Sunday, May 9, 2010

“Railways flag off Sanskriti Express, announce Cultural ... - Zee News” plus 3 more

“Railways flag off Sanskriti Express, announce Cultural ... - Zee News” plus 3 more

Railways flag off Sanskriti Express, announce Cultural ... - Zee News

Posted: 09 May 2010 08:40 AM PDT

Kolkata: The Railways Sunday joined the rest of the country in paying tributes to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th birth anniversary by launching 'Sanskriti Express,' a train showcasing his life and works and announcing a Culture Promotion Board.

"We are forming a new Culture Promotion Board in lines with the Sports Promotion Board," Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced before the flagging off of the 'Sanskriti Express'.

Railway Board Chairman S S Khurana will be chairman of the board, while Rabindrasangeet exponent Dwijen Mukhopadhyay will be vice-chairman, she said, adding that the board would comprise about 13 members drawn from the field of culture.

The formation of the board had been proposed in this year's Railway Budget and it would supervise the Railway's year-long programme to commemorate Tagore's sesquicentennial, she said.

A Tagore museum is being constructed by RITES opposite the Howrah station and Rs 25 crore has been sanctioned for this, she said, adding, the Prantik station near Santiniketan would be developed into a model station.

PTI

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History and cultural groups fear N.J. spending cuts - Philadelphia Daily News

Posted: 09 May 2010 06:03 AM PDT

The Battleship New Jersey, a Camden waterfront attraction that has drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors since 2001, is facing a fight it may not win if Gov. Christie's state budget is adopted.

The ship's state aid was reduced during the last few years from $3.4 million annually to $1.7 million. Now its dedicated funding - nearly 40 percent of its budget - has been eliminated from the governor's spending plan.

The museum would have to compete with more than 60 historical societies, museums, and sites for a share of $2.7 million dispensed by the New Jersey Historical Commission, the same amount the organization oversaw this fiscal year. The average grant by the commission was about $62,000.

"I don't know if we'd have to close, but we're in a tough spot," said Jim Schuck, president and chief executive officer of the battleship. "If we have more cuts, I don't know what the ship will look like. It will not be what it is now."

Lost in the debate about teachers' pay and school budgets totaling hundreds of millions of dollars is the effect that Christie's spending plan would have on history, arts, and cultural organizations that already have slashed staffs, programs, and hours because of earlier aid cuts.

Some are bracing for possible bankruptcy or closure as the Christie administration pushes for reductions to address a nearly $11 billion state deficit.

In Trenton, the Old Barracks Museum, a state-owned Revolutionary War site visited by schoolchildren from every county, may have to shut if the $375,000 from its budget line item - a grant that funds an institution specifically - is not replaced. The money is 45 percent of the museum's budget.

"Basically, we're being asked to roll over and die," said Richard Patterson, executive director of the Old Barracks. "How do you put a price on a state's soul?"

Nonhistorical attractions also have been affected. The state canceled its operations agreement with the Camden City Garden Club, operator of the Camden Children's Garden, and failed to pay more than $416,000 for the period from Nov. 1 through next month.

Christie's budget, which would take effect July 1, would eliminate the nonprofit's annual $625,000 direct state services grant for operations and maintenance. The money is about 40 percent of the garden's budget.

"We can't do the things we used to do," said Mike Devlin, the garden's executive director. "We're crippled."

The proposed budget "honors all legislatively recommended minimal funding levels" for the state Historical Commission ($2.7 million), Council for the Arts ($16 million), Division of Travel and Tourism ($9 million), and Cultural Trust ($500,000), Michael Drewniak, the governor's spokesman, said in a statement last month. Those groups would dole the money, which comes from the state hotel-motel tax, to programs and institutions.

"Eliminating line items is the most effective way to ensure fairness," Drewniak said. "Every arts and historic venue and organization will now have to compete on a level playing field for state funding."

The change, which effectively would cut available money by half, is coming too quickly, said officials in the history, arts, and cultural communities.

