Senegalese artist Omar Ba is the new rising star in the world of contemporary African art. He explores colonialism, violence & hope through his art.

Omar Ba is a Senegalese art sensation who explores colonialism, violence & hope

In pics - The life and art of renowned French street artist Miss.Tic

Stitching together discarded mobile phone keyboards to make art, Ivorian artist Mounou Desire Koffi hopes to raise awareness about pollution.

"I wanted to contribute something new," said the artist, whose work is on display in Abidjan until July.

In his studio in Bingerville, near the Ivorian business capital, the 28-year-old describes himself as "young contemporary artist" who wants to stand out from the crowd.

"I've been passionate about drawing since childhood. It was always me the teacher would send to the blackboard to illustrate lessons," he says.

When he decided he wanted to go to art school, his parents, who worked as farmers in southwestern Ivory Coast, had no idea what it was. His art teacher had to visit to persuade them to let him go.

After graduating at the top of his class from the Abidjan Art School, he started looking for old mobile phone keyboards and screens on roadsides, in gutters and in rubbish tips.

"Now I have a whole team that is paid according to the quality of what they turn up with," he says.

"I told them: 'Stop throwing things away. Bring them to me and we can work with them.'"

'Solve a problem'

In his studio, someone has dropped off bags brimming with mobile phone spare parts.

Koffi dives into a pile of keyboards and screens to find those he needs.

Placing them side by side on the canvas, he creates colourful human silhouettes in urban settings.

Some of his works sell for up to $1,500.

He says the aim is to try to "solve a problem" in a country where rubbish sorting is almost non-existent, and most household waste ends up in piles in the street.

"Most of my works reflect man's day-to-day existence in society," he said.

"I think phones are the tools that are most close to us at the moment. We have almost everything stored in our phones."

The artist, who had exhibited his works in Morocco, Belgium and France, says his works seek to spark reflection about waste.

"We find all sorts of things in our dustbins... I'm trying to make people more aware."

Keen to reflect current debates, Koffi has in his paintings portrayed pollution, but also floods, traffic jams and child soldiers.&nbsp;

One of his latest series, titled "Life here", recounts daily life in Abidjan.

After a first exhibition in the coastal town of Bassam, his work is now on show until July at the capital's Donwahi Foundation.

Stitching together discarded mobile phone keyboards to make art, Ivorian artist Mounou Desire Koffi hopes to raise awareness about pollution. "I wanted to contribute something new," said the artist, whose work is on display in Abidjan until July.

Stitching together discarded mobile phone keyboards to make art, Ivorian artist Mounou Desire Koffi hopes to raise awareness about pollution. "I wanted to contribute something new," said the artist, whose work is on display in Abidjan until July. In his studio in Bingerville, near the Ivorian business capital, the 28-year-old describes himself as "young contemporary artist" who wants to stand out from the crowd. "I've been passionate about drawing since childhood. It was always me the teacher would send to the blackboard to illustrate lessons," he says. When he decided he wanted to go to art school, his parents, who worked as farmers in southwestern Ivory Coast, had no idea what it was. His art teacher had to visit to persuade them to let him go. After graduating at the top of his class from the Abidjan Art School, he started looking for old mobile phone keyboards and screens on roadsides, in gutters and in rubbish tips. "Now I have a whole team that is paid according to the quality of what they turn up with," he says. "I told them: 'Stop throwing things away. Bring them to me and we can work with them.'" 'Solve a problem' In his studio, someone has dropped off bags brimming with mobile phone spare parts. Koffi dives into a pile of keyboards and screens to find those he needs. Placing them side by side on the canvas, he creates colourful human silhouettes in urban settings. Some of his works sell for up to $1,500. He says the aim is to try to "solve a problem" in a country where rubbish sorting is almost non-existent, and most household waste ends up in piles in the street. "Most of my works reflect man's day-to-day existence in society," he said. "I think phones are the tools that are most close to us at the moment. We have almost everything stored in our phones." The artist, who had exhibited his works in Morocco, Belgium and France, says his works seek to spark reflection about waste. "We find all sorts of things in our dustbins... I'm trying to make people more aware." Keen to reflect current debates, Koffi has in his paintings portrayed pollution, but also floods, traffic jams and child soldiers. One of his latest series, titled "Life here", recounts daily life in Abidjan. After a first exhibition in the coastal town of Bassam, his work is now on show until July at the capital's Donwahi Foundation.

