Thursday, March 25, 2010

“Arts figures launch cultural manifesto to uphold spending - Daily Telegraph” plus 3 more

“Arts figures launch cultural manifesto to uphold spending - Daily Telegraph” plus 3 more

Arts figures launch cultural manifesto to uphold spending - Daily Telegraph

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 11:14 AM PDT

Published: 10:54AM GMT 25 Mar 2010

The document, entitled: Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future, claims it is essential that the UK's cultural institutions continue to benefit from public investment, particularly at a time when the eyes of the world prepare to focus on the London 2012 Olympics.

Cutting state funding would make poor economic sense and risk denting Britain's ''social and economic recovery'' from recession, the manifesto warns.

Among the other well-known faces attending the event at the British Museum were musicians Brian Eno and Julian Lloyd Webber, plus dancers from the English National Ballet and Sadler's Wells.

Campaign placards declaring ''You can bank on culture'', designed by UK artists including Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Tracey Emin, were waved as the group posed for photographers on the steps inside the British Museum's exhibition space.

Mr Perry said: ''I do believe there is time for a debate when politicians start releasing not just the economic benefits of culture... but that cultural institutions can lead the debate. There are other ways of measuring the success of a country.

''Post-recession, perhaps now is the time to start putting values and specifics on non-economic ways of valuing what is a good society. For too long we've all been in thrall to 'the more pairs of shoes I have the happier I am', and perhaps we should be looking at more intangible values such as education and cultural fulfilment as opposed to just being able to have a second car.''

In its introduction, the argument is made that arts spending can revive the British economy.

The document says: ''As the economy begins to move again, the cultural sector is ready to contribute to the up-turn. We are ready to give our ideas and energy to help with the restructuring that will be needed as the country renews itself.

''The arts and heritage are on hand to help those who lost out in the recession: with jobs, training, skills, experience, hope. Our creative confidence offers a basis for renewal.''

The manifesto argues that a 15-year period of investment has created a public appetite for culture, adding: ''This manifesto is about the future. It is about building on more than a decade of success that has made the cultural assets represented by our museums, galleries, historic places, libraries and archives, orchestras, theatres, dancers, artists and writers, productive as never before.''

Ms Chadha said: "Film is a massive part of the British economy. It is absolutely critical for the well-being of the film industry that Government, in all its shapes and sizes, acknowledges the massive contribution, not only to culture here but globally."

The rationale behind the manifesto was explained to attendees and waiting media by a five-strong panel of representatives from Britain's largest arts institutions, comprising Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, and Alan Davey, chief executive of Arts Council England.

Mr MacGregor said: "Culture gives us our place in the world, it reminds us of what we are, it makes us aware of what we could be."

He added: "All Governments in the future are going to be thinking of course about making economies... we want to remind them that culture works. This is the bit of public life that is extraordinarily efficient and extraordinarily effective."

Mr Hytner said: "After 15 years of sustained public and lottery investment we are in a really good place. Public investment has meant new places for vastly increased numbers of people to come and see new work and new talent."

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Audit Forces Two Louisville City Workers Out - WBKO

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 05:07 PM PDT

The Courier-Journal reported in Tuesday's edition, both Melissa Mershon and Carol Butler stepped down last week.

Mershon had been the director of the Neighborhoods Department, while Butler was a special assistant to Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, and Mershon's special assistant for international and cultural affairs.

The resignations were triggered by an audit of Louisville's 2009 finances, that showed Mershon allegedly approved three payments for a book on the city's neighborhoods, to a company owned by Butler's family, without going through the proper bidding process.

The audit also raises questions about more than $350,000 in other payments by the department.

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Makah Indian leader remembered for helping create cultural center - Tacoma News Tribune

Posted: 22 Mar 2010 07:21 AM PDT

Nearly 1,000 people in Neah Bay mourned the death of Edward Eugene Claplanhoo, a leader of the Makah Indian Nation who left his mark on the tribe.

Claplanhoo died of a heart attack March 14 at the age of 81. Under his leadership, he helped create the Makah Cultural and Research Center in Neah Bay after the Ozette village was uncovered during a dig.

"His legacy of public service will outlast all of us here in the gym today," said Ann Renker, principal of the Neah Bay school, who delivered Claplanhoo's eulogy on Saturday

Claplanhoo was the tribal chairman when the Ozette village, buried in a mudslide in the 1700s, was uncovered. Lobbying lawmakers and researchers, Claplanhoo managed to maintain tribal artifacts in Neah Bay with the opening of the cultural center.

"I think that's his great legacy — the convergence of these important archaeological finds with a college-educated, just inherently interested person who could provide leadership," said Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty, a long-time friend of Claplanhoo.

Claplanhoo was the Makah's first college graduate, earning a degree in forestry in 1956 from Washington State College — now Washington State University. Claplanhoo also served in the Army.

"He was ever humble, ever self-effacing and always more committed to civic and community service than he was to personal glory," Renker said.

The Associated Press

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Bias still a hurdle for women in the sciences, report ... - Bend Bulletin

Posted: 22 Mar 2010 03:54 AM PDT

By New York Times News Service
Published: March 22. 2010 4:00AM PST

A report on the underrepresentation of women in science and math by the American Association of University Women, to be released today, found that although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success.

The report, "Why So Few?" supported by the National Science Foundation, examined decades of research to gather recommendations for drawing more women into science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM fields.

"We scanned the literature for research with immediate applicability," said Catherine Hill, the university women's research director and lead author of the report. "We found a lot of small things can make a difference, like ... teaching children that math ability is not fixed, but grows with effort."

The report treads lightly on the hot-button question of whether innate differences between the sexes account for the paucity of women at the highest levels of science and math.

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