the immediate area, the center accentuates the presence of the nearby hydro power station and naturally occurring geology and caves. Carefully incised into the base of a gorge, the form allows nature to be hierarchical to the structure while minimally obstructing views across the valley. …”

 

Angela Brady is second woman to become Royal Institute of British Architects President

Recent News, artdaily.org, 2 September 2011

 

LONDON – “Angela Brady will become President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the UK body for architecture and the architectural profession tomorrow (1 September 2011). Angela takes over the two-year elected presidency from Ruth Reed. Angela is the 74th RIBA President, a position previously held by Sir G. Gilbert Scott and Sir Basil Spence among others; she is the second woman President. …”

 

Arc of Light: Light rail bridge provides vital link between developing communities

World Architecture News, 2 September 2011

 

DENVER, CO – “The build out of light rail and commuter rail transit in Denver, Colorado, is the largest infrastructure project in North America and is expected to transform the region. The West Corridor light rail, currently under construction, is the first of several rail corridors that will be built in the region over next 10 years. The corridor originates at lower downtown Denver’s historic Union Station and terminates in the City of Golden. The corridor travels through the City of Lakewood with a new station located on land recently owned by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). …”

 

Urban planning in China: P&T Group design Metropolitan Central Business District in Tianjin

World Architecture News, 2 September 2011

 

TIANJIN, CHINA – “The new Metropolitan Central Business District is located southwest of Tianjin. Its key element is the iconic 597m tall, 117 storeys of 117 Goldin Financial tower, which provides international Grade A office space and a 350 room five star luxury hotel at the top. …”

 

Boost for Estonian architecture: Inaugural Tallinn Architecture Biennale opens on 8th September in Tallinn, Estonia

World Architecture News, 2 September 2011

 

TALLINN, ESTONIA – “The first international Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB) takes place September 8th - 11th in the Estonian capital. TAB’s main theme is landscape urbanism and the relationships between the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism. TAB comprises of multiple types of events: exhibitions, vision competition, symposium, lectures, discussions, workshops and guided tours in various parts of Tallinn. …”


Technology

 

U.S. cash helping spawn Canadian tech hubs

Emily Jackson, Globe and Mail, 6 September 2011

 

CANADA – “Big U.S. technology companies are on the hunt for mobile and Internet startups based in Canada.
With at least 20 major acquisitions since January, startups might now have the capital needed to transform areas of the country – Toronto, Waterloo, Montreal and Vancouver – into global mobile hubs. …”


Art and Culture

 

China’s New Cultural Revolution: A Surge in Art Collecting

Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times, 6 September 2011

 

CHINA – “As auction houses prepare for their fall sales, Chinese collectors are expected to be a major boost for the market, raising their paddles for big-ticket artworks despite a backdrop of global economic turmoil.

With China’s economy booming, art collectors there have become an increasingly powerful force in the market, demonstrating a growing interest in Western as well as Asian art. […]

The current Chinese influx is fueled by the sort of new wealth that has made the country home to the world’s largest number of billionaires, according to the Hurun Rich List 2010, China’s version of the Forbes 400. The number of Chinese billionaires is expected to increase 20 percent each year through 2014, according to Artprice. …”

 

Have the Vandals Returned to Rome? Goons Attack the Colosseum and Other Historic Landmarks

Noah Charney, ARTINFO, 6 September 2011

 

ROME — “Rome, of course, has a history of vandalism — it's where the term was brutally coined. But rarely in recent years has the city seen as much violence to its landmarks as it did this weekend, when hooligans attacked the Trevi Fountain, the Fontana del Moro in Piazza Navona, and the Colosseum. …”

 

London 2012: Shakespeare Festival leads cultural events

Helen Bushby, BBC News, 6 September 2011

 

LONDON – “The World Shakespeare Festival is the "trump card" putting "art at the heart of the Olympics", the head of the Cultural Olympiad has said. Ruth Mackenzie said the event, which is part of the London 2012 Festival - will put "culture back up there with sport" during next year's Games in London. It will include thousands of performers in 70 productions, with global artists acting in their own languages. The British Museum will host a show on London during Shakespeare's time. Festival director Deborah Shaw said at the launch of the festival, which is being produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, that it would "redefine what's possible in creating a festival in a global age." …”

