Film, as the first industrial art, has always been a complex mix of business and culture, and its status within public policy has reflected this. Successive governments have employed different strategies to stimulate commercial production on the one hand, and to subsidise cultural film activity that would not be possible if left to the market alone on the other.
by Jack Newsinger
Over the last decade, private lenders, abetted by college financial aid offices, eagerly handed young people hundreds of thousands of dollars to earn bachelor’s degrees. As a result of easy credit, declining grants and soaring tuitions, more than two-thirds of students graduated with debt in 2008 — up from 45 percent in 1993. The average debt load is $24,000, according to the Project on Student Debt.
In some respects, the student loan crisis looks remarkably like the subprime mortgage crisis. First, outstanding student loan debt has ballooned: It grew roughly four-fold in the last decade to $833 billion as of June — surpassing outstanding credit-card debt for the first time.
Secondly, defaults have soared amid a difficult job market.
Italy arts cut protests reach crescendo with riots at Milan’s La Scala
Demonstrations led by conductor Daniel Barenboim at opera house turn violent as Rome votes on 37% cut in arts funding
There are a surprising lack of convincing explanations as to why the capitalist class is pushing through the present unprecedented austerity drive – even at the risk of provoking both mass opposition and a double-dip recession. The following excerpts, from Hillel Ticktin’s recent articles in Critique, do offer an interesting partial explanation:
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Government cuts – ‘Are they really as stupid as they seem’ by Hillel Ticktin
University Struggles at the End of the Edu-Deal
By George Caffentzis
As students around the world start to take action against national governments’ university spending cuts, George Caffentzis sees a plane of struggle developing; one which acts against the crooked deal of high cost education exchanged for life-long precarity.
We should not ask for the university to be destroyed, nor for it to be preserved. We should not ask for anything. We should ask ourselves and each other to take control of these universities, collectively, so that education can begin.
– From a flyer found in the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts originally written in the University of California
Read more at metamute
Center for Social Media Posted by Patricia Aufderheide on November 24, 2010
The European Documentary Network , which has its annual meeting at the International Documentary Festival at Amsterdam, featured a workshop cosponsored by theFederation of European Film Directors (known by its French acronym, FERA) on the implications of the U.S. fair use movement for Europeans.
In Europe, each nation has its own copyright policies. They all include exceptions to copyright ownership, some more flexible and expansive than others.
The workshop began with a presentation by two Norwegian filmmakers, Morten Caae and Jan Dalchow. Both had discovered that, in the U.S. market, fair use was a useful tool for them (thanks in part to a recent presentation by U.S. documentarian David van Taylor at Nordisk). They had also discovered that the Norwegian “right of quotation,” like the right of quotation in many European countries, was quite amenable to interpretation. They noted that without a standard interpretation—and worse, standard and flexible exemptions throughout Europe—they were often in the position that U.S. filmmakers were before they created the Documentary Filmmakers’ Code of Best Practices in Fair Use. Their work was often higher-priced, slower to market, and distorted because of licensing issues.
Dutch legal scholar and expert on European law Bernt Hugenholtz then explained to the group that many European nations did have exemptions that should be used to the maximum. As well, the Berne convention encourages nations to adopt exemptions that many nations have yet to adopt—but could, with some encouragement from creators and users.
A small selection of links:
If the State is trying to teach the kids a lesson, what they learn may be something else
Thatcher’s children can lead the class of 68 back into action | Polly Toynbee
Video: Student protests in London: A street-level view of the day
Campaign for the Public University
The shame of the Lib Dems—and the end of the commons
School music lessons could be hit as local councils make cuts and budgets are redrawn, it is feared.
One in five music services, which support schools, expect councils will completely axe their grants and half fear cuts of up to 50%, a survey suggests.
The Federation of Music Services warned that some services which help provide subsidised lessons could collapse.
The government said all pupils should be able to learn an instrument or sing.
It has commissioned a review of music provision in schools, being carried out by Classic FM head Darren Henley, but this is not due to report until January.
However, local authorities in England which face cuts of about a third, get their funding allocations in early December.
It is clear from the federation’s survey of 158 music services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, that many are already planning cuts with some preparing to axe the funding completely.
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The response to the Browne Report on university funding and student finance, and its subsequent interpretation by the Coalition government, has taken several forms amongst UK academics.
Read more at LGS
The huge student protest on 10 November and the anger generated by the betrayal of election promises by the Liberal Democrats marks a new phase in British politics argues Neil Faulkner.