Ivory Coast artist recasts old mobile phones into art

Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, global condemnation and local dissent are having no effect on the Russian offensive. Now, Russian authorities called peace art in the form of murals not welcome.

Peace art no longer welcome: Russian authorities move against any signs of dissent

Nepal’s Paubha art involves strict purity rituals and religious traditions. This artist from Kathmandu is reinventing the Paubha tradition in the 21st century. Mariam Wardak gets you a report.

South Asia Diary | Reviving Nepal's iconic Paubha art

Art is a highly specialised field. Only experts get to become curators of art museums. But not anymore. Well, really as The Baltimore Museum of Art has given this job to 17 officers of its security team. &nbsp;

The exhibition named "Guarding the Art" displays 25 unique works, which have been selected by the members of the team. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/drinking-coffee-can-protect-heart-instead-of-triggering-ailments-help-to-live-longer-says-study-465642" hreflang="en">Drinking coffee can protect heart instead of triggering ailments, help to live longer, says study &nbsp;</a>

It is open from March 27 to July 10.&nbsp;The exhibition will give&nbsp;guests a glimpse into the world of art through the eyes of the guards, who watch over it.

So, wondering whose idea it was? The answer is Amy Elias, one of the museum's trustees. &nbsp;

Watch:&nbsp;The US, allies discuss further oil release due to the rise in gas prices worldwide

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A conversation with a friend led to consider "how the guards spend more time with art than anyone else. And so, I went home at night and I thought, well, wouldn't it be interesting to hear from the guards about what pieces of work they find most meaningful?" Elias told CNN. &nbsp;

Rob Kempton, who has been a part of the BMA's security team since 2016, was elated at the opportunity. "I had never been a security guard before. But working at the BMA, being surrounded by art, was something that struck me as important," Kempton told CNN. &nbsp;&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Art is a highly specialised field. Only experts get to become curators of art museums. But not anymore. Well, really as The Baltimore Museum of Art has given this job to 17 officers of its security team.

Art is a highly specialised field. Only experts get to become curators of art museums. But not anymore. Well, really as The Baltimore Museum of Art has given this job to 17 officers of its security team. The exhibition named "Guarding the Art" displays 25 unique works, which have been selected by the members of the team. Also Read: Drinking coffee can protect heart instead of triggering ailments, help to live longer, says study It is open from March 27 to July 10. The exhibition will give guests a glimpse into the world of art through the eyes of the guards, who watch over it. So, wondering whose idea it was? The answer is Amy Elias, one of the museum's trustees. Watch: The US, allies discuss further oil release due to the rise in gas prices worldwide × A conversation with a friend led to consider "how the guards spend more time with art than anyone else. And so, I went home at night and I thought, well, wouldn't it be interesting to hear from the guards about what pieces of work they find most meaningful?" Elias told CNN. Rob Kempton, who has been a part of the BMA's security team since 2016, was elated at the opportunity. "I had never been a security guard before. But working at the BMA, being surrounded by art, was something that struck me as important," Kempton told CNN. (With inputs from agencies)

Anything possible? Security guards turn art museum curators in US  

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei captures the transience of life with his latest creation, a huge chandelier of bones and organs made out of glass

Huge chandelier of skeletons and body parts reflects war and COVID

Jesstoni Garcia, the co-owner of a Manila hair salon creates unusual art with his hair. Whenever he takes electric clippers to his head, he creates art material out of it.

Filipino artist uses own hair to create unusual portraits

For a suburban-Chicago toy company, it has been unbelievable lately. The owner says what started out as a simple fundraising idea quickly ballooned into something much bigger and now, they've raised a whopping amount for Ukraine.

