Towards a framework for measuring local government return on investment in arts and cultural development

Local governments make a significant annual investment in arts and cultural development programmes. However, the practicalities of measuring the return on this investment have been largely overlooked by researchers, and investigations into return on investment have frequently focused on the economic return. Here, it is argued that intrinsic social and cultural returns on investment are equally important. A further issue is that measurement frameworks have often taken an outputs-based approach, seeking to evaluate the performance of one-off events rather than measuring the outcomes or impact of the total investment in arts and cultural development over the life of a policy or strategy. This paper therefore takes a broader, outcomes-based approach and offers a practical evaluation framework. An implementation-ready method is presented which will allow local government policy-makers to provide evidence of medium- and long-term outcomes and impacts of their arts and cultural development programmes and weigh this against their investment.     

Local government and the arts revisited

This article discusses policy developments in the arts and local government since the publication of the original article on this topic. It assesses the continued relevance of the thinking behind policy attachment in the original article for understanding and explaining policy in this sector, and indicates the direction in which the concept of policy attachment could be developed in both analytical and empirical ways.     

公安文艺的现代性思考

现代性是公安文艺价值判断的一种维度,公安文艺自身具有源远流长的现代性因子。不过由于历史等方面的原因,公安文艺的现代性在二十世纪历程曲折。当代公安文艺有了良好的生长环境,应该不断汲取历史资源,发掘人性,表现悲剧,反思社会,创新艺术,从而丰富和发展公安文艺的美学现代性。     

论大学语文教学与改革

《大学语文》课程作为一门重要的公共基础课,从其鲜明的思想性、艺术性、工具性等特点来看,它对于大学生审美能力的培养、情操的陶冶、运用母语能力的提高等等,是非常重要的,但现实中它并没有受到重视。面对这样的形势,我们应该知难而进,改变大学语文教学的旧思想观念、旧教学观念以及合理改革大学语文教材,走出一条符合大学语文教学与培训的新路子,加强大学生的母语教育、传统文化的熏陶,为中华民族的复兴尽职尽责。     

大学文科类学生计算机教育研究与实践

大学文科计算机教学不同于一般计算机专业课教学,要根据学生的实际情况,采用分级教学的方法,以应用为导向,实践教学为中心,培养学生的创新能力和团队合作精神为目标,提高大学文科毕业生的综合素质,适应新时代对大学文科生计算机水平的新要求。     

Picturing theory: Nicole Awai’s black ooze as post-diaspora expression

ABSTRACT

Given contexts of globalization and transnationalism, and calls within the academe for new vocabularies to describe contemporary migrations and encounters, this article looks to the visual arts in its proposal of a lexicon for articulating mobilities and self-fashioning. In its consideration of a post-diaspora theory, the article lays a foundation for its argument by putting the ideas of philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in dialog with the work of Trinidadian-born, US-based contemporary artist Nicole Awai, specifically the artworks in which she attends to the notion of a black ooze. Rather than dislocation and disjuncture, the article posits the idea of the viscous or the ooze as a symbol of diverse affiliations and nuanced mobilities. Furthermore, the ooze is advanced as a means of understanding post-diaspora in gendered terms. The article asks: what forms of expression are available to reconfigure identities as post-diasporic? It argues that Nicole Awai’s work is one such expression.     

中国武术运动在韩国的发展现状分析及思考

韩国跆拳道运动在世界和中国得到了很好的发展，并于2000年的悉尼奥运会成为正式的比赛项目，尤其是跆拳道道馆（俱乐部）经营理念，已经成了跆拳道核心的理论。同样和韩国跆拳道运动一样被称为“博大精深”的中国武术运动在韩国的发展现状如何，笔者2010年担任韩国国家武术队教练期间，采用文献资料、专家访谈、综合分析等方法，对中国武术在韩国的发展现状做了直观的、详尽的调查和分析。结果显示中国竞技武术在韩国得到了较好的发展，但传统武术和竞技武术也存在一些问题。本文同时为中国武术的国际化发展提供一定参考。     

Performing Arts Review: Statement of Scope and Purposes

Recent research on arts and cultural audiences has attempted to go beyond the traditional social science surveys that assess attitudes or attendance to capture an understanding of how audiences actually experience the arts and what benefits or impacts those experiences provide. The study reported here contributes to this growing body of research by presenting in-depth case studies of four individuals and their chosen cultural experiences at various times through their lives. The authors used Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology to guide the informants through highly structured but open-ended interviews designed to prompt self-reflection and elaboration of what each experience meant to them. Informants were selected from a larger database because of the richness of their interviews and the insight these interviews offer to the understanding of people's engagements with culture. By considering multiple cultural experiences for each informant, it was possible to gain a clearer sense of the context in which these experiences took place and how informants were impacted personally. In addition, the case studies showed how informants' respective struggles with personal and identity issues moved with them across their cultural experiences.     

Production,Distribution and Educational Media

From 1970 to 1990, Yugoslav culture was signed by the tight net of Self-Governed Interest Associations (Samoupravne interesne zajednice, SIZ). Understood as one of ex-Yugoslavia's transient eras, when political control over cultural life was given to the boards of professionals and experts, “SIZ time” provided an ideal base for future development of arts management. This article explores the possibilities of applying the positive experience of the SIZ model, modified by contemporary NGO models, as the possible solution for arts management transition problems in Serbia and the region. I conclude that South European state funding and institutional systems cannot provide adequate support for arts management development, thus projects in this field should be undertaken through NGOs, with additional financial support and coordination from the international community. NGOs and the ex-SIZ system give examples of a positive experience in conducting projects in the field of arts management.     

Nonprofit Entrepreneurship: The Astoria Motion Picture and Television Center

The author investigates social change in Vietnam in the late 1980s-2000s, a transition from a subsidized economy to a market-oriented economy. The author discusses the influences of socioeconomic changes on the operation of the performing arts sector through analyzing changes in cultural policies, opportunities, and challenges confronted by performing arts organizations. The new cultural policy allows arts organizations, arts managers, and artists more opportunities to develop a greater degree of autonomy and more freedom in performing, programming and other artistic activities. The author believes that open policies will motivate Vietnam to develop its own national identity and to participate in cultural exchange with other parts of the world. However, under the impact of global culture, global economics, cuts in state funding, and rapid technological development, the performing arts sector has faced challenges in terms of financial viability, audience development, and balance between commercialization and artistic creativity. The author suggests that privatization should be implemented depending on the art form. Consideration should be given by the Vietnamese government to implementing appropriate funding policies and schemes, as state funding still forms a significant part of public companies' incomes.