ArtsJournal As An Idea Addictions can be good or bad, writes John Rockwell. But "certainly the presence of a Web site called ArtsJournal.com has added something important to cultural discourse..." The New York Times 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 12:18 am
A Canon Of Geniuses (Aren't We All?) "The very idea of a canon of geniuses may be falling by the wayside; it makes more sense to talk about the flickering brilliance of a group, a place, or a people. In the future, it seems, everyone will be a genius for fifteen minutes. The past decade has seen the rise of pop-music studies, which is dedicated to the idea that Ellington, Hank Williams, and the Velvet Underground were created equal and deserve the same sort of scholarly scrutiny that used to be bestowed only on Bach and sons. Pop-music courses draw crowds of students on college campuses, and academic presses are putting out portentous titles..." The New Yorker 07/06/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 12:10 am
Boston Wants More Public Art Boston is an old city, by American standards, and most of its public art seems to be nearly as old as the city itself. "Boston often is criticized for lacking a bold or effective plan to develop new public sculpture. But some long-overdue appointments could change that. In May, artist Sarah Hutt was named director of public art for the city. Hutt now oversees the Boston Art Commission, which recently has been revived with an all-new membership. The four-member commission hasn't been active since Director Mildred Farrell resigned two years ago. Even before that, the group frequently was criticized for a lack of discrimination and being out of touch." Boston Herald 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 6:00 am
Art, Instead Of Taxes Rather than selling their artwork abroad to raise money for tax bills, last year Britons donated art treasures valued at £40 million to British museums rather than paying inheritance tax. "Titian's masterpiece Venus Anadyomene, watercolours by Edward Lear and a Barbara Hepworth sculpture were among works handed over. The scheme has settled tax bills worth more than £6.5m during the past year." BBC 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:33 pm
Iraq Museum Looting Count: Now 13,000 Objects? The director of Iraq's National Museum says that one-in-ten of the museum's artifacts is missing since the looting of the museum two months ago. "Dr Nawalaal Mutawalli told a press conference at the British Museum in London that some 13,000 objects had gone missing from the Baghdad institution's storage room in the days following the fall of Saddam Hussein." BBC 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:30 pm
Art Of The Turnaround: Two Tokyo Museums Are Hoping Two expensive Tokyo museums - so-called "bubble babies" - operated by the Tokyo metropolitan government - the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography - are heavily in debt. "Faced with huge losses, the directors are doing everything they can to educate staff members to the concept of profit and loss, nudging them to be more customer friendly and cost efficient. While working with their employees, the directors have also been busy trying to create more compelling exhibits to attract a larger clientele." Asahi (Japan) 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:12 pm
Archaeologist: Kill Iraqi Looters An American archaeologist said in London this week that the "systematic looting of major archaeological sites and the destruction of artefacts" in Iraq "may prove a greater disaster than the well publicised looting and destruction at the national museum in Baghdad, and the museum in Mosul." She urged that looters be killed if caught. "I would like to see some helicopters flying over these sites, and some bullets fired at the looters. I think you have got to kill some people to stop this." The Guardian (UK) 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:28 pm
Making Headway In Pittsburgh The financial crunch at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra may be easing a bit, with orchestra officials announcing that they have closed their budget gap for the fiscal year just concluded, and are having good success with new fundraising tactics designed to make donors feel more involved in the PSO's season. "For donors of amounts under $250, we used to just give them a receipt for taxes. Now [we give] them thank-you cards and invitations to events and prints their names in programs or on its Web site. We are doing some very simple things better, and for a fund-raising program in transition, with a lot of staff turnover, it is a big success." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 6:34 am
Big Effort, Small Results in South Florida When a small band of plucky choristers and musicians from the nearly-disintegrated Florida Philharmonic launched an independent effort to save their orchestra, they raised a million dollars in pledges in only a couple of weeks, and their apparent success was trumpeted across the region. But now, with a bankruptcy deadline fast approaching, the revitalization effort has seriously stalled, with an additional $1.5 million still needed to bail the organization out. Miami Herald 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 6:23 am
Adler: Louisville Ain't Fixed Yet When the Louisville Orchestra struck a last-minute contract deal with its musicians last month, everyone involved cheered publicly, and congratulated each other on their success. But Andrew Adler sees little to get excited about. "We've heard all of this so many times before, whenever castastrophe for this orchestra has been barely averted. A contract is signed, three or four years of labor-management-board harmony is promised, a new day is at hand, etc., etc." Labor peace aside, the Louisville Orchestra's endowment remains far below what it needs to be, there don't seem to be any real big-money donors for classical music in the city, and artistically, the ensemble has chosen an infuriating "play it safe" strategy which sacrifices anything but the most innocuous music. Louisville Courier-Journal 07/06/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 5:43 am