How art is combating war in Ukraine?

The exhibition titled Women and Change has begun in Denmark's Arken museum. It depicts 150 years of female art history.

150 years of female art history: The exhibition titled 'Women and Change' begins in Denmark

150 years of female art history: The exhibition titled 'Women and Change' begins

Afghan activist Omaid, who fled Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover, wishes to revive the Afghan art scene in Afghanistan.

Afghan activist who fled Afghanistan amid Taliban takeover vows to revive Afghan art

Metropolitan Museum of art in New York showcases European art pieces such as teapots which inspired many Walt Disney's classic animated movies over the years.

Metropolitan Museum of Art showcases iconic teapots that inspired Walt Disney's animations

Like many museums around the country, the Art Institute of Chicago has been trying to forge closer ties with the racially and economically diverse city it serves. Museum officials decided that one area in need of an overhaul was its 60-year-old program of volunteer educators, known as docents, who greet school groups and lead tours.

So last month the board overseeing the program sent a letter to the museum’s 82 active docents — most of whom were white, older women — informing the volunteers that their program was being ended. The letter said that the museum would phase in a new model relying on paid educators and volunteers “in a way that allows community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility to participate.”

The move has erupted into the latest cultural flashpoint as museums around the country wrestle with making their staffs, boards and programming more diverse.

The docents — longtime, dedicated volunteers who know the Institute and its collections intimately — lamented the decision. The Chicago Tribune denounced the move in an editorial headlined “Shame on the Art Institute for summarily canning its volunteer docents.” Conservative media decried the plan as discrimination against white people and an example of what The Federalist called “the cult of wokeness.” Infowars, a site founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, ran an article about it.

James Rondeau, the institute’s director, said in an interview that the docents program had long been viewed as logistically unsustainable, and that the Institute had stopped adding new volunteers 12 years ago. He said that the recent vitriol had taken a severe toll on the institution and its staff.

“Clearly, we were not prepared for this to become a discussion of identity politics,” he said. “We are only focused on our mission.”

In the Sept. 3 letter ending the program, Veronica Stein, executive director of learning and public engagement for the museum’s Woman’s Board, which supports education activities, said that the museum wanted to “rebuild our program from the ground up.”

The new plan calls for hiring paid educators — Stein invited the volunteers to apply for those positions — and then developing a new program over the next few years. In 2023, she wrote, “unpaid volunteer educators will be reintroduced via a redesigned model” that includes updated protocols for “recruitment, application, training and assessment.” She offered the departing docents museum memberships.

Stein in an interview said she had been taken aback by the sharply negative reactions. “The violent, weaponizing language an overwhelming number of people are using in letters and emails to describe the museum’s evolution has been startling and, if I’m being honest, scary,” she said. “As a result, the museum now has increased security. Our front-line staff have already experienced erratic and harmful behavior. Our goal now is getting the facts out and keeping our staff safe.”

A number of museums have been trying to address how to get more people of color into the hiring pipeline, in part by removing financial barriers. Organizations such as the Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement encourage nonprofit and government organizations “to engage volunteers who reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the communities they serve.” And there have been widespread calls for salary reforms, since systems that rely on unpaid volunteers and interns tend to favor those who can afford to work for little to nothing.

The question of diversifying and training docents has come up a number of times in recent years. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston publicly committed to “changing protocols and procedures for front-line staff and guards, articulating our expectations for visitor, staff and volunteer behavior, and enhancing ongoing training for all staff and volunteers” after seventh-graders and a teacher said they had been subjected to racist remarks by staff and other visitors during a 2019 field trip. And a 2020 article in Slate headlined “Museums Have a Docent Problem” described what it called “the struggle to train a mostly white, unpaid tour guide corps to talk about race.”

The docents at institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston are all volunteers. “For many years we have worked concertedly to attract a diverse corps of docents,” said Gary Tinterow, the Houston museum’s director, “and we look forward to continued diversification of staff and volunteers.”

