Following on from LabforCulture's past successes of blogging and videoing from European cultural events, the platform is bringing you more from the European Culture Forum in Brussels, 28th-30 September. LabforCulture teamed up with Culture Action Europe and the resulting commentary is new and interesting from some key people working in culture, across Europe.

Firstly, Odile Quintin, DG Education, Culture and Youth, European Commission who gave the nod to the purpose of the Forum gathering and laid out her thinking on an open approach for future cultural development into 2013. Steve Green, EUNIC, described his role as a rapporteur of the event, EUNIC's global reach, and gave congratulations to the Commission in the engagement of their development, international and external departments at the Forum. Michael Wimmer, EDUCULT, highlighted three positive developments he experienced during the Forum, one being this new openness, and lateral involvement of other sectors and actors by the Commission.

A survey of more than 60 major art museums in the US shows that the directors of more than one third have recently taken pay cuts, many of them substantial, and senior staff at most of those institutions have also had their compensation trimmed. The cuts range from salary reductions and forfeiture of bonuses to unpaid leave.

Even where there have not been massive layoffs, hiring freezes leave posts vacant and incentives induce early retirement. In the past year, New Yorks Museum of Modern Art has cut its staff from around 850 to 741 through a hiring freeze and natural attrition.

The conference on November 12-13 in Leipzig, Germany, examines the formation of the creative knowledge economy in different European metropolitan regions. The focus will be on understanding the diversity of regulatory mechanisms and governance forms directed at fostering the different segments of these conomies on various spatial scales. The conference aims at linking academics, practitioners and urban planners as well as cultural entrepreneurs and artists to discuss appropriate instruments and governance formats. The conference will explore various particularities of reative industries that can be taken into account in order to establish knowledge on suitable and context specific strategies for public or private interventions in this field.

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the Rhode Island Foundation are collaborating to provide scholarship grants to Rhode Island individual artists and organizations to attend the Arts Marketing Project (NAMP) Conference in Providence, RI, October 30November 2, 2009.

Novato, CA -- Hundreds of top arts marketing and development professionals will gather on October 8-11, 2009 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles for the Arts Reach National Arts Marketing and Development Conference 2009. Are You Ready for the Wave of Change? Breakthrough Strategies for Growing Audiences, Donors, and Boards in the Coming Decade is the theme of the event.

In light of the economic downturn, this conference is designed to help organizations focus their precious resources in the most effective ways to maximize the achievement of their organizations mission. The faculty includes leaders from such organizations as the Los Angeles Opera, the Arizona Theatre Company, the California African American Museum, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and many others.

This Analysis Report presents the findings of the Research on Adult Education Practices in Cultural Institutions phase of the CONNECTION project in 5 countries: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Italy, Romania and Turkey. It provides an overall image of adult education practices developed by cultural organisations, with the aim to support the development of two training curricula for cultural professionals involved in educational activities and managers of cultural institutions, representing an important part of project results. The study contributes to a conceptual framework that enhances understanding of the European development of life long learning process, focusing on education taking place within cultural institutions.

Culture pour tous is joining with the French organizations Espace Pandora and Médiation culturelle to present the next international forum on cultural mediation as part of the 22nd Entretiens put on by Frances Centre Jacques Cartier. On Monday, November 31 and Tuesday, December 1, 2009, some 50 guest speakers from Europe, North America and Africa will gather at the Théâtre Asphodèle in Lyons to present their latest projects and reflections.

More than 300 exhibitors from 15 countries and regions will showcase their products at this years Prolight + Sound Shanghai. The show which is one of Asias leading events for professional audio, lighting and entertainment technology, will take place from 13 16 October at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. As well as the exhibition, there will be a number of educational and interactive events.

The book entitled Cultural Tourism Goes Virtual: Audience Development in Southeast European Countries, is the latest in the series of Culturelink research studies in the course of the past few years on the subjects connecting new technologies and culture.

