ARTS ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues
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California Eviscerates Arts Funding California slashes its arts funding from $18 million to a token $1 million, effectively shutting down the agency. "The new budget translates to less than 3 cents per person statewide. California will now rank dead last in per capita state spending for the arts. The national average is $1.10 per person." San Francisco Chronicle 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030730-27268.html
"Fortress America" As Visits To US Shaprly Down Travel to the United States this summer is sharply down. "Both tighter restrictions on getting into this country - and a strong disillusionment with the US abroad - are causing tens of thousands of people worldwide to forgo trips to America. Critics say the decline is evidence of a visa-screening process too restrictive, creating a 'fortress America.' But supporters see that process as essential to protecting the nation in a post-9/11 world." Christian Science Monitor 07/30/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030730-27257.html
DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/dance
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Reinventing Dance In NY: "New York is once again in a cycle of producing the most distinctive and enthralling contemporary dance in the world. Making a dance a conceptual event by creating a specific atmosphere that overcomes a conventional space, or by making the site itself the starting point, is the overriding theme." The New York Times 07/27/03
http://artsjournal.com/dance/redir/20030730-27233.html
MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/media
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Movies Come To Afghans (On Mobile Trucks) Eight mobile cinemas are hitting the roads of Afghanistan, bringing movies to Afghans, many of whom have never seen one. "Last year, the mobile cinema attracted 450,000 people in six weeks. This year the goal is ambitious; we hope to attract 900,000 Afghans." Middle East Times 07/25/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20030730-27265.html
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/music
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Tokyo Concert Hall Goes Free (For The Right Orchestras) Tokyo's Metropolitan Art Space was built in 1990, but has failed to attract the top international orchestras it hoped to book. So it has decided to offer the hall free to orchestras. Managers said "it would place short-term profits on the back burner and seek to attract top orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras." Yomiuri Shimbun 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030730-27270.html
Does BBC Pump Out US Tunes Over Homegrown? Does BBC Radio 1 favor playing established American hits over British performers? That's the charge. "It is easier for programmers to play proven American hits rather than gamble on new UK tracks. I would question whether it was good for the UK music industry, the British public or for the BBC in the long run."
The Telegraph (UK) 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030730-27264.html
Suing The Opera Company You Love... What does the lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera on behalf of one of the company's biggest donors mean to arts philanthropy? "Anybody who ever bought tickets for a production that turned out disappointing may be inclined to toast the plaintiffs. More seriously, individual donors will sniff an opportunity to increase their already dominant positions, if only after death." Fi9nancial Times 07/30/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030730-27261.html
Get The (Jazz) Label "Ask a member of the general public what label their favorite musician records for, and they're not likely to know. To many it seems an arcane detail, and in some sense it is. Labels are commonly viewed as a means to an end, as mere conduits rather than shapers of musical culture. We are aware of individual artists but often take for granted the aural and visual worlds that labels create through their catalogs.Today, many believe that the 'golden age' of jazz has passed. But there are probably more jazz labels than ever before. The vast majority are small, independent operations." NewMusicBox 07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030730-27255.html
French Arts Strikers Shut Down Casals Concert Striking arts workers forced cancellation of a concert at the Pablo Casals Festival in the French Pyranees. The "announcement of the cancellation infuriated the audience. As they left the venue, attendees shouted insults at the intermittents, who reportedly had to wait in backstage areas for over half an hour before being able to leave the area in safety." Andante (AFP) 07/30/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030730-27252.html
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing
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Getting Right The Sweep Of History The best writers prefer ideas to brand-name description. "Perhaps one could say that a classic novelist recreates an era from the inside out and concentrates on rendering rather than discussing the great social and political and intellectual currents of the period, whereas a lesser novelist attempts to make up for an insufficient grasp of the Zeitgeist by devoting himself or herself to its upholstery. Today the historical novel has been rehabilitated because it has radically changed its ways. The new historical novel is shorter or at least more crisply written than ever before, full of unexpected twists and turns in language, and rich in those 'little true facts'." Times Literary Supplement 07/23/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030730-27269.html
