Lego Loses Its Trademark - Does It Matter? An EU court has upheld a decision to strip the interlocking plastic bricks of trademark status - because how can you trademark a simple brick? "But, does it matter to you and me? Perhaps not. No one will force you to buy [competitor] MEGA Brands' brick-locking equivalent and Lego is such a big name that it seems unlikely sales will be particularly affected… Children - like adults - often develop loyalties to toy brands."

The Guardian (UK) 11/14/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@09:37PM

In Milwaukee, The Giving Climate Is Chilly Following Milwaukee Shakespeare's swift and unexpected closure last month, area nonprofits are understandably watchful. "There is one firm lesson, several people knowledgeable about the giving scene said: Organizations should do all they can to broaden the base of their support so they're not as vulnerable to the distresses of one or a handful of donors. A second one that applies across the board: Now is a time to be wary."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@06:57AM

Smithsonian Regents Meet The Public "At its first-ever public meeting, the regents of the Smithsonian Institution sat around a red-covered table and announced they wanted 'a lively dialogue.' The audience did not hold back. The first volley from the public, gathered in an auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History, was essentially this: Why didn't all of you resign, since you are the people who picked the last secretary?"

Washington Post 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@06:08AM

Prop. 8 Opponents Target Sundance "With activists against Proposition 8 -- California's ban on same-sex marriage -- turning to threats of boycotts, attention is focusing on a surprising target: The Sundance Film Festival. The festival has been fielding calls and emails from activists calling for Sundance to pull its films from a Park City fourplex operated by Cinemark Theaters.... Other activists have called on a boycott of Sundance altogether, merely because of its ties to Utah, where the Mormon Church is headquartered."

Variety 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@04:43AM

Houston TV Station Questions City's Arts Funding Process It's a piggy bank full of your money being spent on art. But is the bureaucracy of art in Houston now costing more than a Picasso?

KTRK-TV 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@06:11AM

LA Gets Its First Arts High School "Unlike New York City, whose original Fiorello H. LaGuardia high school for the arts dates back to 1936, Los Angeles has never had such a school even though it's home to the Hollywood film, television and music industries. Students at High School No. 9 will specialize in dance, music, theater or visual arts, with separate buildings for each discipline.

Bloomberg 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@05:14AM

Measuring The Arts' Rate Of Return "Houston is an economic powerhouse in energy, technology, international trade and medical research... But Houston is also an economic powerhouse in the arts. When you compare this to the city of Houston's $10 million public investment in the arts and the state's symbolic $3.9 million investment, the citizens of Houston are getting a fifty-four percent rate of return on their tax investment."

Houston Chronicle 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@10:36AM

St. Louis Arts Feeling The Pinch "Theaters, museums and cultural centers across [St. Louis] have cut budgets, jobs and programs in response to the economic downturn. Box office numbers are off only slightly -- for now. But ticket sales only cover part of nonprofit groups' costs... The downturn has had an immediate impact on arts programming, capital improvements and fundraising."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@10:29AM

Smithsonian Regents Abandon Closed Door Policy "For the first time in its 162 years, the Smithsonian Board of Regents is going public... The move is part of an exhaustive revision made by the regents to work for more transparency and open themselves up to a broader accountability."

Washington Post 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@10:07AM

Seven Words You Can't Say Anywhere, Apparently "George Carlin's 'Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television' was so far ahead of its time -- or maybe just so plain profane -- in 1972 that you still can't utter the Big Seven on prime-time broadcast television... And as it happens, you can't necessarily hear them at the Kennedy Center, either," where the routine was mercilessly bleeped during a ceremony honoring the late comic. Some in attendance found it ironic - others were merely annoyed.

Washington Post 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@09:31AM

Music Is Back In Baghdad "After years on the run from Shiite and Sunni militias and morality police, Iraqi musicians are slowly returning to the streets of Baghdad, looking to fill the silence left by the fading civil war... Under the strict interpretation of Islamic law imposed by Al-Qaeda on the areas it controlled, musicians were considered a threat to morality, along with alcohol vendors, barbers and women who did not cover their hair."

Agence France Presse (Google) 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@09:21AM

Suddenly-Cash-Rich Minnesota Arts Think About Spending Last week state voters passed a measure that will pump millions into the arts. "The amendment could raise about $54 million for arts funding each year, which is 19.75 percent of the $270-odd million expected from the sales tax increase." So, how to spend it?

The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 11/14/08

email this story | Posted 11/14/08@07:04AM

Activists Angry About California's Prop 8 Passage Boycott Movie Theatre Chain "There has been talk of a boycott of the Cinemark movie chain, whose CEO gave money to "Yes on 8." This could have a major effect on the Sundance Film Festival, which uses the chain's theaters to show movies."

Los Angeles Times 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/14/08@06:54AM

Is Newfangled 'Philanthrocapitalism' Really Different From Good Old-Fashioned Philanthropy? "Venture philanthropy" ("non-profit in nature, entrepreneurial in spirit" à la Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) - is it really revolutionary? One veteran argues that most such organizations have always been "extremely results-oriented… and the use of business principles has been in the foundation world for a long time." Another contends that "some private sector principles… simply do not translate. Long-term 'social transformation,' for example, is neither easy to measure nor always cost-effective in profit-maximizing terms." And what happens as the value of endowments plummets?

