http://www.artsjournal.com Copyright 2008 Fri, 09 May 2008 09:47:41 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Toe shoes are a major budget expense for ballet companies. The San Francisco Ballet provides 120 pairs of pointe shoes for each of its 40 female dancers. The American Ballet Theatre in New York City sets aside $350,000 for pointe shoes per season, about $7,500 per ballerina.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/tale_of_the_toe.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/tale_of_the_toe.shtml dance Fri, 09 May 2008 09:47:41 -0800 For a company that is only two years old and slowly emerging from the shadow of the cash-strapped Victorian State Opera, which folded in 1996, surely it would have been a safer bet to stage a popular work such as La Boheme. Richard Gill is adamant on this point. If opera as an art form doesn't take risks, it will die. "Opera has been sitting in a 19th-century museum for too long."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/aussie_opera_ta.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/aussie_opera_ta.shtml music Fri, 09 May 2008 09:37:18 -0800 "Why sell the painting in Australia and not, say, New York or London? And why auction a work valued at between $5million and $7million at a time of international art market uncertainty and local nervousness about the economy?"... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/doubts_over_aus.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/doubts_over_aus.shtml visual Fri, 09 May 2008 09:31:45 -0800 "The Wiener Staatsoper, most of whose orchestra members comprise the Vienna Philharmonic, appointed a woman as its concertmaster. Albena Danailova, of Sofia, takes first chair in September. According to custom, if all goes well for two years, she will then move into the position permanently."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/shocker_staatso.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/shocker_staatso.shtml music Fri, 09 May 2008 09:06:36 -0800 "It is a festival that sometimes appears to be suffering severe personality disorder, uncertain whether it exists to celebrate art or commerce. When the two worlds collide, confusion often ensues. Parties and photo opportunities risk distracting attention from the once-important fact that there are films to be shown."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_problem_wit_10.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_problem_wit_10.shtml media Fri, 09 May 2008 05:49:29 -0800 "Out of money and having failed to reach a new labor agreement with the musicians, the orchestra's board of trustees said today that it is canceling the summer Picnic With the Pops and Popcorn Pops series and most likely its 2008-09 season, scheduled to begin in October."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/columbus_sympho_4.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/columbus_sympho_4.shtml music Thu, 08 May 2008 22:27:38 -0800 "When the new American embassy opens in Beijing just before the start of the summer Olympics in August, it will display work by at least 18 American and Chinese contemporary artists, including Jeff Koons, Cai Guo-Qiang, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Rausch-enberg, Betty Woodman, Martin Puryear, Maya Lin, Yun-Fei Ji, and Hai Bo."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/americas_new_em.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/americas_new_em.shtml visual Thu, 08 May 2008 19:31:33 -0800 "The difficulty for commercial theatre owners is that such expenditure yields no economic benefit in terms of the operational viability of their buildings. Not one more seat becomes available for sale as a result. Indeed, improving the audience experience whilst retaining the architectural qualities of the building normally means losing seats, which commercial theatres can ill afford to do."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/andrew_lloyd_we.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/andrew_lloyd_we.shtml theatre Thu, 08 May 2008 19:30:07 -0800 "The county retains the right to shutter a property for up to a year for violating ordinance 13.90.010 and also gives local authorities the right to bring a civil action to 'temporarily restrain, preliminarily enjoin, and/or permanently enjoin the person or persons intentionally conducting, or knowingly maintaining or permitting the public nuisance from further conducting, maintaining, or permitting such a public nuisance.' Property owners who knowingly permit such activity can also be dinged $1,000 for each counterfeited work produced on the property."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/los_angeles_dec.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/los_angeles_dec.shtml media Thu, 08 May 2008 19:24:20 -0800 She's hosted the Oscars four times. "The 62nd annual Tonys, which honor the best of the 2007-08 Broadway season, will be broadcast live 8-11 p.m. EDT on CBS."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/whoopi_goldberg.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/whoopi_goldberg.shtml theatre Thu, 08 May 2008 19:22:06 -0800 An aspiring Canadian filmmaker "launched a Web site earlier this year to raise C$1 million ($988,457) and is selling frames of his yet-to-be-made film over the Internet for C$10 a piece. In return, investors will receive a credit in his movie, advertisement rights on his site and a cut of the profits if the film makes money."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/filmmaker_tris.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/filmmaker_tris.shtml media Thu, 08 May 2008 19:19:30 -0800 "There are two distinct types of memory: Verbatim, which allows us to recall what specifically happened at any given moment, and gist, which enables us to put the event in context and give it meaning." A new study has surprised researchers with the finding that "verbatim and gist memory are separate, parallel systems. So separate, in fact, that 'there is some evidence' they occupy different sections of the brain."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/how_we_remember.