And now for something a little different...

I generally avoid discussing politics in public, having taken to heart sage advice given to me as a student that the three things you should never talk about on the job are politics, religion and vocal technique. Well, I've never managed to keep my mouth entirely shut about the latter, and apparently I'm now going for a two-out-of-three failure rate, but so much is going on that I'm finding it impossible to keep stumm.

Even as the US government was threatening shutdown of its own, there was news again this past week of more opera companies suspending seasons, and symphonies filing for bankruptcy; in the UK, eyebrows were being raised over the recent Arts Council of England cuts. All of which has resulted in a great deal of activity in the press and blogosphere which needs to be shared and rather than paraphrase, I'm taking the liberty of linking to some of these articles and interviews. Much food for thought.

• From the Guardian Stage blog: Why do some theatre critics seem to be enjoying the arts cuts?
• Kevin Spacey speaks to Chris Matthews on MSNBC
  
• An open letter to the US Government from Tim Robbins
• Patrick Stewart and colleagues present a petition to Downing Street
• From Dan Rebellato's blog, "Spilled Ink": Cuts
• (added Monday 4/11) Everday Opera: Arts Funding - We're Talking Numbers
  

While it's been a rough week there have been some positive announcements amidst the closures and, strangely, I personally feel more optimistic than I have in some time. I suppose I hope that perhaps the undoubted problems can be turned into solutions that eventually lead to something better and that maybe now is the right time to start looking to the future rather than merely trying to unsuccessfully sustain the past. Most of all, I hope that artistic passion and imagination will triumph over the frustrations of broken business models and reduced funding and continue to thrive, even if in a different way. I can hope.