Slate 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@09:41PM

Some Foundation Officials Keep Their Eyes Off Asset Levels For now, that is. "Why officials are willing to avoid obsessive worrying can be attributed to the way formal grantmaking is calculated. Though assets and endowments determine the level of giving, endowment size is generally determined by taking a multiyear average. Such averaging - which is based on an endowment's market value on a specific date, such as the end of the third or fourth fiscal quarter - tends to 'smooth out' market highs and lows...."

Philadelphia Inquirer 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@05:26AM

S.F. May Limit Exec Salaries At City-Funded Nonprofits "As compensation for executives of large corporations has come under scrutiny nationwide, San Francisco lawmakers are considering a proposal to limit the salaries of executives at nonprofit organizations that receive city funds. The proposal by Supervisor Jake McGoldrick seeks to limit salaries and benefits for executives to six times the total compensation of their lowest-paid full-time employee."

San Francisco Chronicle 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@04:59AM

The Death Of Newspapers: It's Not Journalists' Fault "When the obituaries are written for America's newspapers, count on journalists to indict themselves in their own demise… We could have saved ourselves, goes the refrain, if only we had been more creative and aggressive and less risk averse. To which I can only reply: Oh, please… Newspapers are in trouble for reasons that have almost nothing to do with newspaper journalism, and everything to do with the newspaper business."

American Journalism Review October/November 2008

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@08:55PM

But Dan Savage Has An Idea To Save Them "I mean, daily newspapers all need to put 'f***' in a headline above the fold one day - it'll solve all their problems. That's my prescription. And then in one fell swoop they'll get rid of all those 80-year-old subscribers who won't let them drop 'Blondie.' Catering to the 80-year-olds? Where's that getting newspapers? Making sure there's nothing in your paper that's inappropriate for an eighty-year-old to read?"

MediaBistro 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@08:54PM

Newspaper Music Coverage: Dismal, But Not New "Music critics write basically for three important audiences: First, the people who attend concerts. Second, a larger group of intensely interested people who read reviews of concerts they aren't going to hear. And third, the critic's bosses. Ignore the third audience at your peril."

MinnPost (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@07:10AM

How The Economic Crisis Is Changing Housing Design Prosperous baby-boomers snapped up huge McMansions because they saw a house as an investment vehicle. But now the mortgage crash, rising commodity prices and high energy costs are causing a revival of smaller houses and such low-tech energy-saving features as porches, awnings and vine-covered walls.

Bloomberg 11/11/08

email this story | Posted 11/11/08@09:53PM

Looking Gingerly At Turkey's Secular Saint Bitter controversy has broken out over a documentary about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who created modern Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. The filmmaker says: "I wanted to present Mustafa Kemal in a more intimate, affectionate light. All those statues, busts and flags have created a chief devoid of human qualities." One critic thunders: "Atatürk raised up a people about to be excised from world history, and here he is presented as a drunken debaucher. Would you accept such a portrait of Churchill?"

The Independent (UK) 11/07/08

email this story | Posted 11/11/08@09:25PM

A Philanthropy Plays Matchmaker For Artists And Donors "United States Artists' Fellowships have been compared with the MacArthur Foundation's 'genius' awards, which this year gave 25 artists $500,000 each, and the Guggenheim Fellowships, which this year gave out 190 grants in the United States and Canada, with an average award of $43,200. But what sets these fellowships apart from these larger, more established award programs is the way the group plays matchmaker between donors and artists."

The New York Times 11/11/08

email this story | Posted 11/11/08@05:21AM

Cleveland Arts Groups Prepare For Downturn It hasn't been felt yet. Ticket sales are good, and funding has been steady, but rocky times are likely...

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 11/09/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@08:25PM

City Of Ottawa Proposes Axing All Festival Funding City staff recommended $4.1 million in cuts to the city's arts and culture programs when they released the 2009 draft budget last week.

CBC 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@08:07PM

Minnesota Arts Celebrate New Funding, Sports Grumble Sports fans are lamenting that a huge funding plan for the arts passed in last week's election when football's Minnesota Vikings need money for a new stadium. And the arts and pro sports are related how?

MinnPost 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@07:56PM

Boston's Ace Arts Fundraiser Boston's Museum of Fine Art's success in fundraising "serves as an intriguing case study of how to build -- and expand -- a foundation of generosity."

Boston Globe 11/09/08

email this story | Posted 11/09/08@09:22PM

Higher Taxes For Wealthy Under Obama Could Spur Giving "Charity leaders can expect President-elect Barack Obama and Congress to push for changes in the federal tax structure that could spur giving and add new regulations for charities and donors, tax experts say. With Mr. Obama and Congress facing a recession and grappling with establishing a new strategy for the war in Iraq, those changes aren't likely to come quickly. Nonetheless, they could be significant."

