In recent years, the Rockefeller Foundations Creativity & Culture program has fostered exploration of the emerging relationship between art and new digital media.

THEORIZING CULTURAL HERITAGE
2004-2007

Source:
James Early or Carla Borden
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Smithsonian Institution
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Smithsonian Institution

Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellows at the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage will help expand and refine a theoretical framework for cultural heritage discourse that reflects the perspectives, activities, and participation of academic specialists, civil society groups, and public cultural organizations and that can inform dialogues across social, political, and disciplinary boundaries.

Cultural heritage is today a rubric of ever-expanding scope in the international arena, and increasingly so in the United States. Its meaning largely determined by experts, cultural heritage is used as a basis for multinational, national, state, and local programs. Cultural heritage is also the focus of ideas and programs generated by hundreds of non-governmental organizations, ethnic, regional, and community-based groups...

Excerpts from Community Cultural Planning Handbook: A guide for community leaders

Research Reports of the Arts Council of Finland No 26, Merja Heikkinen; (The Arts Council of Finland in co-operation with the Nordic Cultural Institute 2003) Available from the Arts Council of Finland. Email: tkt-kirjasto@minedu.fi

Is there a Nordic model for supporting artists, and if there is, how does it work? The book presents the results of a study comparing public policy toward artists in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Direct financial support for individual artists is one of the characteristic features of the Nordic arts policy. The report examines the historical development of state support for artists, the objectives, decision-making, and policy measures adopted, the volume and distribution of support, and research findings on the situation of artists in the Nordic countries.

CULTIVATING CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
Chamber Music Americas 2003 Education and Residency Institute
17-19 October
Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL

A FORUM FOR EXCHANGING OUTREACH IDEAS, EXPERIENCES, AND TECHNIQUES FOR CHAMBER MUSIC AND JAZZ ENSEMBLES, PRESENTERS, AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS

As competition increases, organizations trying to expand their market share in the branch they operate, have started showing a growing interest to the concept of quality for the products and services they produce. In Turkey, it is possible to consider firms in the photography sector as organizations and examine them according to the way they approach quality....

Author Stephen Belth opens his essay by reminding readers that the growth of the arts in the Unites States since the 1960s has been, in his words, staggering. As this decade ends, the numbers of symphony orchestra concertgoers are numbered in the tens of millions. He then posits that organizational stability for orchestras requires steady audience growth, and proceeds to explore ways in which to accomplish that growth.

The Financing and Managing of Culture in the US and in France: New Synergies and Interdependencies Between Private and Public Sources of Support;
March 6-7, 2003, Paris

This symposium was organised by the French-American Foundation and the Centre Français des Fondations and hosted at the French Ministry of Finance in Paris. It attracted over 400 participants and panellists. On the American side, foundations and the corporate world were represented, as well as scholars and researchers, and arts managers. French speakers included an overwhelming number of senior civil servants, museum directors (the French performing arts appeared slightly under-represented), experts on tax and non-profit law, and political scientists. The importance of the topic to the French political agenda was marked by the delivery of the opening and closing remarks by a representative of the Ministry of Culture and by the Minister of the Budget Alain Lambert.

Carnegie Mellon's Master of Arts Management (MAM) program has signed an agreement with three educational institutions in Italy to help restore, utilize and manage historical cultural sites in Italy's Piedmont region.

The MAM program, an interdisciplinary joint program of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and the College of Fine Arts, will work with the University of Bologna's Department of Economics and Management, The Polytechnic Institute of Turin's 2nd Faculty of Architecture and the Fitzcarraldo Foundation in Turin.

Authors are sometimes lax in their business affairs. Indeed, an astute observer once commented that authors and agents do lunch not contracts. However, to avoid disputes concerning rights of authorship and ownership, whenever two or more people collaborate to write or develop a creative project, it's wise to have a written collaboration agreement (or appropriate work for hire agreement) that defines each party's rights and obligations. Absent a written agreement, ownership of the authors' creative efforts will be governed by copyright law and the courts not necessarily according to the parties' intention.

The advancement of the Digital World has indeed had an incredible impact upon the music industry, with dramatical effects. Some changes that are taking place include the removal of the geographic boundaries that have traditionally existed with the current copyright system, and the redistribution of income within the industry. It can be seen that attempting to maintain excludibilty using copyrights on music is no longer feasible. Artists and authors should therefore attempt to reap the rewards of their creative intellectual property by evolving and taking advantage of what the internet can offer rather than treating it as an infliction upon the industry structure as it was. The need for intermediaries will not vanish but their importance will lessen. It seems at present that the Steven King strategy will become more popular amongst artists, but the main transformation will occur when the Big Five join forces so that all labels will be available from the same source. Battles against piracy will continue to be problematic particuarly while the cost of music is dear. It is hoped that in the future it will be possible that consumers will pay lower prices for both physical and digital products and as a result be rewarded with a broader variety of music.

