Kate Armstrong takes on the Provincial Government over their brutal cuts to the arts.
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B.C. Liberal government has cut funding for arts and cultural organizations by 50 percent this fiscal year, and by 92 percent for 2010–11.
Imagine a 92 percent reduction in your company’s income. How would your industry fare if that was implemented across the board?
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If you have any interesting in preserving some basic quality of life in BC, you really should read the whole piece. It’s here.
Tags: Culture | Government | British Columbia | Vancouver | Art | Gordon Campbell | arts | Kate Armstrong | liberal | Funding
September 16, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: Leave a Comment
It would have been great to see this in person.
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NEW YORK – Those who say we’ll never see anything like McEnroe-Connors again should have been near Practice Court 4 at the U.S. Open on Friday.
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Tags: New York | Sports | US Open | Connors | mcenroe
September 5, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: Leave a Comment
Supporters of the arts in British Columbia are in shock following massive cuts. Many of the programs supported by the Province have already been promised money and are now having to assume the debt arising from these shortfalls. This has the potential to destroy the entire sector and local arts groups are mobilizing to oppose these policies. Here is what their facebook group says:
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The press conference at Spencer Herbert’s office drew a big, articulate, energetic crowd, and also mass media attention. The next event we know of is a meeting organized by the Alliance for Arts and Culture at the Vancouver Museum, 1pm on Wednesday, September 2.
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The silly (and sadly widespread) belief among the general public is that funding for the arts costs the taxpayer and that artists spend their days living an indulgent, luxurious lifestyle.
Both of these beliefs are completely wrong. Money that goes to the arts almost always generates a positive return on investment. And if you think artists spend their time sipping champagne in formal wear I urge you go to down to one of the local arts run centers, talk to the kids getting out of Emily Carr or pay a visit to the Vancouver Children’s Festival.
People in the arts make their living through their creativity and in my experience they apply this creative energy to making the most of their money. Pulling investments out of the arts is a mistake which will cost artists in the short run and all of us in the long run.
Tags: Culture | Vancouver | Museum | arts | cuts | spencer herbert
September 1, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: Leave a Comment
Ecomonday is the twitter community’s answer to ecological challenges.
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Ecomonday has evolved not only to recommend people to follow, but also recommending specific web-pages and blogs, as well as recommending eco-businesses.
I suggest you check Max Gladwell’s site to check for the Tweets containing the #ecomonday hashtag. If you use Tweetdeck or a similar application, you may want to open a search column for the hashtag.
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We’re following the conversation on SCAN so you can see what themes emerge.
Tags: Environment | twitter | Max Gladwell | ecomonday | #ecomonday | eco-business
August 31, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: Leave a Comment
If there was ever a sign of the times, this is it.
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The cash-strapped state of California is holding a massive two-day garage sale to get rid of cars, computers, prison gear and anything else deemed surplus and beef up empty coffers in the process.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came up with the idea of the “Great California Garage Sale” after slashing the government car fleet by 15 per cent. He’s since become the garage sale’s biggest promoter, holding news conferences, discussing it in web chats and Tweeting about it to followers.
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We’ve set up a SCAN below to track the conversation on Twitter.
Tags: Schwarzenegger | Sacramento | US Economy | Garage Sale | Tech & Biz
August 30, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: Leave a Comment
Today we took the crew down to Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition, the PNE. I’ve done similar venues as a teenager, ironic 20 something and now as family guy and I was actually pretty impressed this year. The kids has a blast and I wasn’t grossed out by loads of garbage and shady carnies. If you can catch it before the 7th, you should. Here’s how the Vancouver Sun descibes it.
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VANCOUVER — Forget the Olympics, next year is the 100th anniversary of the Pacific National Exhibition!
The PNE is looking at all sorts of special ways to celebrate its centennial, including the possibility of big-name concerts at a rebuilt Empire Stadium.
Alas, that’s a year off, and the PNE still has to stage this year’s fair. A “penultimate” PNE, if you will, before the Big Do.
The fair opens today and runs to Sept. 7. To get some buzz going, the PNE has expanded its concert lineup and brought in all manner of new attractions. Still, programmers had to strike a balance with the traditional fair fare the masses know and love.
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Here is a SCAN to tap into the conversation on Twitter.
Tags: Culture | Vancouver | fair | circus | PNE | Empire Stadium | Pacific National Exchibition
August 30, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: Leave a Comment
Across North America, people are beginning the trip downt to the Nevada desert. All is quiet now but that will change next week.
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BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada–It’s Thursday night, three days before the gates officially open to Burning Man, but already a lot of people have arrived here for set-up. The arts festival is quickly taking shape.
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We’ve set up a SCAN to keep up with the news.
Tags: Nevada | Style | Burning Man | festival | arts | Black Rock City | burningman | kinds–music
August 29, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: 1 Comment
August 28, 2009
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I’ve been down to a few Gnomedexes in the last couple of years and they’re worth attending if you want to dig deep into emerging media and technology. Mark Glaser is there and reports:
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SEATTLE — I am here attending the geekfest of geekfests called Gnomedex. Its name is a play on the old tech conference Comdex, which ironically doesn’t exist anymore. Coming here is a throwback to my time as a pure tech journalist going to conferences such as Macworld and the Consumer Electronics Show. But what’s interesting is that even in the geekiest settings, and perhaps especially in the geekiest settings, social media has come to the fore.
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You can see the complete piece here or check out our Gnomedex SCAN.
Tags: Seattle | conference | Gnomedex | Internet | journalist | social media | twitter | Tech & Biz | #gnomedex
August 21, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mtippett . Comments: Leave a Comment
August 18, 2009
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