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/how_we_remember.shtml ideas Thu, 08 May 2008 19:13:24 -0800 "In recent months American wine drinkers have taken their turn as pop culture's punching bags. In press accounts of two studies on wine psychology, consumers have been portrayed as dupes and twits, subject to the manipulations of marketers, critics and charlatan producers who have cloaked wine in mystique and sham sophistication in hopes of better separating the public from its money."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/are_wine_buyers.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/are_wine_buyers.shtml ideas Thu, 08 May 2008 19:11:23 -0800 CBS' flagship affiliate in New York has "nixed a musical number from Broadway tuner "Passing Strange" from its pre-Tony special after the net's standards and practices department declared the song We Just Had Sex inappropriate for broadcast."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/song_banned_fro.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/song_banned_fro.shtml theatre Thu, 08 May 2008 19:08:32 -0800 "Are MP3s degrading music? Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay don't seem to think so, as each have distributed their music, for free, online and it's worked out tremendously. For other bands, the 'leaked album' has proven a true scourge." And then there's the sound quality issue...... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_scourge_tha.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_scourge_tha.shtml music Thu, 08 May 2008 19:06:29 -0800 "For the LSD era there was something mythic about this initiation. Epic heroes have always descended into the underworld to emerge, however scarred, bearing new forms of wisdom. That was also the LSD archetype: descend into madness and emerge enlightened, seeing the world anew."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/lsd_as_a_cultur.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/lsd_as_a_cultur.shtml issues Thu, 08 May 2008 19:02:05 -0800 "We should have been a wonderful, democratic country. Instead we had 21 years of military dictatorship, something we are still paying for. So bossa nova represents a different way of life; a culture more sophisticated than the one we have today."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_bossa_nove.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_bossa_nove.shtml dance Thu, 08 May 2008 18:58:22 -0800 "In smaller towns, newspapers have rarely paid much attention to reviewing books or much else, for that matter, using national press services when needed. That's not likely to change. Suddenly, however, a white knight has emerged on the scene to fill that void of reviews at the hometown paper. I'm just not sure he's riding the right horse."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/a_plan_for_more.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/a_plan_for_more.shtml publishing Thu, 08 May 2008 18:54:59 -0800 "About Face Theatre is expected to announce Thursday that Bonnie Metzgar will be the new artistic director of the company. And the Chicago theater scene will have snagged another new recruit of national stature, especially in the field of new plays."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/chicagos_about.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/chicagos_about.shtml theatre Thu, 08 May 2008 06:48:30 -0800 You've probably seen the Dove soap company's "Campaign for Real Beauty," featuring everyday women posed like models. But would you recognize it as a play? A Toronto playwright has accepted a commission from the company, and insists that the resulting stage work has nothing to do with selling soap.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/when_the_sponso.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/when_the_sponso.shtml theatre Thu, 08 May 2008 06:40:28 -0800 "The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance believes it can help double audience participation at area arts events over the next 12 years. And the Pew Charitable Trusts has put up $5 million to help finance an elaborate marketing effort - called Engage 2020 - to push for that goal, officials intend to announce today."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/boosting_arts_a.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/boosting_arts_a.shtml issues Thu, 08 May 2008 06:35:45 -0800 "Publishers, especially the purveyors of what some derisively refer to as 'airport books,' actually want you to judge their books by the covers. They've arranged the jackets with that very plan in mind... Imagery, fonts, type sizes and color palette conspire to telegraph whether the stuff inside is concerned with code-crackers and shoe phones, spirits and trapdoors or rich widows and pool boys."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/airport_books_g.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/airport_books_g.shtml publishing Thu, 08 May 2008 06:31:55 -0800 Acclaimed soprano Frances Yeend, a regular on New York stages in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s has died aged 92. "Her last performance with the Met was in 1963, as Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung... Most recently Ms. Yeend was an emeritus faculty member of West Virginia University in Morgantown."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/soprano_francis.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/soprano_francis.shtml people Thu, 08 May 2008 06:22:52 -0800 "Sotheby's sale of Impressionist and modern art on Wednesday proved to be a solid if unexciting evening... Unlike at [Tuesday's] Christie's sale, which was dominated by European buyers, at Sotheby's Americans took home 67 percent of the work, and Europeans bought 27 percent."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/american_buyers.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/american_buyers.shtml visual Thu, 08 May 2008 06:19:38 -0800 "A court in the India has dropped legal proceedings in three cases against one of the country's best-known and controversial artists. MF Husain has been accused of obscenity in at least seven cases filed against him in a number of Indian states... In dropping criminal proceedings against the painter, the Delhi court said the painting was not obscene."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/obscenity_charg.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/obscenity_charg.shtml visual Thu, 08 May 2008 06:15:58 -0800