At the Met, 400 of the museum’s 1,000 volunteers are docents, whose program “will continue to evolve,” said Daniel Weiss, president and CEO. “It is incumbent on all institutions to ensure that their programs and policies are aligned with their values and responsive to current needs.”

The Art Institute of Chicago’s docents council has urged the museum to revisit its decision and consider alternatives.

“We agree that the museum, from top to bottom, must better reflect the Chicago area community that it serves,” the council wrote in a letter to Rondeau last month. “We also believe that our knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment can contribute to achieving our mutual goal — the museum’s and ours — of making the museum a more welcome place for all.”

The Chicago Tribune editorial described the dismissal of the docents as “a callous move in a cruel time in America” and called on Rondeau to “apologize and find some kind of compromise that does not involve the spectacle of long-serving devotees of a great museum left to feel like they’ve been put out with the gift-store trash.”

Robert Levy, the Art Institute’s chair, responded with a defense of the decision in the Tribune, writing that officials were taking “thoughtful and measured steps” to pursue “a new national art education model.”

He wrote that “the decision of many in our community to view this as an indictment of their own identity” was “misaligned and disregards the driving force behind the program: to better serve Chicago-area students and visitors and foster lifelong relationships with art.”

But the controversy has hardly abated. “In the name of what they call civic-minded diversity, the museum has thrown overboard a group of people who actually see it as their duty to help the public understand art,” said an essay in The Wall Street Journal. “That’s not very civic-minded, is it?”

Stein said that the museum was simply trying to rebuild the program, and complained that the museum’s motivations and plans had been mischaracterized. “We can lose focus on the amazing opportunity we have to pay educators,” she said, “especially when we live in a society where that is not the standard.”

An advisory council that will guide the museum through the process will include docents, she added.

Gigi Vaffis, president of the docents council, said she and her colleagues “were surprised, disappointed and dismayed” by Stein’s letter.

“Regardless of our age, regardless of our gender, regardless of our income level, we know the Art Institute’s collection extremely well and are highly trained to facilitate arts engagement across diverse audiences,” said Vaffis, who has worked as a volunteer for about 20 years. “Our goal is to facilitate tour conversations that are as dynamic as the audiences we serve.

“We have such value, knowledge, experience and passion — I wish the museum had recognized what we bring to the table. I wish they would reconsider and bring us back.”

Like many museums around the country, the Art Institute of Chicago has been trying to forge closer ties with the racially and economically diverse city it serves.

