We're RTRACTION, and we love the arts.That's why we're giving away $25,000 worth of design, strategy, and/or communication services to one deserving arts organization.

WHO CAN APPLY? YOU... if you are an individual or part of an organization working in any aspects of arts or culture, and you're in Canada.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Your application, along with the others we receive, will be judged by our team along with a panel of notables from the visual, performing and literary arts world.

WHAT ARE THE TIMELINES? Apply by September 30, 2014. Judging will be completed by October 31. Applicants, including the winner, will be notified by November 7. And then we'll start the project, whatever that turns out to be.

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Government hopes $20 Vale Cultura voucher will encourage poorest Brazilians to sample wider range of cultural pursuits.
Andrew Downie for the Washington Post, Guardian Weekly, 21 February 2014 
   Like millions of other Sao Paulo residents, Telma Rodrigues spends a large part of her day going to and from work. She hates the commute, and not just because public transport is packed, slow and inefficient. She finds it boring.
   Now there is light at the end of the tunnel. As of last month, the Brazilian government is giving people such as Rodrigues a "cultural coupon" worth $20 a month - enough, the 26-year-old said, to buy a book to enliven her daily ride. The money, loaded on a magnetic card, is designated for purposes broadly termed cultural - though that could include dance lessons and visits to the circus in addition to books and movie tickets. In a country still battling high levels of poverty, the initiative has won widespread praise as a worthy and yet relatively cheap project. But it has still provoked questions. Is it the state's job to fund culture? How will poor Brazilians use the money? How do you, or even should you, convince people their money will be better spent on Jules Verne rather than Justin Bieber?
   "What we'd really like is that they try new things," culture minister Marta Suplicy said in a telephone interview. "We want people to go to the theatre they wanted to go to, to the museum they wanted to go to, to buy the book they wanted to read."
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August 12, 2013, The Getty Trust

LOS ANGELES—The Getty announced today that it was lifting restrictions on the use of images to which the Getty holds all the rights or are in the public domain. Getty President and CEO Jim Cuno made the announcement in a post on The Iris, the Getty’s blog.

"As of today, the Getty makes available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds all the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose," wrote Cuno, citing the new program. 

As a result, there are roughly 4,600 images from the J. Paul Getty Museum available in high resolution on the Getty's website for use without restriction—representing 4,689 objects (some images show more than one object), including paintings, drawings, manuscripts, photographs, antiquities and sculpture and decorative arts. The Getty plans to add other images, until eventually all applicable Getty-owned or public domain images are available, without restrictions, online. 

The Getty Research Institute is currently determining which images from its special collections can be made available under this program, and the Getty Conservation Institute is working to make available images from its projects worldwide.

"The Museum is delighted to make these images available as the first step in a Getty-wide move toward open content," said J. Paul Getty Museum Director Timothy Potts. "The Getty’s collections are greatly in demand for publications, research and a variety of personal uses, and I am pleased that with this initiative they will be readily available on a global basis to anyone with Internet access."

Previously, the Getty Museum made images available upon request, for a fee, and granted specific use permissions with terms and conditions. Now, while the Getty requests information about the intended use, it will not restrict use of available images, and no fees apply for any use of images made available for direct download on the website.

"The Getty was founded to promote 'the diffusion of artistic and general knowledge' of the visual arts, and this new program arises directly from that mission," said Cuno. "In a world where, increasingly, the trend is toward freer access to more and more information and resources, it only makes sense to reduce barriers to the public to fully experience our collections."

"This is part of an ongoing effort to make the work of the Getty freely and universally available," said Cuno.

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The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations:  the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu.

The J. Paul Getty Museum collects in seven distinct areas, including Greek and Roman antiquities, European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts, and photographs gathered internationally. The Museum's mission is to make the collection meaningful and attractive to a broad audience by presenting and interpreting the works of art through educational programs, special exhibitions, publications, conservation, and research.

Additional information is available at www.getty.edu.
Sign up for e-Getty at www.getty.edu/subscribe to receive free monthly highlights of events at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa via e-mail, or visit www.getty.edu for a complete calendar of public programs.

ArtInfo by Graham Fuller, July 1, 2013 - Viewers unwilling to hike to their nearest cinema to see “A Field in England” when it opens in the UK on July 5 will be able to watch it the same day on broadcast television, via VOD, or buy it on DVD. The unique multi-platforming of Ben Wheatley’s movie, a cryptic drama set during the English Civil War, is likely to change the way movies are consumed — and not only in Britain.

Developed by Wheatley and his partner Amy Jump’s Rook Films with Film 4’s experimental Film4.0 production wing, “A Field in England” was shot in the open air in 12 days. It was financed by the distributor-exhibitor Picturehouse, the Film 4 Channel, and 4DVD with support from the British Film Institute’s New Models distribution fund.

  According to The Independent, Wheatley struck a deal with Film 4 to screen the digitally shot monochrome movie on the free-view television service “after making it on a budget of just £300,000 — a fraction of the normal cost of a television period drama.” Read more