Chronicle of Philanthropy 11/05/08

email this story | Posted 11/07/08@06:27AM

As Financial Terrain Shifts, California Arts Orgs Scramble Eli Broad, whose foundation is down 18 percent in value, put it bluntly: "'It can't be business as usual for the next several years.' Arts organizations throughout Southern California are scrambling in the face of declining ticket sales and donor contributions. This week brought news of layoffs and concert cancellations by the Pasadena Symphony and of the possible collapse of Opera Pacific, Orange County's only professional opera company."

Los Angeles Times 11/07/08

email this story | Posted 11/07/08@05:46AM

The World's Poshest Squat A group of artists and anarchists called the Da! collective have started squatting in an unoccupied six-story townhouse in London's exclusive Mayfair district. What's more, the new inhabitants can't be evicted without a complaint by the building's owners - and they don't appear to have noticed.

The Guardian (UK) 11/07/08

email this story | Posted 11/06/08@09:55PM

The Limits Of Slander "A court in Poland ruled on Monday that it was not slanderous to refer to President Lech Kaczynski as a duck."

Der Spiegel 11/04/08

email this story | Posted 11/05/08@09:35PM

Our Favorite Election Counterfactual (So Far) "Imagine, if you will, that by some fluke, Libertarian candidate Bob Barr ended up president of the United States. What would the next four years look like? Dare we consider such an unlikely possibility? Oh, we dare all right!" An example: "The Revolutionary War-era 'Don't Tread On Me' flag is reinstated as the official banner of the United States. Barr beams with pride as millions, ignoring the flag's command, unfurl and stomp on it."

National Post (Canada) 11/04/08

email this story | Posted 11/05/08@09:30PM

Leftist Professors Indoctrinating Students? It's A Myth "An article of faith among conservative critics of American universities has been that liberal professors politically indoctrinate their students… But a handful of new studies have found such worries to be overwrought. Three sets of researchers recently concluded that professors have virtually no impact on the political views and ideology of their students."

New York Times 11/03/08

email this story | Posted 11/05/08@09:12PM

Minnesota Arts/Outdoors Tax Passes "Minnesota voters approved an increase in the state sales tax for the next 25 years to fund clean water, the outdoors and the arts. The amendment to the state constitution increases the state sales tax by three-eighths of a percent beginning next July and will raise about $275 million a year." The arts will be in line for around $54m of that pot each year.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 11/05/08

email this story | Posted 11/05/08@05:15AM

Does Political Humor Change The Political Climate? "Much of today's political humor requires a smart and savvy audience that keeps up with current events -- if only in order to mock it. ... But has any of this smart political humor had an impact on the candidates, the election or our politics? It may be safe to argue that comedy changes the national mood, but can it change the national political climate in more fundamental ways?"

Salon 11/04/08

email this story | Posted 11/04/08@03:50AM

Whether Obama Or McCain, What Will It Mean For The Arts? "Liberals may or may not see their dreams come true tomorrow, but whether Obama or McCain is elected the 44th President of the United States, we might wonder what will unfold in the arts in the coming years. Won't many writers and artists lose their muse - along with their enemy - when Bush disappears?"

The Times (London) 11/03/08

email this story | Posted 11/03/08@06:52PM

Arts Bigwigs Helped Obama Craft Culture Plank "Senator Barack Obama ... is the first White House contender to include a far-reaching arts plank in his platform. The proposals range from increased support for arts education and the National Endowment for the Arts, to changing the federal tax code for artists." Margo Lion, Michael Chabon, Hal Prince, Eugenia and Pinchas Zukerman, and Agnes Gund were among those who pitched in on the plank.

Bloomberg 10/31/08

email this story | Posted 11/03/08@05:38PM

L.A. To Present 10-Week Arts Fest Around Ring "In what could be the region's most ambitious, broadest-based artistic endeavor since the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival," more than 50 SoCal institutions (including the Getty Museum, LACMA, the L.A. Phil and Mark Taper Forum) are joining to stage a 10-week festival around L.A. Opera's 2010 production of Wagner's complete Ring cycle.

Los Angeles Times 11/03/08

email this story | Posted 11/03/08@05:11AM

Arts Groups Dig In To Weather Hard Economy "Much as I would like to believe that supporting the arts is intrinsic to all of us, we have to acknowledge that for many people those dollars are better spent elsewhere. And because arts groups typically budget exceedingly close to the bone, events like the current financial crisis can have devastating effects."

Louisville Courier-Journal 11/02/08

email this story | Posted 11/03/08@01:07AM

Studies: Professors' Politics Don't Influence Students Three sets of researchers recently concluded that professors have virtually no impact on the political views and ideology of their students.

The New York Times 11/03/08

email this story | Posted 11/03/08@12:57AM

Aussie Minister Kills Music Academy Over "Efficiency" "On October 22, federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett told the Australian National Academy of Music by fax that it would not receive its Government funding of $2.64 million for 2009, effectively truncating its activities from the end of this year... The minister's reasoning -- 'ANAM no longer represents the most efficient way of delivering support for elite classical music training' -- used deadening language to sound the death knell for this unique institution."

The Age (Melbourne) 11/03/08

email this story | Posted 11/02/08@09:01AM