Kalistan

[Doc]

Kalistani News in Brief: Education Reform becomes Legislative Centerpiece;
New Ambassador to Luthori named in Kaliburg; Art Rocker Anne Jean adopts synth for Second Album
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
September 16, 5675


Drama Classes like this one at Vrassa Duchy University to be Emphasized across Empire

Education reform becomes Legislative Centerpiece
Inspired by educational reform movements around the region, most notably Egelion's, the National Assembly has begun to focus on introducing new "Arts-Based education" (to borrow the phrase) into Kalistani schools, especially focusing at higher education for the near term.

"We want to introduce new education of enlightenment in our colleges and universities," said Their Imperial Majesties' Education and Culture Minister Janet Simmons. "What we found was that those who study arts in secondary and post secondary school tend to take jobs in our creative sectors, sectors which seem to be getting older at a fairly regular rate. If we are going to create a generation of artists, musicians, authors, poets, performers, and architects, we should be willing to invest in arts education."

The Minister announced a raft of reforms, including removing some political education in favor of mandatory arts credits in High School, as well as increasing funding for arts faculty, facilities and equipment. The Minister also announced a nation-wide residency and patronization program for the most promising graduates. "I'd say we have been focused on stem education for years, and in the process, the arts have been de-emphasised in our colleges and universities. These reprioritizations will encourage creative people to consider the arts as a career. If we as a society value beautiful things, as I believe we do, we should be willing to take the creation of beauty up as a public matter."

The reforms will go into place with the beginning of the 5676 school year for all incoming High School freshmen. Sophomores may also opt into an arts track.

New Ambassador to Luthori named in Kaliburg
Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotential Sir Andrew Riley has been named Their Imperial Majesties' formal Ambassador to the Holy Luthori Empire. Riley will travel to Fort William to present his official credentials to the Sovereign of Luthori, Emperor Richard III, and then will take up his post in Fort William at the Kalistani Embassy. The Embassy is nearly completely reopened, though currently only consular affairs are the only services offered.

"Following the arrival of the Ambassador and the full compliment of Embassy Staff, we will be a full service diplomatic post," said Their Imperial Majesties' Foreign Minister Henry Greene. "This includes the political and economic director, all consular affairs, passports and legal affairs, and intergovernmental relations. IBSI will also have a contingent in the country for the purpose of public diplomacy and intelligence sharing between governments." The Embassy will also reopen the Embassy company barracks, where a company of Embassy Guards will billet and maintain compound internal security. The gate will, as usual, be staffed by Luthorian security.

"We are taking this unilateral step of re-establishing our Embassy in Luthori, because Their Imperial Majesties wish to open Kalistan back up to the world, and to Artania specifically," said the Foreign Minister. "Our political officer, who has been on station for several years, has reported that the political climate was conducive to this next step. We welcome Luthori to reopen their embassy in Kaliburg, but there is no way to know whether they will. Whether they do or not, that has no effect on our operations in Luthori. We can be here, so we will be here. And Their Imperial Majesties look forward to rebuilding our relationships across Artania, starting with Luthori."

Art Rocker Anne Jean adopts synth for Second Album
Still on her indie label Independent Imprint, Kaliburg Art Rock fixture Anne Jean has released her second album. For her record, Climbing Back, Jean leans fairly heavily on the guitar, as expected, but moves away from a classical motif into synthesizers.

"Well, some of that is practical," said Jean. "I wanted a band, and would have needed an orchestra." She said the move to the synthesizer allows her to put together a backing band, as well as record. "On this record, I play everything but drums. I can't do that live, obviously, but the other thing is: I didn't know how to play a lot of the analog string, brass and wind instruments I played on my first record. It just worked out that I was able to get the band together by making the switch primarily to keyboards and pedals."

Some have referred to Jeans' new approach to music as "shoegaze" but Jean pushes back against this term. "Well, they say that because I spend a lot of time with different combinations of pedals for the guitar, switching sometimes three and four times in each song. So I am looking at the ground an awful lot during the songs when I play them live. It's a pain because I like to do drugs when I play live and I gotta work a little harder to remember which combinations I am supposed to play, but its totally worth it, because the sounds we are able to create live, or on the record or whatever, they are really amazing and just uplifting..."

The album is described by critics as slightly less accessible than her debut album, but her loyal fans have already snapped up the first run of the albums and Independent Imprint is preparing to release a second run of 25,000. "It's really cool to be selling music like this," said Jean. "People are showing that they are into intelligent music, music for grown ups, and I really appreciate that."

Check out Anne Jean's new single "Get Along" from her new album Climb Back right here. This performance, while the official video, is a studio recording made specifically for the video, where she is accompanied by her Backing Band, collectively known as San Vincenzo.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZgiv2F1QY]

@TheRepublic