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SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL
The Sydney Film Festival opened last week with a screening of English director Mike Leigh's new film 'Happy-Go-Lucky'.
This is the festival's 55th year, and it sees the introduction of the Official Competition and, with it, the $60,000 Sydney Film Prize. The prize will be announced on 16 June at the Sydney Opera House.
Supported by the New South Wales Government, the Sydney Film Festival is the first Australian festival to have an Official Competition accredited by FIAPF, the international association of film festivals.
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MCA FORMED INSTRUMENT BANK
The Music Council of Australia has announced the formation of an Instrument Bank that will help top Australian musicians have access to the finest musical instruments.
Council executive director, Richard Letts, says it has been hard for top Australian musicians to buy the best instruments.
He said that people are buying instruments as speculative investments rather than just buying them to play, so when instrument prices can go into the millions, they're beyond the reach of most musicians.
The Instrument Bank will acquire musical instruments on loan from private collectors or as gifts from benefactors, and offer tax deductibility for supporters who donate funds for the purchase of instruments. The instruments will then be loaned for either short or long terms to outstanding Australian musicians.
The Instrument Bank's first acquisition was announced on 11 June at the Sydney Conservatorium, - a $50,000 Otello Bignami violin.
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UNI STUDENT ART CENSORSHIP CONTROVERSY
At the University of Melbourne controversy has arisen with students claiming that the university's administration intervened to censor a campus art exhibition, insisting works that were critical of the new education structure, The Melbourne Model, were removed.
Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis has denied the charge, saying in a letter to The Age newspaper the university would never suppress criticism.
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HENSON PHOTOS ON RESTRICTED DISPLAY
Photographs by artist Bill Henson, seized by police three weeks ago, are to go on restricted public display at his Sydney dealer, the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.
Last week police decided not to lay charges after advice from the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions that there was no prospect of gaining a conviction.
After the police raid, threatening messages were left on the gallery's answering machine.
The fact that members of the public will not be able to see the works without appointment, underlines concerns at the gallery about the safety of Henson's controversial series of photographs, each of which is worth $25,000.
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HULL STEPPED DOWN AS VCA DEAN
After 14 years as head of one of Australia's premier visual and performing arts institutions, Professor Andrea Hull is to step down as Director and Dean of the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts, now part of the University of Melbourne.
The position of Acting Director will be filled by the VCA's Head of Art, Associate Professor Su Baker.
Dr Hull, who has led the VCA since 1995, is retiring in order to pursue other interests. Her transition will commence this September when she takes leave to complete an MBA and to represent the VCA at several international events. Her retirement will become effective in March 2009.
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UK RESALE ROYALTY LAW EXTENSION DISPUTE
Just as Australia takes the first steps to introduce a resale royalty for visual artists, in Great Britain the arts community is battling with leading auction houses and dealers to bring in a law extending the payment of resale royalties on artists' work to 70 years after their death - in line with copyright royalties for writers and musicians.
Artists won the right to resale royalties across Europe in 2006, but the British Government negotiated an opt-out on extending it to dead artists, first to 2010 and now indefinitely.
The Design and Artists Copyright Society, which operates the commission scheme has collected £4.2million in royalties since 2006 for more than nearly 1,500 living artists. Joanna Cave, chief executive of the society said extending it to dead artists would have limited impact especially as proposed extension of royalties is limited to 4% of the sale and capped at €12,500, about A$25,000.
Most auction houses and dealers are opposed to the law - claiming that it would have a devastating impact on Britain's £8.5 billion art market.
Anthony Browne, chairman of the British Art Market Federation, which represents auction houses and dealers, said: "We would simply be handing over a large part of our art market to New York or Switzerland on a plate - because there would no longer be a level playing field."
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HARRY POTTER PREQUEL SOLD FOR CHARITY
An 800-word short story - written on one side of an A5-sized story card, which measures just 148 by 210 millimetres - has been sold for £25,000 ($51,600) at a charity auction.
But it is no ordinary short story but a mini-prequel penned by JK Rowling to her blockbuster Harry Potter series.
Rowling's story is set three years before Harry Potter's birth, and features the youthful wizard's father, James, and Sirius Black. The pair is confronted by two policemen after a high-speed motorcycle chase. They evade the authorities using their broomsticks and magic.
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