 

Hiding Up in Telluride, Silver on Screens

A. O. Scott, The New York Times, 5 September 2011

 

TELLURIDE, COLORADO — “In the local vernacular, the Telluride Film Festival is known as The Show. Each screening — of an Oscar aspirant, a restored classic, a provocative documentary, a slow and quiet piece of cinematic art — is its own show, but so is this town itself, a silver-mining outpost high in the San Juan Mountains long ago converted to an oasis of western-bohemian chic. The Show, which occurs every Labor Day weekend (this is the 38th edition), evokes the eager, collective do-it-yourself spirit of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland musicals, as a school gymnasium, a restored opera house and a pocket-size park on the main street are converted into movie theaters. There is also plenty of the business of show, manifested in the names of sponsors read out before every screening, and in the presence of renowned filmmakers and big movie stars on the streets. Telluride’s mix of glamour and rusticity has a special charm. The selection of films tends to be eclectic and surprising, and the small size, short duration and remote location of the festival combine to give it a relaxed, informal atmosphere. The festival headquarters is called Brigadoon, and the event has an ephemeral, miragelike quality. For four days we’re all hanging out watching movies and comparing notes on them. You, me, my teenage son, the visiting film students with wide eyes and orange badges, the nice couple from Tucson, Werner Herzog, George Clooney, Glenn Close. ...”

 

Edinburgh International Festival box office down 3%

Thom Dibdin, The Stage News, 5 September 2011

 

EDINBURGH – “The Edinburgh International Festival has closed with box office income down 3% from last year, in the face of a slightly smaller programme on an Asian-influenced theme which organisers acknowledged was “challenging”. The festival’s initial box office estimate is £2.58 million, down from £2.67 million in 2010. All performing arts productions are finished, with the visual art exhibition by Hiroshi Sugimoto continuing until the end of the month. A festival spokesman pointed out that there were fewer seats available at this year’s staged events, adding that the festival is waiting until all figures are in before releasing total ticket take-up. The spokesman emphasised that the festival has balanced its budget this year. …”

 

At Burning Man, Air-Conditioning, RVs Make Inroads

Stu Woo and Justin Scheck, The Wall Street Journal, 3 September 2011

 

BLACK ROCK CITY, NEVADA—“The giant Burning Man art festival, in its official manifesto, calls on attendees to exhibit "radical self-reliance" as they camp and frolic on the dry lakebed here for a week every year. Burning Man's mantra is so compelling that some 50,000 participants have gathered in this rustic setting for the 25th annual rite. But some bourgeois Burners are calling upon more than spiritual vibes to tap their inner self. They've got hired help. Elon Musk, chief executive of electric-car maker Tesla Motors and co-founder of eBay Inc.'s PayPal unit, is among those eschewing the tent life. He is paying for an elaborate compound consisting of eight recreational vehicles and trailers stocked with food, linens, groceries and other essentials for himself and his friends and family, say employees of the outfitter, Classic Adventures RV. Burning Man is like any other community, with "a lower class, a middle class, an upper class," says Dane Johnson, a Classic manager, standing outside the Musk compound. "We cater to the upper. People with money do not wish to stay in a tent." …”

 

NYC's Plan to Support Emerging Artists? Send Them to an Old Folks Home

Julia Halperin, ARTINFO, 2 September 2011

 

NEW YORK—“Senior centers aren't just for bridge, shuffleboard, and bingo anymore. They are also, apparently, a place for high art — at least in New York, anyway. The city's Department of Cultural Affairs announced today a call for artists to participate in a program called SPARC: Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide. The initiative will place approximately 50 artists-in-residence at senior centers across the five boroughs of New York City. …”

 

Montreal’s new symphony hall is about to make its debut. Acoustically, will it thrill?

