The next Grantmakers for the Arts conference is taking place at October 16-19, 2005 in Pasadena, California. The topic is CULTURE JAM: FRICTION, FUSION, SYNERGY. It will explore critical topics such as the current state of arts education, the relationship between public and private sector support for the arts, the role of the arts in workforce development, urban revitalization, and civic participation.

The Foundation Center has just released the 2005 statistics detailing foundation staffing and public reporting in the Grantmaker Stats area of FC Stats at its Web site.

16 German and 11 Hungarian cities have been competing for the title of "European Capital of Culture 2010". Each city found new forms of cultural engagement and trod new paths in determining future city development during the process.

Consumer Spending on Culture shows that Canadian consumers spent $22.8 billion on cultural goods and services in 2003, an amount that is greater than consumer spending on tobacco, alcohol and games of chance combined. The $22.8 billion in consumer spending is over three times larger than the $7.4 billion spent on culture in Canada by all levels of government in 2002/03. The report also shows that consumer spending on live performing arts events ($980 million) is nearly double the spending on live sporting events ($530 million).

The Taipei Artist Village (TAV) provides an artist-led space where pioneering artists in all disciplines - visual, literary, musical, film/video/photography, performing and interdisciplinary - from throughout Taiwan and the world are brought together. The artists drawn to TAV share what is unique from their cultures and experiences, playing a crucial role in enhancing the beauty and grandeur of Taipei city.

By a letter of 18 July 2005, the Commission invited the competent authorities in the Member States and countries participating in the Culture 2000 programme to submit projects which could be granted the title of "European heritage laboratories" in 2006.

A Saudi billionaire has donated more than 17m euros (£11.7m or $20.5m) towards building an Islamic art gallery at the Louvre museum in Paris. Prince Walid bin Talal said he hoped the gallery would help people to gain an understanding of Islam as a religion of humanity and tolerance. The donation follows the recent London attacks, which have been blamed on British-born Muslims.

Some Alternative Futures for Development, Ownership and Participation in Leeds City Centre

In attempting to find its feet in the post-industrial world, over the last ten years Leeds has mobilised an extremely positive and upward image for itself, which we summarise through the idea of 'boomtown'. It now styles itself as 'Leeds: the UK's favourite city'.

Creative Enterprise Conference - 16 November 2005, Lancaster University

As part of National Enterprise Week in November, PALATINE, the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Dance, Drama and Music, is holding a free conference that will address the issues around links between higher education and the creative industries, promoting enterprise in the creative sector and teaching cultural entrepreneurship.

Learning Lab Denmark has published an investigation into Organisational Art (OA), which is a tentative title for an art form that works together with organisations (companies, institutions, communities, governments and NGOs) to produce art.

The Second World Culturelink Conference, held in Zagreb from 9 to 12 June 2005, was attended by 150 participants from 40 countries, who represented different national and international associations, centers, cultural institutions, foundations, universities and various other organizations, or were individual Culturelink members.

Analysing the Market for Periodic Contemporary Art Exhibitions

This paper reports the results of an empirical study to identify criteria for the strategic positioning of the Venice Biennial, a prestigious international exhibition of contemporary art. Four criteria emerged from the qualitative analysis, the method most suitable for exploratory research: the curator, the theme of the exhibition, the personality of the exhibition and the organizational skills of the institution.

Museums of fine and decorative art are increasingly introducing computer-based interpretation devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and information kiosks into their exhibitions. Museum managers hope that such new technology will help raise visitor numbers, attract new audiences and enhance visitors experience of exhibits.

This position paper endorsed by a diverse range of people - executives, deans, professors, researchers, artists, students - argues that there is an urgent need for a balance between the "professional approach" and the "academic approach" within management schools, whose mission is to train managers who are capable of acting, as opposed to turning out academics who spend their entire career within the walls of the university interacting solely with other scholarly researchers and evaluating each other's work.

Business & Arts South Africa (BASA) will be hosting a series of fundraising seminars for artists and arts organisations around the country. There will be seminars hosted in centres in all 9 provinces over a two week period, starting in Durban (25th July), East London (26th July), Cape Town (27th July), Kimberley (28th July), Bloemfontein (29th July), Nelspruit (1st August), Polokwane (3rd August), Johannesburg (4th August, a mini seminar) and Mmbatho (5th August).

Anyone who has ever been to school can remember visiting museums as a child. Memories of being shepherded around quiet, cold rooms full of national treasures may be almost as strong as the frustration that everything was hidden behind glass cabinets.

Many British exhibitions of the past have been standoffish affairs, restricting contact between visitor and artefact as much as possible. But does this "look but do not touch" approach protect the objects of our past, or remove their cultural significance entirely?

This course is to be held in Mombasa, Kenya from 15 August to 04 November 2005. Organized by AFRICA 2009, a joint programme of the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, CRATerre-EAG, and African cultural heritage organizations, is aimed at improving conditions for the conservation of immovable cultural heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Museums matter. But who is arguing why they matter depends on the historic moment and the political perspective of the person or group addressed. As Chris Smith, former Secretary of State for Culture, pointed out in his recent keynote address to ALM London on the Future of London's Museums, the Victorian founders of most of our national and regional museums had clear notions of their purpose and importance.

Canadian museums have a growing presence on the internet. Although most museums feel the internet is a valuable tool to reach potential and actual visitors, not much is known in terms of what people are looking for from a museums web space.

Seychelles Minister for Local Government, Sport and Culture, Sylvette Pool, has launched a Cultural Policy for the Republic of Seychelles.

Unveiled on the 1st April, 2005 the new policy, comprises three principal documents...