"The best-case scenario would be for the governor's plan to be phased in over a multiyear period," said B. Michael Zuckerman, director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities in Cape May and president of Advocates for New Jersey History.

"To eliminate all line items and expect the Historical Commission to support the whole community would be a recipe for disaster," he said. "We hope, in the short run, that the Legislature will reinstate the line items."

Under the Christie budget, five organizations - including the battleship and the Old Barracks - would lose line-item grants totaling $2.8 million and have to apply for the aid distributed by the Historical Commission. Some could be shut out because of the larger field of applicants.

"We can't sit back and let some of our premier historical organizations go down the tubes," Zuckerman said. "We are looking at the gravest threat that we have witnessed in a generation."

One group that depends on the Historical Commission for funding is the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark. It has received annual grants of more than $200,000, but could find itself competing against the battleship and Old Barracks.

"It would be lethal for organizations to share the same pot of money," said Linda Caldwell Epps, president and CEO of the society, who has already cut its staff from 30 to fewer than 10. "It's another example of New Jersey not taking pride in its heritage."

"I don't know how we can continue," she said. "We're all feeling devastated. We're bracing ourselves for what we hope will not happen."

Many organizations have scaled back operations to stay within ever-shrinking budgets. The Battleship New Jersey laid off 12 workers in January and now has five full-time salaried employees, plus a handful of hourly people in security and maintenance. The ship had 52 full-time employees in 2006.

"One of the people we laid off was a painter," Schuck said. "If I had the money, I'd have five painters. The winter beat the heck out the ship. We have a lot of rust spots."

The battleship has tried to raise money through camps, tours, and events including live music, fireworks, beer fests, and wine tastings. Battleship Red and Battleship White wines, produced by Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery in Salem County, are available at catered gatherings.

Nearby, the Camden Children's Garden also has felt the pinch. The hours of 30 workers have been trimmed from 40 to 28, and the days of operation were cut from five a week last year to three this year.

The proposed changes came after Christie recognized the group's community garden and youth programs with a Community Hero Award at his inauguration.

"It's disappointing," Devlin said. "This is not a fair cut."

The Old Barracks Museum has reduced its staff from 22 six years ago to 15. Patterson, the executive director who also serves as curator and director of development, temporarily furloughed himself.

"We've gotten through two world wars and the Great Depression," he said. "Now the museum could disappear without people paying attention because of the huge crisis this administration is facing.

If the budget proposal stands, "we go bankrupt," Patterson said. Instead of $375,000, "take away $100,000, and we'll figure out a way to not completely die."

In Moorestown, the Perkins Center for the Arts has been economizing, too. It has left two full-time positions unfilled and is getting by with a staff of 11 plus four part-timers. "We've tightened up everything," executive director Alan Willoughby said.

At the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities, four jobs have been eliminated in a year and a half, and wages were cut 10 percent.

"This has been a very tough year for our organization," Zuckerman said. "We're hoping for an upturn, but we're having to be cautious as we project the revenue coming in."

Schuck remains hopeful as he works at the Battleship New Jersey that the state will reverse itself. The site had received $1.7 million, but according to state figures, he said, it returns $9.2 million to the economy.

"I really think it's an oversight," he said. "They're looking to cut and don't understand the consequences."

Contact staff writer Edward Colimore at 856-779-3833 or ecolimore@phillynews.com.

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Multi-Cultural Center strives for direction - Argus Leader

Posted: 08 May 2010 11:51 PM PDT

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In November 1996, nine people - including Aware and Bliss - incorporated the Multi-Cultural Center of Sioux Falls.

About six months later, on April 19, 1997, the Multi-Cultural Center opened downtown.

In the next few years, driver training and English education remained key needs, but there were many others, including job searches, housing and starting a business.

Aware counseled immigrants and refugees and tried to provide whatever help they needed, said Dr. Jerry Walton, who was president of the Multi-Cultural Center's board for nine years and still is a member.

"He is their go-to guy," Walton said.