The Remains Of An Orchestra The San Antonio Symphony had less than $500,000 in assets when it filed for bankruptcy protection last month, and more than $1 million in unpaid debts, according to court filings recently released to the public. Creditors include a telemarketing firm, an instrument insurance company, and radio giant Clear Channel. San Antonio Express-News 07/08/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 5:37 am
Downloading Helps, Not Hurts, Album Sales? A new survey conducted by a market research company suggests that people who illegally download music online are more likely to buy recorded music later. "The survey's findings oppose the music industry's long-standing argument that internet downloading is responsible for a slump in CD sales, with album sales falling 5% in the last year... Asked why they download music, the respondents were most likely to say it was 'to check out music I've heard about but not listened to yet' (75%) and 'to help me decide whether to buy the CD' (66%)." The recording industry has a survey of its own, and claims that 65% of respondents download music 'because it's free.' BBC 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 5:27 am
A "Whoopie-Cushion" Of A New Concert Hall Montrealers get their first look at plans for a much awaited new concert hall. So what's it look like? "The design selected for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra looks like a cross between an office building and a big-box store. Music is imaginative and airy, qualities that many concert halls try to evoke architecturally. But this design squats rudely on de Maisonneuve Blvd. and Jeanne Mance St. like a massive whoopie cushion." Montreal Gazette 07/03/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:55 pm
Burning With Criticism French pianist Francois-Rene Duchable plans to "destroy two pianos and set his formal recital clothes on fire in a three-concert finale to his professional life, starting at the end of this month. He'll bring the first program to a close "with a grand piano crashing into Lake Mercantour, the second with his suit in flames and the third, in August, with the explosion of a piano in mid-air." Why?... Baltimore Sun 07/08/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:21 pm
Indianapolis Latest Orchestra With Money Woes The Indianapolis Symphony joins the growing line of orchestras in financial difficulty. But then, the orchestra is not alone. The American Symphony Orchestra League reports that "72 percent of the nation's 25 major orchestras - including the ISO - chalked up deficits in fiscal 2002. The deficits averaged 3 percent of the orchestras' budgets last year. The ISO's deficit is less than 2 percent." Indianapolis Star 07/0603
Posted: 07/08/2003 8:59 pm
WTC Redevelopers To Artists: Come On Down The group overseeing redevelopment of the World Trade Center site is soliciting arts groups that might want to be part of the project. "The 'Invitation to Cultural Institutions for the World Trade Center Site' is a nine-page 'request for information' that also provides the first glimpse into how much space, in terms of square feet, may be allotted to arts groups as the area rejuvenates." Backstage 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:38 pm
French Arts Strike Cancels Festivals "Despite a last-ditch plea from the culture minister, French actors and backstage workers walked out as promised yesterday, forcing the country's most renowned drama festival to abandon its opening night and threatening the Rolling Stones' 40th anniversary Paris mega-gig. 'It's the future of French arts that's at stake'." The Guardian (UK) 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:34 pm
- French Arts Strikers Disrupt Tour De France Striking performance artists - who include actors, sound technicians and costume designers - "briefly slowed the Tour de France, tried to block a Rolling Stones concert and canceled opening day of a drama festival in Provence. In the northern town of Saint-Dizier on Tuesday, demonstrators stepped into the road to block cyclists in the Tour de France. The protesters stepped out of the path of the lead cars, but still forced the main pack of racers to slow down, with some touching their feet to the pavement to keep from falling." New Jersey Online (AP) 07/08/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:06 pm
Protest Over Concert At Grant's Tomb The Gant's Tomb Memorial Association is protesting a televised concert last week that used the New York memorial as a backdrop last week. "Beyoncé performed in front of Grant's final resting place for the July 4 special NBC aired Friday night. The singing siren was surrounded by a band, gyrating dancers and hundreds of screaming fans in a show that was taped days before Independence Day. "This particular memorial also happens to be the man's tomb. ... This is something I think people should take into consideration." New York Daily News 07/08/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:00 pm
Classic Promoter Maria Vandamme is on a crusade to promote Australian classical music. "Founder and artistic director of the embryonic and critically acclaimed - locally and internationally - music label, Melba Recordings, Vandamme has also established the philanthropic Melba Foundation. Her motivation behind the record label is the fact that Australian music is not particularly well known overseas. Vandamme believes our image internationally is skewed, at once bizarre and unbalanced. 'We are a sporting nation, we have lovely beaches, a few famous movie stars and directors - end of subject. This means that our music isn't recognised and that needs to be corrected'." The Age (Melbourne) 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:16 pm
The Royalty Hunter John Hichborn is a one-man royalty tracker. "Royalty tracking, as an industry, has become increasingly important in the electronic age, when well-known songs are sampled for commercials, thrown onto cheap CD compilations, and even used for video games. There can be considerable money at stake. A publisher is supposed to be paid 8 cents per song for each copy sold. The writer then receives his share from what he has agreed to as part of the deal. That can add up. 'The record industry is a swamp of disappearing money'." Chicago Tribune 07/08/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 7:59 am
