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Are the World's Leading Financial Centers Also Its Leaders in the Arts? To what degree are the world's leading financial centers also leading centers for the arts? A new study by Monika Skórska and Robert Kloosterman of the University of Amsterdam takes an empirical look. Many have noted a possible connection between the two. While some believe leadership in arts and finance are twin characteristics of leading global cities, others, mainly economists, argue that leadership in the arts comes only after and as a byproduct of economic leadership. Despite these assertions, the study points out, there has has been little systematic empirical research of the connection between finance and arts across global cities. The study examines this possible connection in a set of large global cities, comparing the rankings to the Global Financial Centres Index and their own new measures of arts based on the frequency and scale of artistic events. The first chart below (from the study) shows the top 36 world cities on the Global Financial Centres Index. London takes first, followed by New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai. The second chart (also from the study) shows the top 36 cities on the authors' own Global Arts Centers Index. There is some overlap, but the lists are far from identical. New York takes first place, Berlin is second, and London drops to third. Tokyo takes fourth, and Paris fifth. The researchers then plotted the two rankings on a single chart (below). The connection between finance and arts seems to hold only at the very top of the urban hierarchy — in the world's largest and most economically powerful cities, such as London, New York, and Tokyo, and to a lesser extent in San Francisco, Seoul, and Frankfurt. The study concludes that: All in all, even though we recognize a certain overlap between the Global Arts Centers and Global Financial Centers, we see it as not sufficient to conclude that the world of finance shapes the world of arts. There is no straightforward relationship between being a Global Financial Center and a Global Arts Center. A 44 percent overlap and a similar geographic pattern suggests that surely there are certain factors pivotal for development of Global Financial Centers that will be important for creating a thriving arts scene, Global Arts Centers, as well. We expect some factors such as urban population or the overall economic performance to be conducive to both a thriving financial sector and a flourishing arts scene. However, we see this as not sufficient to prove that a financial activity would actually drive cities’ arts activity, especially considering that some cities with an excellent performance as a financial center– i.e. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai – are still not appearing on our radar of Global Arts Centers. And vice versa, some of the most artistically exciting cities – Berlin, Vienna and Los Angeles are apparently driven by factors not directly related to financial services. They are exploiting other sources to thrive as Global Arts Centers. The relationship between finance and arts is complex. While the two are related in the world's largest and most economically powerful cities, a number of patterns come through from this analysis. It is certainly not that artistic success simply follows from the level of development. Affluence does not in effect buy artistic success. There are quite a few cities that are financial centers but lack artistic excellence, while many of the world's leading artistic centers rank much further down on artistic success. European cities in particular seem to have higher levels of artistic excellence above and beyond their global economic and financial prowess. The study is an interesting start, but much more research needs to be done using better indicators and across a larger sample of global cities. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/10/are-worlds-leading-financial-centers-also-its-leaders-arts/3468/

Interesting article in this week's New York Village Voice. Although there's a mistake as Toqué is not on St-Denis street anymore... and its been a while! http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-12-15/restaurants/exploring-the-montreal-new-york-food-connection/

Terror Center: Montreal, terror capitol of North America The RCMP (Canada’s equivalent to the FBI) has arrested a Montreal area man involved in yet another international plot to commit terror. CTV- Quebecer arrested in connection with terror plot VIENNA, Austria — A 35-year-old Quebec resident has been arrested in connection with an alleged threat to bomb targets outside Canada. The RCMP says Said Namouh was arrested yesterday in Maskinonge, Quebec, northeast of Montreal. Namouh faces conspiracy charges and is slated to make a court appearance in Montreal tomorrow morning. RCMP say he was arrested in connection with an Austrian investigation into an online threat against Austria and Germany. Austrian authorities say they rounded up three alleged al Qaeda sympathizers earlier this week — two men and a woman, all Austrian citizens in their 20s and of Arab origin. They believe the three are linked with a video that surfaced in March threatening to attack Germany and Austria unless the two countries withdrew their personnel from Afghanistan. Perfect Storm Montreal is traditionally a port / gateway city that now features an exploding Arabic & Muslim population. Fancying itself ‘European’, the city sports liberal bordering on criminally lax security, a native french population that is radically left, & thus naturally sympathetic to so called ‘resistance’ and anti-Americanism, while harboring at the same time deep antithesis to religion, Israel and Jews in particular. Quebecers are statistically speaking the most anti-Semitic population group in Canada. During last summer’s Lebanon conflict with Hezbollah tens of thousands marched in the city in support of the terror group, including prominent Quebec politicians. Quebec’s population has never supported the Afghanistan mission, or the liberation of Iraq. The city has been featured as one of the leading grounds for terror fundraising & recruiting on the North American continent, and is ceaselessly in the news due to the fact that it is a both breeding ground for terrorists, as well as a convenient safe-haven. Who? Us? But if you were to ask Government officials, law enforcement, or the average Quebecer they would deny it all.. Unfortunately the facts speak for themselves. Please see the following posts for an endless litany of embarrassing and dangerous terror ties featuring Quebec & Montreal, the terror capitol of North America, and this is just the tip of the iceberg: http://hashmonean.com/2007/09/14/terror-center-montreal-terror-capitol-of-north-america/