Like many museums around the country, the Art Institute of Chicago has been trying to forge closer ties with the racially and economically diverse city it serves. Museum officials decided that one area in need of an overhaul was its 60-year-old program of volunteer educators, known as docents, who greet school groups and lead tours. So last month the board overseeing the program sent a letter to the museum’s 82 active docents — most of whom were white, older women — informing the volunteers that their program was being ended. The letter said that the museum would phase in a new model relying on paid educators and volunteers “in a way that allows community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility to participate.” The move has erupted into the latest cultural flashpoint as museums around the country wrestle with making their staffs, boards and programming more diverse. The docents — longtime, dedicated volunteers who know the Institute and its collections intimately — lamented the decision. The Chicago Tribune denounced the move in an editorial headlined “Shame on the Art Institute for summarily canning its volunteer docents.” Conservative media decried the plan as discrimination against white people and an example of what The Federalist called “the cult of wokeness.” Infowars, a site founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, ran an article about it. James Rondeau, the institute’s director, said in an interview that the docents program had long been viewed as logistically unsustainable, and that the Institute had stopped adding new volunteers 12 years ago. He said that the recent vitriol had taken a severe toll on the institution and its staff. “Clearly, we were not prepared for this to become a discussion of identity politics,” he said. “We are only focused on our mission.” In the Sept. 3 letter ending the program, Veronica Stein, executive director of learning and public engagement for the museum’s Woman’s Board, which supports education activities, said that the museum wanted to “rebuild our program from the ground up.” The new plan calls for hiring paid educators — Stein invited the volunteers to apply for those positions — and then developing a new program over the next few years. In 2023, she wrote, “unpaid volunteer educators will be reintroduced via a redesigned model” that includes updated protocols for “recruitment, application, training and assessment.” She offered the departing docents museum memberships. Stein in an interview said she had been taken aback by the sharply negative reactions. “The violent, weaponizing language an overwhelming number of people are using in letters and emails to describe the museum’s evolution has been startling and, if I’m being honest, scary,” she said. “As a result, the museum now has increased security. Our front-line staff have already experienced erratic and harmful behavior. Our goal now is getting the facts out and keeping our staff safe.” A number of museums have been trying to address how to get more people of color into the hiring pipeline, in part by removing financial barriers. Organizations such as the Minnesota Alliance for Volunteer Advancement encourage nonprofit and government organizations “to engage volunteers who reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the communities they serve.” And there have been widespread calls for salary reforms, since systems that rely on unpaid volunteers and interns tend to favor those who can afford to work for little to nothing. The question of diversifying and training docents has come up a number of times in recent years. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston publicly committed to “changing protocols and procedures for front-line staff and guards, articulating our expectations for visitor, staff and volunteer behavior, and enhancing ongoing training for all staff and volunteers” after seventh-graders and a teacher said they had been subjected to racist remarks by staff and other visitors during a 2019 field trip. And a 2020 article in Slate headlined “Museums Have a Docent Problem” described what it called “the struggle to train a mostly white, unpaid tour guide corps to talk about race.” The docents at institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston are all volunteers. “For many years we have worked concertedly to attract a diverse corps of docents,” said Gary Tinterow, the Houston museum’s director, “and we look forward to continued diversification of staff and volunteers.” At the Met, 400 of the museum’s 1,000 volunteers are docents, whose program “will continue to evolve,” said Daniel Weiss, president and CEO. “It is incumbent on all institutions to ensure that their programs and policies are aligned with their values and responsive to current needs.” The Art Institute of Chicago’s docents council has urged the museum to revisit its decision and consider alternatives. “We agree that the museum, from top to bottom, must better reflect the Chicago area community that it serves,” the council wrote in a letter to Rondeau last month. “We also believe that our knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment can contribute to achieving our mutual goal — the museum’s and ours — of making the museum a more welcome place for all.” The Chicago Tribune editorial described the dismissal of the docents as “a callous move in a cruel time in America” and called on Rondeau to “apologize and find some kind of compromise that does not involve the spectacle of long-serving devotees of a great museum left to feel like they’ve been put out with the gift-store trash.” Robert Levy, the Art Institute’s chair, responded with a defense of the decision in the Tribune, writing that officials were taking “thoughtful and measured steps” to pursue “a new national art education model.” He wrote that “the decision of many in our community to view this as an indictment of their own identity” was “misaligned and disregards the driving force behind the program: to better serve Chicago-area students and visitors and foster lifelong relationships with art.” But the controversy has hardly abated. “In the name of what they call civic-minded diversity, the museum has thrown overboard a group of people who actually see it as their duty to help the public understand art,” said an essay in The Wall Street Journal. “That’s not very civic-minded, is it?” Stein said that the museum was simply trying to rebuild the program, and complained that the museum’s motivations and plans had been mischaracterized. “We can lose focus on the amazing opportunity we have to pay educators,” she said, “especially when we live in a society where that is not the standard.” An advisory council that will guide the museum through the process will include docents, she added. Gigi Vaffis, president of the docents council, said she and her colleagues “were surprised, disappointed and dismayed” by Stein’s letter. “Regardless of our age, regardless of our gender, regardless of our income level, we know the Art Institute’s collection extremely well and are highly trained to facilitate arts engagement across diverse audiences,” said Vaffis, who has worked as a volunteer for about 20 years. “Our goal is to facilitate tour conversations that are as dynamic as the audiences we serve. “We have such value, knowledge, experience and passion — I wish the museum had recognized what we bring to the table. I wish they would reconsider and bring us back.”

