| November-December 2006
Arts Management | Cultural Preservation |Film & Television | History |Literature | Visual Arts & Architecture |
G1 - The Arts and Civic Engagement: Involved in Arts, Involved in Life
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Web-posted November 2006, online edition, 6p
This research paper explores the link between arts participation and broader civic and community involvement. The report finds that people who participate in the arts, especially readers, also engage in positive civic and individual activities -- such as volunteering, going to sporting events, and outdoor activities -- at significantly higher rates than non-arts participants. One conclusion is clear from the research: "Art is not escapism but an invitation to activism." There is also a cautionary note -- the report reveals that young adults show declines in participation rates for most arts and civic categories. Fulltext
Cultural Preservation
G2 - Four Centuries: How Jamestown Got Us Started
Davidson, Carla
American Heritage, October 2006, v57, #5, pp29-31
In a country where “we’re not used to measuring history in great swaths of time”, the author notes that the 1607 founding of America’s first permanent English colony in Jamestown was already celebrated on its two hundredth anniversary, during Virginia’s Grand National Jubilee in 1807. In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II appeared at the 350th anniversary celebrations; now, Virginia is gearing up for the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of English America in May of next year “in the presence, it is hoped, of the Queen.” Davidson describes the extensive renovations that have been carried out in the Jamestown area, including the discovery of the location of the settlement’s original 1607 fort. Fulltext
Film & Television
G3 - Copyright Duration and the Supply of Creative Work
Png, Ivan; Wang, Qiu-hong
National University of Singapore, September 2006, online edition, 29p
“At various dates between 1991-2002, nineteen OECD countries extended the duration of copyright, typically from the author’s life plus 50 years to author’s life plus 70 years. We study the impact of the extensions on the production of movies. We find that the extensions were associated with an increase in movie production ranging between 8.51% (±4.60%) and 10.4% (±4.89%). The increase was higher in countries where piracy was lower. These findings were robust to various specifications, including concomitant changes in government funding of movie production. The extension of copyright duration applied retrospectively to owners of existing film libraries and might have reduced their cost of capital. However, studios with larger libraries did not increase movie production relatively more than smaller studios. Our results suggest that contrary to received thinking among leading economists and lawyers, extensions of copyright duration far in the future did have economically significant effects on the production of movies.” Fulltext
G4 - 11th Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card
Walsh, David, Ph.D. et. al.
National Institute on Media and the Family, November 28, 2006, online edition,13p
“While we will continue to pressure the industry to improve, this report card focuses less on the flaws of a complex industry and more on what all of us can do about the real risks posed by some types of video games. The fact is video games are here to stay. Increasingly, they play a large role in the lives of young people. Games and game systems are becoming more complex, allowing them to have a greater impact and unlocking new potentials as excellent teaching tools. If we want our children to benefit from technological innovations and to avoid the harm that some games pose, we parents need to roll up our sleeves and get to work. This report suggests that the solutions to the problems presented by video games lie in eradicating ignorance on both the scientific-technical and the parental knowledge levels. Simply put, parents need to step up to the plate and the experts need to conduct more and better research.” Fulltext
History
G5 - They Made America
Douthat, Ross
Atlantic Monthly, December 2006, v298, #5,
pp59-73
Who are the most influential figures in American history? The Atlantic recently asked ten eminent historiansThis article offers a look at the 100 most influential figures in American history. Was Walt Disney really more influential than Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Benjamin
Spock than Richard Nixon? Elvis Presley than Lewis and Clark? John D.
Rockefeller than Bill Gates? This article defines influence as a person's impact, for good or ill, on his or her own era and the way Americans live in the present. Ross Douthat is an Atlantic associate editor. Fulltext
Literature
G6 - The Art of Reading Bernard Malamud
Depp, Michael
Poets & Writers; Nov/Dec2006, v34, #6, pp27-32
The article focuses on novelist and short story writer Bernard Malamud. Malamud was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the setting for much of his work including "The Natural," which was made into a film, and "The Fixer," which won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award in 1966. After Malamud's death, his daughter Janna Malamud Smith pledged to be silent about his father's personal life. Malamud's most critically enduring novel was "The Assistant," which ranked the highest estimation of most critics. Fulltext
Visual Arts & Architecture
G7 - Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images
Cochran, Sara
An exhibit at the LA County Museum of Art
The impact of René Magritte's work on American and European artists of the postwar generation is fully explored for the first time in the major exhibition Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images. The exhibition features sixty-eight of the Belgian surrealist’s paintings and drawings, including many international loans of his signature works, and sixty-nine works in diverse media by thirty-one contemporary artists such as: Eleanor Antin, Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Vija Celmins, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Joseph Kosuth, Sherrie Levine, Claes Oldenburg, Raymond Pettibon, Ed Ruscha , and Andy Warhol, the exhibition examines the different and sometimes unconscious ways that pop, conceptual, and post-modern sensibilities have referenced Magritte’s ideas and imagery. Looking at works in a range of media from a number of decades, the exhibition reveals the ways in which Magritte’s visual vocabulary and artistic strategies have seeped into our culture, and demonstrates how his subversive juxtaposition of words and images, flat painting style, and constant exploration of perception have profoundly affected subsequent generations of artists. Fulltext
G8 - A Geographic Life
Belt, Don
National Geographic, August 2006, v210 #2, pp.108-119
The article presents the life and work of photographer Tom Abercrombie. Abercrombie first took an interest in photography at an early age and built his first camera soon afterward. Since then, he began a career as a photographer and then joined National Geographic. There he was able to interview and photograph people all around the world and become part of the culture that he was photographing. Don Belt is Senior Editor at "National Geographic". Fulltext
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