Arts and culture reflect open society values and influence public attitudes, yet they seldom receive adequate recognition and resources from either governments or society. To counteract the lack of support, the Arts and Culture Program promotes cultural and artistic collaboration throughout the Soros foundations network; fosters structural changes in cultural policy; and helps develop an autonomous and innovative arts sector. The program's primary goal is to stimulate cultural activities while respecting and celebrating differences among countries.

When a city as young as Miami lacks deep-pocketed philanthropists, private foundations and a broad and generous corporate base, the community turns to government to fund the arts.

But state legislators and local officials -- who oversee the majority of public funding for the arts -- oppose raising taxes to fund the arts, particularly when a down economy creates shortages for education, health care and public safety.

New York, NY, June 9, 2003The Foundation Center and Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) announce the release of Arts Funding.

Preoccupation with board performance has grown over the last ten years and at an accelerating pace more recently, following revelations of both incompetence and misconduct in leading corporations and a number of non-profits, from Enron to War on Want. For cultural organisations, incompetent direction and leadership has been the main culprit rather than avarice. Faltering artistic vision, critical opprobrium, declining audiences, rash over-expansion or financial deficits do not happen over-night but are usually translated into the less judgemental language of external threats or operating challenges such as funding cuts, revenue declines and marketing failures.
Organisations rarely take a step back and look critically at the most senior leadership team the board and its chief executive and the value they can add or the potential they have for crippling the organisation.
For the most part, the responsibilities of these two positions can be formally separated and clearly differentiated. The board and the chief executive should be a team with complementary skills, committed to a common purpose and approach for which they hold themselves accountable.

A research published by British Arts Festivals Association confirms the measurable contribution made by arts festivals to the cultural and economic wealth of the nation.

American art museums face challenges of a magnitude unsurpassed in recent history. They are overwhelmed by a confluence of contemporary internal and external events. Some are dramatically referring to the situation as the Perfect Storm. While this may be overstating the situation (and one hopes, not indicating a similar ending), it is a serious situation.

Unlike a recently published McKinsey study, I will not recommend the obvious, that nonprofit executives concentrate on high-level donors or use the Internet for fundraising. Nor will I insult museum managers by suggesting that they may solve their organizations problems by being more efficient or working smarter. I believe the solutions are not simple and tactical, but rather require broader strategic actions.

This paper covers four areas:
- The current situation in American art museums;
- Some of the consequences, actual and inherent, that are the results of this situation;
- A series of recommendations on how to insure that museums emerge healthier and stronger;
- And finally, with the readers indulgence, my views about the long-term situation museums are likely to face, even after they have weathered this crisis.

THE Scottish public is to be asked for its views on arts and culture in a series of forums.

The consultation by the Scottish Arts Council could also see people being asked to leave their opinions in video diary booths.

Graham Berry, the director of the SAC, which distributes around £60m in funding a year, is to launch the forums as another stage in his reorganisation of the quango, which is on the verge of a major review of its form and function by the executive and Frank McAveety, the new arts minister.

Mr Berry said the forums would inform the SAC what the general public wants from the arts, what its interests and concerns are - as well as letting the public know the SAC is interested in its views....

TORONTO - The Ernie Eves government is investing an additional $15 million to the Ontario Arts Council 's base funding to revitalize the province's arts and cultural sector through new business growth and training, Culture Minister David H. Tsubouchi announced on July 3rd.
The base funding increase for 2003/04 is $7.5 million, with another $7.5 million increase to base funding in 2004/05.
"The Eves government is committed to strengthening the arts community with new jobs, especially in culturally diverse communities where the province is experiencing significant population increases," said Tsubouchi. "Today's $15 million base funding increase is a substantial investment by the Ernie Eves government which will provide the resources needed to rejuvenate arts and culture in Ontario."

When one is in the middle of the SARS emergency it is easy to focus almost exclusively on its local impact. Toronto's arts and entertainment community has been seriously affected by performers unwilling to come to the city, cancelled performances and reduced attendance at performances that have been held.

However, as Eva Johansson relates in the May issue of International Arts Manager, the arts communities in Asia have been hit even more seriously. In Taiwan, a ten-day contemporary music festival was cancelled after its organizers learned that one group scheduled to perform had travelled on the same plane as someone who was infected with SARS. In Beijing, all theatres and public venues were closed in an effort to contain the spread. Prior to that, the Third International Beijing Piano Competition was cancelled and tours by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra were called off. In Hong Kong, many visiting artists and groups decided not to come, forcing the cancellation of many events by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

At concerts that did to on, ushers and audiences alike wore face masks and according to the Hong Kong Sinfonietta's chief executive, at a concert in late March "nobody coughed during a whole movement."

In Japan, performances by Chinese artists have been cancelled and Singapore's Asian Arts Mart has taken many health precautions to encourage attendance. Among the precautions are health declaration forms for delegates, daily temperature checks and certification by a doctor for anyone who appears unwell that the do not have SARS.

It is too soon to determine what the economic impact to arts organizations will be in any of the countries affected. But for arts organizations everywhere that are chronically short of funds, it is certain to be significant.