Robert Everett-Green, Globe and Mail, 2 September 2011

 

MONTREAL — “The backstage area is still mostly raw concrete, and sheets of bright green insulation are visible on the exterior. But the essential part of Montreal’s new symphony building – the hall itself – is ready for its public debut this week. Like many projects that take decades to get started, this one is finishing at a gallop. Workmen were still prowling around as the musicians of l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal had their first chance to play in their new principal home at Place des Arts last week, and the word is that they liked what they heard. The new 1,900 seat-auditorium is a very shapely container. Toronto architects Diamond + Schmitt and a pair of acoustical consultants (Sound Space Design’s Bob Essert, working under contract to the architects; and Artec’s Tateo Nakajima, reporting to the Quebec government) have left almost no surface without some kind of curve. …”

 

Whistler embracing cultural tourism in bid to widen its appeal

Wendy Stueck, Globe and Mail, 2 September 2011

 

WHISTLER, BC – “Heads down, thighs pumping, cyclists are a common sight on the Sea-To-Sky Highway these days, some of them no doubt prepping for the RBC GranFondo Whistler. The one-day race – set for Sept. 10 on the scenic, winding route between Vancouver and Whistler– debuted just last year but has already become a hit, with 7,000 people signed up to ride and thousands more expected to take in post-race revelry in Whistler. The event’s popularity has come as a relief to founders and supporters, including government agencies that oversee road closings for the race. The rising number of cyclists on the highway also speak to behind-the-scenes strategies in Whistler, where politicians, community leaders and volunteers are involved in a long-term effort to make the community as well-known for festivals and cultural events – sports-oriented or not – as for powder and gondolas. …”

 

Georgina art gallery wants move: Eyes up former Sutton school

Heidi Riedner, YorkRegion.com, 1 September 2011

 

ONTARIO – “The Georgina Arts Centre and Gallery is at the head of the class when it comes to vying for available space at the former Sutton Public School site.

Now that the town officially owns the building and property on Dalton Road in Sutton at a cost of $888,706.50, the GACG was the first to present a proposal for its future use.

Armed with a vision of creating a community hub, both the centre’s new board chairperson, Brian Busby and executive director Heather Fullerton, offered plans to council Monday for the site as the new home for the arts centre and gallery. …”

 

Conseil des Arts de Montréal: Montréal souhaite mieux célébrer ses créateurs

Jean-François Cyr, Canoë.ca, 1 September 2011

 

MONTRÉAL – “Pour mieux faire rayonner le talent des créateurs et célébrer leur excellence, le Conseil des arts de Montréal, en collaboration avec la Ville et plusieurs autres partenaires, a annoncé jeudi la création des Prix de Montréal pour les arts et la culture.

Neuf bourses et un Prix hommage seront ainsi remis lors d'un événement annuel qui aura lieu pour la première fois le 1er novembre prochain. …”

 

Europe Braces for a Shift in the Arts

By Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times, 25 August 2011

 

“LONDON burns as disenfranchised youth loot and smash windows. Outside the Greek Parliament, the police, brandishing shields, confront screaming protesters. Tens of thousands camped in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square demonstrate against the soaring unemployment rate. These are some of the images emblazoned across newspapers and televisions over the last weeks, painting this European summer as a season of outrage and mayhem, an ominous portent of sweeping economic and social change. But life, and art, went on. At the 10,000-seat Epidaurus Ancient Theater, performances of the Bridge Project’s “Richard III,” starring Kevin Spacey, sold out. The Athens Festival, which presented the show, saw its tickets sales increase by 24 percent over last year, and the Barcelona Festival too found its audiences unexpectedly larger, while in France the Avignon, Montpellier and Aix-en-Provence Festivals were as large-scale and popular as ever. Perhaps, as a number of festival and theater directors hypothesized in recent conversations, people turn to art in difficult times. But, as they also soberly acknowledged, there is no doubt that the current crises that beset Europe are going to have a major effect on the arts. State support for culture — long posited as a taxpayer’s right, like decent roads or health care — is showing distinct signs of erosion, with a move toward the American fund-raising model, which suggests that art is a luxury to be paid for by those to whom it matters. …”