The necessary balance between subdivided means of human commerce has become jeopardized by current economic primacy and thrown into question, which in turn is compromising the entire traditional value system in western culture. For this reason, a solution must be found to regain equilibrium.

Dresden, Germany, October 8-10, 2009

Cultural Indicators for New Zealand, 2009 is one report in a series produced by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, as part of the Cultural Statistics Programme. The aim of the programme is to improve the range and quality of statistical information about the cultural sector - for the development of cultural policy by both central and local government, for monitoring the sectors progress and performance, and for future planning.

The Cultural Statistics programme is based on the New Zealand Framework for Cultural Statistics Te Anga Tatauranga Tikanga--iwi Aotearoa 1995, which provides a framework for the systematic collection, analysis and presentation of data related to the cultural sector.

The degree of independence that governments afford arts support is a universal concern. Debate has often centred on the choice between arts council or ministry, but such a dichotomy enormously oversimplifies the issues, particularly as so many countries have a mixture of the two institutional forms. This report, written by Christopher Madden, reviews the cultural policy literature and data gathered over by IFACCA over several years to address two main issues relating to political involvement in arts support: how much influence do governments have over arts funding?; and how much influence should governments have over arts funding?

Sunday 6 Friday 11 September 2009

Carberry Tower, Edinburgh, Scotland

The Theatrical Management Association (TMA) has released details for this years Effective Management walking the tightrope course, its hugely successful course for those wishing to develop their leadership and management skills.

Since 1993 the TMAs Effective Management course has offered over 250 new and established managers the opportunity to assess the very best arts management and leadership training specifically designed for those working in the performing arts. In just five days participants learn everything from: leadership skills; managing yourself and others; decision making; problem solving; team working; handling change; and influencing where you have no formal authority.

For arts organizations, the ability to skillfully brand art and artists is key to success. Through the celebration and translation of artists' iconic works into a distinctive brand identity, arts organizations can draw more attention to their art, artists, and offers. Additionally, arts organizations should strive to keep their branding simple, streamlined, and secondary, resisting the impulse to overshadow their art.

ENCATC and its member Goldsmiths University of London have the honour of inviting you to attend the International Forum Cultural Diplomacy and culture in a Changing World organised next Thursday 18 June - 2pm-6.30pm at the Romanian Cultural Centre (Ratiu Foundation), 18 Fitzhardinge Street, Manchester Square, London W1H 6EQ.

This event is one of the activities of the ENCATC Working Group, Europe International lead by Gerald Lidstone from the Goldsmiths University of London.

(April 21, 2009) Vancouver The Creative City Network of Canada (CCNC) unveils a new project on cultural development in rural communities today. The report, Developing and Revitalizing Rural Communities Through Arts and Creativity, is a comprehensive review of existing and original research and identifies 'best practices' in rural communities and includes information from Canada and around the world. This new research sets the stage for rural communities to determine the best approach to reach out and take advantage of their creative capacity.

Arts Management (AM), Americas oldest continuing periodical for cultural administrators, trustees and supporters, has a new co-publisher, effective with its January-February 2009 issue. The Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE), the international organization of higher education degree programs in arts administration, cultural management, and cultural policy, will be responsible for insuring distribution of the periodical to arts professionals throughout the world.

Time was when orchestras and ensembles wanted to reach out to new audiences, they took their instruments out to the park and shopping malls where teens and young families tended to gather. In todays world, increasingly, people are meeting online. Some intrepid, tech-savvy musicians and ensembles are out there in the virtual community, presenting virtual concerts in the new virtual park. Who are they? What are their experiences and what are the lessons we can learn?

Almost 600 cultural manager subscribed to December conference Culture In Motion, held by the European Commission of Culture in Brussels on December 12th, 2008. Was it the chance to get first-hand information from the commissioners on how to apply for one of the grants? Was it the perspective to be presented to some of the best-practice models of the last eight years of the programme? Was it to network on a European level? Probably all of this.