I read with some puzzlement an email from Tom Whitwell (essentially what he later published in his blog for all intents and purposes) regarding the trouble that STEIM, a Dutch electronic-music think tank, is in. Apparently, their funding is likely to be pulled, because they "only appeal to a niche audience," according to the Dutch government official in charge of such things. I hadn't, to the best of my knowledge, heard of STEIM prior to the email from Tom. I know about the Cracklebox, of course, but to hold that up as a shining example of government funded music research is perhaps a mistake, especially if you're thinking of the other well-known electronic music think-tank that relies largely on government funding, IRCAM. Of course, I (and most anybody who's interest in creating electronic music goes beyond finding cracked VST plugins for their cracked FL Studio install so they can work on the latest Justice rippoff) am fully aware of what IRCAM hath wrought. While the music that emanates from those hallowed halls is generally much the same as the ambient noises generated by my kitchen (and that's not a bad thing; it just is) they do shit out a surprising amount of software and research in to DSP for musical use, and we all benefit from that. Furthermore, please don't take this the wrong way. I'm just not going to jump on a bandwagon and beg the readers of this site to do something I don't fully understand just because some Dutch guys came up with the Cracklebox. I have no desire whatsoever to offend anyone, at least in this particular instance. So, now that I've mea culpa'd everything I've said so far in to essential non-existence, I have two questions. One is specific, and you can answer if you have direct knowledge. The other is more general, and is open to everyone. Please understand that (absolutely unlike my normal remarks) I'm not asking these questions to be snide. I'm genuinely curious and consider myself not knowledgeable enough on the subject at hand to make an informed decision. So, with that out of the way: 1. What has STEIM done for me lately? I'll gladly throw my support (which includes begging for your support, something worth considering because there are quite a few of you) behind something with merit, but there isn't a lot to glean from the website other than some tweaky software that isn't very well updated, and a concert series. Someone from STEIM is more than welcome to post some thoughts in this regard. Tell us what it is you do. 2. This is more of a meta-topic, really, on the nature of government-funded research in the fields of creating and performing music. This is obviously far more common in Europe than the United States. To the best of my knowledge, the vast majority of research in to performance methods and expanding same in the United States takes place at the MIT Media Lab. The NEA (for those of you not Americans, the National Endowment for the Arts) does issue some grants for electronic music, but nothing on the order of what IRCAM (or I assume STEIM) does. Obviously, while government funding is pretty sweet, the main purpose of European countries funding such things is not for the betterment of mankind, but to compete with the MIT Media Lab and America's vast store of garage tinkerers. (We have a fuck of a lot of garages here.) Is this, in actual fact, kosher? Does anyone here have experience with creating or inventing under the auspices of the government of your respective country? How does it work in Japan? These are the things I'm curious about. Anyhow, I just want to reiterate that I'm not trying to be mean to STEIM the way I would be to Digidesign. Obviously they in no way merit the kind of flippant remarks I have been known to make from time to time. It's just that I'm not a bandwagon-jumper, and I don't know why my help was solicited or what good it would do, and whether these guys are actually serious scholars sitting around thinking big thoughts or a bunch of hippies living together in an Amsterdam loft smoking weed and beating each other with MIDI-enabled wiffle-ball bats.

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