Art Institute of Chicago ends a docent programme, and sets off a backlash

A UK-based artist cleans up beaches in Brighton. She spends time collecting trash which is later turned into artworks. Visitors often litter the beach and hence becomes a never-ending task for Sammie Aplin.

UK artist Sammie Aplin turns beach trash into art

A Brazilian artist used ashes from Amazon wildfires to create a one-of-a-kind mural depicting a firefighter. He said that he wanted to raise awareness about the environment through his work. Take a look at this report.

Brazilian artist uses ashes from Amazon wildfires to create unique mural

At this exhibition organized by Extinction Rebellion, a group of environmental activists, artists are looking for new ways to communicate on the eco-climatic crisis, one month before the start of the COP26 Climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland.

Using art to communicate the climate crisis

Top muralists have deployed around Sao Paulo participating in a week-long festival with giant paintings of their best work, turning what once was sanctioned graffiti into art works.

Giant graffiti murals adorn Sao Paulo skyline

British fashion house Burberry deconstructed its camel trench coat for its women's spring line on Monday (September 27), removing sleeves and in some cases, its back.

Burberry shows 'animal instinct' with deconstructed trench for spring/summer 2022

If anyone doesn't need reminding that banknotes are just worthless pieces of paper, it is Zimbabweans: over a decade ago, they watched as hyperinflation obliterated their currency and led to the printing of a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note. Most bills ended up in the trash, but Zimbabwean visual artist Prudence Chimutuwah has found value in the unloved old bank notes -- by using them to make art.

Zimbabwe- based artist turns worthless old Mugabe-era banknotes into paintings

Japan, the land of anime and manga which enjoys great readership all over the world, will be getting its first high school “manga studies” department in the country, local authorities announced on Monday.

The department is expected to come up at Kumamoto Prefectural Takamori High School in the town of Takamori as early as spring 2023, the Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education said.

The move is aimed to revitalize the school by tapping both the public and private sectors to give students the opportunity to learn directly from industry experts, including professional manga artists.

Manga—commonly referred to as comics all over the world—are a part of Japanese popular culture, constituting a large market&nbsp;worth almost 613 billion Japanese yen in 2020.

Manga is a type of comic specifically produced in Japan which follows a certain style that was developed in the country as a mixture of Japanese and foreign influences.&nbsp;

According to the prefectural education board, there are already university departments and special high school courses where students can study manga to an expert level, but establishing an entire high school department dedicated to the craft is a first in Japan.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/record-breaking-japans-anime-film-demon-slayer-lands-in-us-cinemas-366564">Record-breaking Japan's anime film 'Demon Slayer' lands in U.S. cinemas</a>

Under a partnership agreement with Tokyo-based manga publisher Coamix Co., manga artists and editors will teach drawing techniques, manga knowledge, and other facets of the industry.

During the partnership agreement signing ceremony held at the Kumamoto Prefectural Government headquarters on September 8, Coamix board member Shuichi Mochida said, “We'd like to lay out a framework under which students can make their professional debut while attending the school.”

Prefectural education board head Yoichi Koga added, “We'll proceed with the preparations so that it (the new department) can become a model for enhancing the appeal of prefectural high schools.”

According to an estimate, France represents about 40% of the European manga market published in the country. In the United States, manga comprises a small (but growing) industry.

Apart from the US and Europe, manga reportedly enjoys great readership in other English-speaking nations like Canada, Australia and New Zealand with manga being quite popular in Australia compared to other English speaking countries.

(With inputs from agencies)

Japan, the land of anime and manga which enjoys great readership all over the world, will be getting its first high school “manga studies” department in the country, local authorities announced on Monday.

