|
A
memo sent to correspondents, friends and acquaintances of the Budapest
Observatory (BO) in September 2003
September is usually the month of new
beginnings. Dragging along with ongoing tasks, BO managed to complete two minor
projects in September (just a few weeks later than due).
Out after a hiding species
BO decided long ago to discover what
happened to the controversial ‘cultural houses' in the east, and whether there
exist approximate equivalents in the west. Summer was spent by virtual trekking
in search for this hiding species, on shelves and on the monitor. BO found much
more than expected, see http://www.budobs.org/sc-report.htm.
We had some information about Germany and the Nordic countries; the rich yield
from Belgium and Spain was pleasant surprise.
BO is now looking for sponsors and
partners for a more substantial mission with roughly the same goal, see http://www.budobs.org/sc-outline.htm.
Do you know what a MILC is?
Don't worry, nobody does. Before reading
BO report: http://www.budobs.org/sc-report.htm.
Dreaming about reform
Does the network of cultural institutes
abroad need a reform, or not? That is the question posed by the culture
ministry in Hungary.
BO contributed with a paper and some
proposals. In setting them up, we have drawn on examples in other parts of
Europe, especially from Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Poland; and others
of course.
Seven questions again
First BO inquired about corporate
sponsorship to culture in east-central Europe nearly three years ago. What we
learned from colleagues then is still available at http://www.budobs.org/sp.htm#seven2000.
Now BO repeated the exercise, keeping
some of the seven questions, replacing the rest. The subject is the same: money
from businesses to culture. The first answers have reached us, thanks, friends!
Especially to earliest bird Baiba, to the highly economical Katalin (full
response using 73 characters!), to the laborious Malgorzata on the opposite
end, and to Stefan, the first to participate in both polls.
Never too late: BO is curious about your
views as well - http://www.budobs.org/sp.htm#seven2003.
Taking pains about the Union
EU Observer has not been neglected. BO
tackled two fundamental issues lately. The place of culture in the famous
internal market - http://www.budobs.org/eu-bodocuments.htm#internalmarket
and how the Union funds culture - http://www.budobs.org/eu-bodocuments.htm#funds.
Taking pains to be digestible.
Books keep multiplying
In September, too, BO went along
collecting information for the Mercator Centre project on subsidising
translations (see previous memos).
We take country by country. On the
average, the number of new books has grown by about 50% during the past decade
everywhere. This is amazing, especially if one considers that the amount of
texts - including literature - stored and disclosed digitally, probably has
grown over 500% (if not 5000) in the same period.
The variety of offer has tremendously
multiplied in our lifetime. Much more difficult to discern the time that people
devote to reading, traditional books or downloaded files.
Comparing translation output
Analysing the figures of Canada, BO was
not surprised to find that translations to and from French and English dominate
the scene; yet we were quite uncertain about the rest of the list. Could you
have guessed the following order: German - Italian - Spanish - Latin - Dutch -
Russian? Next comes Cree, with 83 titles translated from this native American
language over twenty years. (The period of 1979-2000 was covered.)
Czech figures are of course different,
with English - German - French topping the list. The fourth position of Italian
lends itself to comparing the two countries: 378 books were translated into
Czech against 340 into one or other Canadian language. The total number of
Canadian titles being about double that of the Czech Republic, the proportion
of Italian translations is about half in Canada. We found two years only when
the number of literary titles translated from Italian exceeded 20: 1994 in Czechia and 1999 in Canada.
Erratum
Sometimes BO is asked to correct items of
our memos. Sometimes we give in. Go to http://www.budobs.org/MemoAug03.htm,
‘Creative potentials in Vienna'.
Fundtracer
Whether BO found it by incidence, or was
alerted by someone, we do not remember. However, we have been following the
steps of Fundtracer with sympathetic curiosity. They promise to collect and
display info about conditions and chances of getting money for culture, for the
time being in four countries. They seem to manage, there are new items every
time you click on http://www.fundtracer.org/.
Some children's diseases add to the
charm. The title ‘Milano Film Festival' takes you to Germany and informs about
the rich cultural activities of the city of - Salzburg.
BO is
uncertain about the shopping trolley icon though. Are we expected to pay later
on?
|