Board has operated 'in a crisis mode'

Since February, when the latest consultants' report on the Multi-Cultural Center was completed, the board has operated "in a crisis mode," County Commissioner Carol Twedt said in a recent interview. She is the commission's representative on the board.

This board has been unique, Twedt said, in its relationship with Aware.

"In any other nonprofit that I've ever served on, the board is at the top, and the executive director was under that," she said. "This organization seemed to operate the opposite way."

Aware, who held a news conference a week ago firing back at his critics, declined to be interviewed for this story.

As the center moves forward, several specific suggestions have been made.

County Commissioner Anne Hajek wants to see the board develop an ethics policy that would prevent employees from doing business with its clients. Aware has acknowledged selling cars to people who use the center, but said he never made a profit from that activity.

"Any time you're dealing with public funds, I would think that there should be some sort of minimal ethics policy," County Commissioner John Pekas said.

Some have suggested the board be more transparent, particularly because it gets significant public money.

The center's funding comes from about $185,000 a year from Sioux Falls taxpayers, according to budget documents. The county provides rent-free space in the county-owned Coliseum, which amounts to about $200,000 a year from county taxpayers.

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Drum troops undergo military, cultural training for ... - WatertownDailyTimes.com

Posted: 09 May 2010 02:14 AM PDT

FORT DRUM — Soldiers at the 10th Mountain Division are preparing for fall deployments to Afghanistan by undergoing extensive military and cultural training exercises.

Before they're deployed, Fort Drum Maj. Gen. James L. Terry will attend on May 15 a Key Leader Training mission for a final reconnaissance at NATO's Regional Command South in Afghanistan. Troops will arrive in Afghanistan from September to November.

"We are sure the leaders and soldiers are prepared to be out there," Gen. Terry said during a media roundtable. "We've worked consistently and quite hard at getting wellness and resilience out there."

Counterinsurgent training will begin in July, as will unified endeavor exercises. The division will deploy initially in September, and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team will join it in spring 2011.

Col. Patrick D. Frank, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, will lead his troops on what will be their second deployment. A collective training phase will begin in June. The phase is made up of both individual and group training programs that will conclude in late October.

"We've designed an exercise here at Fort Drum which will take approximately two weeks — all the battalions and companies will go through counterinsurgent and stability training," Col. Frank said. "We'll place soldiers and leaders in an environment here at Fort Drum that replicates what they will see in Afghanistan."

The program will include about 100 Afghan role players speaking a native language, which will prepare the soldiers for what they will encounter once they deploy.

In November, the 3rd Brigade will go to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., where about 3,500 soldiers will take part in a brigade combat training rotation for about 30 days.

The 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, led by Col. Pedro G. Almeida, has the difficult task of returning to combat within one year's time.

"The brigade just returned from Iraq in October," Col. Almeida said. "We expect that we will be deploying sometime this fall to Regional Command East in support of operations in Afghanistan."

The Aviation Brigade is involved with intense training programs to master environmental training and prepare for the severe weather challenges it will face in Afghanistan.

"The terrain in Iraq is extremely different than the terrain in Afghanistan," Col. Almeida said. "RC East has some of the highest mountains in the world. We're talking spurs coming off the Himalayas, tremendously high altitudes, high levels of winds and extreme weather conditions. A much more complex set of flying skills are needed from the aviators."

To simulate the mountainous terrain, the brigade will train at Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks and then head to Fort Carson, Colo., to practice among the peaks of the Rockies.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, led by Col. David Miller, deployed to Iraq in January. It is on schedule to return in late fall, Maj. Gen. Terry said.

The 4th Brigade Combat Team is at Fort Polk on a predeployment site survey. When training is completed, the team will head back to the Wardak Province of Afghanistan.

Gen. Terry said that part of the solution to maintain a higher level of morale at Fort Drum is the Brigade Resiliency Teams. These teams are made up of physician's assistants in a battalion, the brigade surgeon, military life counselors, case managers and chaplains. Its primary focus is to handle anxiety before it reaches a dangerous level for a soldier or his or her family and to make them aware of all the resources that are available at Fort Drum.

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