 

Institutional Models for Culture

SICSUR, as reported by IFACCA, 22 August 2011

 

ARGENTINA – “SICSUR [Sistema del Información Cultural del Mercosur] distributed in 2010 a survey on institutional models for culture in its ten member countries. It asked about the type or national body in charge of cultural policy, its hierarchical rank within its governmental structure and its main cultural policy objectives. In November 2010 a preliminary analysis of this survey was carried out and the final results will be published in November 2011. The preliminary analysis points out that five countries have a Ministry of Culture (Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru), two have a National Secretariat (Argentina and Paraguay), there is one National Direction (Uruguay) and one Council (Chile) it being the only one in which the regions and the sectors are represented. …”

 

New major arts festival planned with the focus on arts, creativity and ageing

Creative Scotland, 18 August 2011

 

SCOTLAND – “Next year, Scotland's world famous festivals will be joined by another major event, an inspiring and ambitious annual festival of the arts for, by, with and about older people organised by Creative Scotland and Age Scotland, in partnership with The Baring Foundation. The new festival, based loosely on the Welsh Gwanwyn and Irish Bealtaine festivals, will be launched specifically to engage older members of society.  It forms part of Creative Scotland’s drive to encourage those who have not engaged with the arts to connect more with cultural events and activities. The 2008 "Taking Part" study on attendance and participation in the arts found that older people are less likely than many other groups to be involved in the arts. …”


Economies and Tourism

 

Tourisme : une bonne saison, malgré la météo

Le Figaro, 2 September 2011

 

FRANCE – “D'après la DGCIS, le nombre de nuitées a progressé de 3,1% cet été par rapport à l'année dernière. Mais toutes les régions françaises n'en bénéficient pas.

La saison touristique n'a pas été aussi morose que la météo du mois de juillet l'avait fait craindre. Elle serait même finalement plutôt bonne, d'après le bilan dressé cette semaine par la direction générale de la compétitivité, de l'industrie et des services (DGCIS). Selon des chiffres encore provisoires, le nombre de nuitées a progressé de 3,1% cet été par rapport à l'année dernière, le mois d'août ayant finalement été plus porteur que juillet. […]

Hausse du tourisme culturel

[…] globalement, l'effet du mauvais temps a été compensé par l'attrait croissant des touristes pour les offers culturelles, dont les grandes villes tirent pleinement bénéfice. …”

 

Gatineau tourism group receives $100K for feasibility study

Ottawa Business Journal, 1 September 2011

 

OTTAWA – “A tourism group called Destination Gatineau has received $100,000 in repayable federal funding for a feasibility study aimed at “a distinctive tourism offering” along the Ottawa River.

The group is looking to develop the area between the Chaudières Falls and the Gatineau River, a spot that already has the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the former E.B. Eddy plant and Jacques-Cartier Park. …”

 

Argentina’s Turnaround Tango

By Ian Mount, The New York Times, 1 September 2011

 

BUENOS AIRES – “ARGENTINA may seem like one of the last countries on earth to offer lessons for dealing with economic malaise. Once the eighth-largest economy in the world, it steadily slid through the 20th century, thanks to decades of repressive dictatorships and inconsistent market experiments. This ended ignominiously in 2001, when it defaulted on $100 billion in sovereign debt, plunging over half its 35 million people into poverty.

That, at least, is the Argentina people know. Since then, it has performed an economic U-turn — an achievement largely unnoticed outside Latin America, but one that President Obama and Congress should look to for inspiration.

Argentina is not without problems, but its recent economic record speaks for itself: the economy has grown by over 6 percent a year for seven of the last eight years, unemployment has been cut to under 8 percent today from over 20 percent in 2002, and the poverty level has fallen by almost half over the last decade. The streets of Buenos Aires are choked with cars as Argentines are on track to buy some 800,000 new vehicles this year; the wine mecca of Mendoza is full of high-end tasting rooms, hotels and restaurants offering regional haute cuisine; and plasma TVs and BlackBerrys have become household staples among the urban middle class. …”