Japan, the land of anime and manga which enjoys great readership all over the world, will be getting its first high school “manga studies” department in the country, local authorities announced on Monday. The department is expected to come up at Kumamoto Prefectural Takamori High School in the town of Takamori as early as spring 2023, the Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education said. The move is aimed to revitalize the school by tapping both the public and private sectors to give students the opportunity to learn directly from industry experts, including professional manga artists. Manga—commonly referred to as comics all over the world—are a part of Japanese popular culture, constituting a large market worth almost 613 billion Japanese yen in 2020. Manga is a type of comic specifically produced in Japan which follows a certain style that was developed in the country as a mixture of Japanese and foreign influences. According to the prefectural education board, there are already university departments and special high school courses where students can study manga to an expert level, but establishing an entire high school department dedicated to the craft is a first in Japan. Also read | Record-breaking Japan's anime film 'Demon Slayer' lands in U.S. cinemas Under a partnership agreement with Tokyo-based manga publisher Coamix Co., manga artists and editors will teach drawing techniques, manga knowledge, and other facets of the industry. During the partnership agreement signing ceremony held at the Kumamoto Prefectural Government headquarters on September 8, Coamix board member Shuichi Mochida said, “We'd like to lay out a framework under which students can make their professional debut while attending the school.” Prefectural education board head Yoichi Koga added, “We'll proceed with the preparations so that it (the new department) can become a model for enhancing the appeal of prefectural high schools.” According to an estimate, France represents about 40% of the European manga market published in the country. In the United States, manga comprises a small (but growing) industry. Apart from the US and Europe, manga reportedly enjoys great readership in other English-speaking nations like Canada, Australia and New Zealand with manga being quite popular in Australia compared to other English speaking countries. (With inputs from agencies)

Japan to get its 1st high school ‘manga studies’ department, to start classes by 2023

Netherland is a top tourist destination due to its art and culture. The government of the Netherlands is preparing to preserve its art and culture through a collective art centre and is planning to keep around 500,000 paintings under one Roof.

Netherland to preserve collective art memory through Dutch collection centre

A new exhibition in Berlin is exploring how the favorite artists of the Nazi regime continued to work uninterrupted after the Second World War .The exhibition "Divinely Gifted" National Socialists favorite artists in the federal republic" shows how some artists that embraced the Hitler dictatorship continued to create, to teach and to make a living after 1945, without much regard to their past.

Exhibition explores what happened to Hitler's favourite artists after WWII

A traditional painting technique is seeing a revival in one of Russia's major cities. Volkhov painting, as the name would suggest, originated in the Volkhov region. Its romantic history and distinct floral patterning are now proving popular among modern day Russians.

Romantic Russian flower-painting technique revived

Cast members from revived musical comedy "Anything Goes" hope to bring some relief to audiences from the COVID-19 pandemic in one of the first major shows to open in London since the easing of restrictions in England last week.

Musical 'Anything Goes' a tonic for London audiences after COVID, says cast | WION

If you happened to stroll by Union Square in New York City on Sunday (July 25), you might have been greeted by an unusual sight: people posing nude, their bodies covered in floral designs and stars painted in bright colors. That's how a group of 26 artists and 45 models celebrated the eighth annual NYC Bodypainting Day, using the human body as their canvas to promote messages like body positivity.

Models shed clothes for annual Bodypainting Day in NYC

Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen returned to Broadway on Saturday night (June 26). The show's first run finished on December 15, 2018, but Springsteen sought to re-open Broadway performances by restarting his show.

The Boss returns to Broadway

Balconies have become the new performance space for Bolivia's National Symphony Orchestra, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of concert halls.

Bolivian orchestra delights with balcony concert for pandemic respite

On a small island where the Senegal River meets the sea, hundreds of mask-wearing jazz enthusiasts listened to French-Senegalse vocalist Awa Ly sing a blues for uncertain times. Last year COVID-19 halted Saint Louis' jazz festival for the first time in its 29-year history. This year it was back, bringing much needed life to the Island of Saint Louis, a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for its colonial architecture and pastel-coloured houses.

Jazz is back in Senegal's St Louis

After going through a period of what she describes as ''writer's block'' Australian singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia has a new album out later this year.

Natalie Imbruglia over comes writer's block, drops new single

From old denim fabrics, Afghan refugee Bagher Husseini fashioned a pair of baggy jeans with fringed patches that he hopes will be paraded down a French catwalk later this year. He's involved in a collaboration between French fashion students and migrants from Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Refugees in Paris with an eye on fashion

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