Annie Get Your Resume Together Local productions of classic Broadway shows generally aren't expected to measure up to the New York originals, even in sophisticated theater towns, but a new version of "Annie Get Your Gun" currently playing in Denver is drawing some uniquely ugly reviews, and more than a few snickers from the audience. "When Annie's gun sticks but a dead bird falls from the sky anyway, what are we to do but cringe? And when the band resorts to banging on drums to cover misfiring guns, what are we to feel but mawkish empathy?" And the problems don't end with misfiring rifles. Denver Post 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 6:07 am
Black Theatre Comes Of Age In London There are signs that Black theatre has come of age in Britain. "No longer tucked away in fringe venues, or in companies that specialise in black work, it is striding confidently across the stages of major London theatres. 'The talent has been there for a very long time," he says. "The dominant culture has been slow to open itself up to the new voices that are blossoming in our midst. I think we've not been good enough at that.' That may well be true. But the delay means that these new voices have arrived fully formed..." The Telegraph (UK) 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:46 pm
Big-Time Canadian Magazines Take A Public Hit The Canadian Heritage Minister has announced a shift in the way that the nation subsidizes its periodical industry, and the fallout from the decision will cost large magazines CAN$16.7 million in public funding. The intention is to increase the ministry's support for small, independent, and aboriginal magazines which have received little public money in the past. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 6:16 am
Steinbeck Rockets Past Clinton In an average year, John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" sells 40,000 to 50,000 copies. This isn't an average year. Thanks to Oprah's Book Club, 'East of Eden' is currently No. 2 on the Bestseller list, behind Harry Potter and ahead of Hillary Clinton's book. "Set in California's Salinas Valley before World War I, Steinbeck's tale of two brothers, an unfaithful wife, death and despair has 1.2 million books in print." Not bad for a book that first came out in 1952. "Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men sells 400,000 copies and The Grapes of Wrath sells 150,000." USAToday 07/08/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:46 pm
Animation Festival Gets A Stay Of Execution "The Ottawa International Animation Festival has gotten a reprieve from its possible demise after Telefilm Canada decided to reinstate its annual funding for at least for one more year. The $52,000-a-year cheque from Telefilm, which represents a critical 25 per cent of the festival's budget, will likely mean that the next biannual animation festival scheduled for September, 2004, will go ahead as planned." Still, the future of the festival, which claims to be North America's largest animation festival, is still quite uncertain. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 6:14 am
Australian TV Strike Looms Mere months after a potentially crippling strike was averted in America's television industry, Australia is facing a similar action by the nation's actor's union, which has been embroiled in a pay dispute with broadcast networks for the better part of a year. At issue are the wages of Australian actors, who the union claims earn less than the national salary average even if they have a starring role on a hit show. Next week's scheduled walkout is scheduled to last only a day, but the union is prepared to go farther, with television producers threatening that such action could result in popular TV shows being pulled off the air for good. BBC 07/09/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 5:19 am
The End Of TV Advertising As We Know It? New tracking data obtained by monitoring Tivo users suggests that TV advertising will be turned upside down. "This is the beginning of the end of that drunken orgy of dollars spent on broadcast TV as the ultimate ‘reach’ vehicle. Certain genres of programming are 'stickier' than others. The report said big-budget situation comedies and dramas tend to have the lowest retention and commercial-viewing rate because couch potatoes tend to record them and skip through the commercials rather than watch them live. Reality TV, news, and event programming such as the Oscars telecast, on the other hand, do significantly better at getting viewers to see the commercials." Broadcasting Engineering 07/07/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 11:22 pm
Prime Ministers Attack BBC The BBC is widely regarded as one of the world's finest broadcasters. But currently the Beeb is in an "unusually nasty and high-stakes clashes with two prime ministers: Labor leader Tony Blair at home, and Ariel Sharon in Israel." The two leaders have have vehemently protested the network's coverage of their recent military actions and "accused the BBC of being reckless and unethical in recent coverage. Both prime ministers have fought back ferociously, contending the broadcaster's lofty reputation makes it impossible to shrug off stories they believe are wrong. These are not polite protests." Los Angeles Times 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:55 pm
Is HBO Returning To Ho-Hum TV-Land? HBO has long been thought to be a cut or two above broadcast networks. Its original series are acclaimed, and it has often seemed willing to take risks that over-the-air newtorks will not. But, "its oft-repeated slogan notwithstanding, lately the service looks very much like it is TV in some respects — being held up by ego-inflated stars, hanging on to aging franchises, bristling at an attack of the clones by competitors, and watching quality series disappoint ratings-wise." Los Angeles Times 07/09/03
Posted: 07/08/2003 10:51 pm
Classic Rethink (In Context, Please) "There's a subdivision of feminist thinking that condemns the beloved storybook ballets of the nineteenth century for their ostensible political incorrectness. All those sylphs and Wilis, it maintains, all those maidens suspended in states of enchantment represent women as frail, vulnerable creatures, deprived of power over their own destinies, the victims—often in the name of love—of dominant men. I think it's absurd to apply sociological convictions and agendas to aesthetic creations—particularly when it comes to the sociology of one era and the art of another." Tutu Revue 07/03
Posted: 07/09/2003 12:05 am
