Bookmarks for February 28th through March 8th

These are my links for February 28th through March 8th:

• The Barbados Advocate – Culture Minister Lashley pledges to boost island’s cultural industries – “In the near future, my Ministry will take steps to create a similar programme locally, so that we can provide guidance and opportunities to those of our young people who currently see themselves as being marginalised, existing on the periphery of our society, and unable to qualify for entry into the traditional job markets,” Minister Lashley told patrons attending the official opening of the ‘Black Diaspora Visual Arts International and Caribbean Workshop Series and Moving Image Film Presentations’ at the Savannah Hotel.
• BBC News – Glasgow’s cultural sector ‘booming’ – Two decades after his first report into the impact of 1990, analyst John Myerscough found the number of live performances – whether music, theatre or dance – had risen by 82% since 1992.
• Dominican movie studio: A message to Caribbean private sector – DominicanToday.com – The new Dominican Republic company is aimed at the rapidly growing entertainment market in the Americas and will in part focus on the US$2.7 billion Caribbean, Central and South American market, placing an emphasis on the Hispanic and other communities in the Americas, producing everything from soaps to feature length movies. The investment was helped by the Dominican Congress passing late in 2010 a bill providing tax credits of up to twenty five per cent for feature films and TV series shot in the Dominican Republic.
• Culture Count: Quantifying Albuquerque’s creative economy | New Mexico Business Weekly – A new initiative will examine the impact of the cultural economy in Albuquerque.The city of Albuquerque is financing a year-long initiative, called the ABQ Culture Count Project, to examine arts businesses, nonprofit arts organizations and their patrons, and their role in the local economy, as well as how they are faring in the recession.<br />
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  Read more: Culture Count: Quantifying Albuquerque’s creative economy | New Mexico Business Weekly
• ONE.org Africa Blog – The last decade has seen an explosion in the entertainment sector in Africa, from Nollywood’s growth to a reputed $250 million industry, the emergence of several award winning authors, and the development of world class musical stars who are giving foreign acts stiff competition on the continent. It is not unusual to see the crowd in a nightclub in Lagos, Accra or Nairobi go wild when the DJ switches from an American to a local artist. This trend has also spread into the fashion industry. I was pleasantly surprised to notice on a recent trip to Nigeria, that my peers now find it more appropriate to wear traditional attire.
• British Council – The Creative Cities project helps you to make your city a better place to live, work and play in. Whether you are a town planner, an architect, a city administrator, an artist, an NGO, a social worker, or simply someone who cares about where you live, this website has something for you. It gives you new ideas, new contacts, and new tools to use in your work.
• Understanding the Social Media ROI Cycle – My conclusion is that there are three distinct stages to this process, which I’m calling the Social Media ROI Cycle. My rough estimate is that about 50% of the business community is still in the Launch stage, about 40% is in the Management stage and about 10% is in the Optimization stage.
• [object HTMLCollection] – Staged at the Tainan Cultural and Creative Industries Park, the event features design competitions, exhibitions, musical and theatrical performances and visits to local scenic assets. These include historical buildings, rural villages, temples, salt pans and coffee plantations.
• CreateSmart Initiative helps creative industries explore overseas markets – As part of its continuing efforts to drive the development of creative industries, Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) has sponsored the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) to implement projects that support local creative talent to engage in overseas competitions and exchanges. These projects, namely Hong Kong Short Film: New Action Express, Animation Lab and Kaleidoscope – History of Hong Kong Comics Touring Exhibition, have received funding support from the CreateSmart Initiative (CSI).
• Bread ‘n Molasses » Music Industry Development Program Accepting Applications – The program now comprises four components which offer financial support to the New Brunswick music industry.<br />
  The four components are:<br />
  ?    Album Production;?    Marketing and Promotion;?    Business and Professional Development for Music Industry Professionals; and?    Emerging Artist
• Introducing Colorado Creates – The Denver Egotist – Their solution: establish an online community where creative individuals and businesses across the state could share their work, communicate and collaborate with others. Sound familiar? After months of research, countless trips between Denver and Boulder, and a whole lot of Colorado pride, www.ColoradoCreates.org was born. Their aim is to gather thousands of voices to help tell the world that Colorado is the state of creativity.
• Philip Glass establishes annual arts festival near Carmel, debuting in August | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times – Composer Philip Glass will launch an eclectic annual arts festival in August, with music, dance, theater, poetry and film offerings at Hidden Valley, an arts training center near Carmel.
• Wisconsin is making the battle lines clear in America’s hidden class war | Gary Younge | Comment is free | The Guardian – As the prospect of becoming rich diminishes, many are simply trying not to become poor. Inequality of income and wealth has been more readily accepted in the US because equality of opportunity has long been assumed. The absence of the latter raises serious questions about the existence of the former.
• Press Releases – CCI – “The goal of the Digital Media Symposium is to bring together national and local visionary leaders and artists in film, cable and broadcasting, gaming and mobile industries to discuss the potential for collaboration as well as the evolution of new technology on creative innovation, specifically in entertainment-based digital media.”
• The Reporter – Belize Receives US $3 Million Line of Credit From CARICOM – Belize has received a US$3 million line of credit from the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF). Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow and CDF’s Chief Executive Officer, His Excellency Lorne McDonnough, signed the official loan agreement on Monday, February 21.