Chinese Harry Fans Give Up Waiting On Translation - Do Their Own Chinese fans of Harry Potter are impatient. The book hasn't been published in Chinese yet. "The English-language edition of the Order of the Phoenix was published worldwide in June by Bloomsbury, but an official Chinese translation is not due for publication until September. Chinese fans of the teenage sorcerer have decided they cannot wait and amateur translators have so far posted 35 of the book's 38 chapters on the Internet." Sydney Morning Herald 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030730-27267.html
The Mining Town That Reinvented As A Center Of Books It's a grand experiment - last month a small derelict mining town tried to reinvent itself as a town of books - opening nine bookstores. "Can books rejuvenate the depressed town and revitalise the local economy? July in booktown saw hostile locals and tarot card wars. The Guardian (UK) 07/30/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030730-27262.html
Big Sellers In A Depressed Book Market There have been some very big-selling books this summer, and you'd think the publishing industry would be happy about it. Not exactly. They're cutting staff and complaining of a slump. Big "sales don't necessarily mean big profits, especially if everyone is expecting a hit. With Hillary Clinton receiving an $8 million advance, Simon & Schuster needed hundreds of thousands of sales to make money on the book. And Amazon.com, anticipating tremendous competition for the Potter book, offered a 40 percent discount on the $29.99 suggested price. The result: Despite more than 1 million sales worldwide, the online retailer announced it essentially broke even with Order of the Phoenix." Yahoo! (AP) 07/29/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030730-27251.html
How Do You Preserve Digital Info For The Future? "Increasingly, academic journals are published online; many are not even available in print. As a result, libraries are losing the option of maintaining local collections—but are leery of discontinuing paper subscriptions. That makes them sound like Luddites stuck in a world of paper. After all, they could make digital back-ups. What is more, publishers often grant perpetual access to their journals and provide subscribers with CD-ROM versions. As a last resort, there is always the Library of Congress in America and other national libraries around the world where copies of most publications are kept. In the very long run, however, such solutions are not all that viable..." The Economist 06/19/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030730-27243.html
THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre
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Does NY Anti-Smoking Ban Apply To Actors Onstage? Does a tough new New York State antismoking law mean actors won't be able to smoke on stage as part of a play? "Passed by the state legislature in March and effective Thurs., July 24, the measure bans the "burning of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, or other matter or substances which contains tobacco" in a long list of situations, including theatres, auditoriums, and museums. The measure closely mirrors New York City's own tough no-smoking ordinance, and in some ways is even tougher than the local law." Theatres can apply for a waiver if smoking is required for a performance. Backstage 07/30/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre/redir/20030730-27258.html
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/visualarts
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Handicapping The Field - Who Will Lead Frick, Whitney? Two of New York's most venerable museums - the Frick and the Whitney - are looking for new leaders this summer. "Speculation about who will lead these two prominent Manhattan museums has become the hot topic in the art world during an otherwise quiet summer." The New York Times 07/31/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030730-27266.html
A Soviet Icon Falls "Last week, the final guests checked out of the daunting Moskva hotel, for 70 years the gateway to Soviet Moscow, looming over one corner of Red Square. The better rooms of this heroic Stalinist pile may well have been bugged, but they did offer magnificent views over Red Square and St Basil's cathedral. From the 15th floor the views were the stuff of epic Russian films, while from the corridor windows you could just peep across the walls of the reclusive Kremlin. For some years a debate has raged in Moscow over the future of the 1,000-room Stalinist hotel featured on every bottle of Stolichnaya vodka and built in the early 30s." The Guardian (UK) 07/30/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030730-27263.html
Art Is Where You Find It More than 1000 artists around the world are participating in the Found Art Project. "They make small artworks — sculpted figures, booklets of drawings, decorated mailing labels, collaged postcards and CDs, sidewalk chalk drawings, even 'fairy houses' made by kids and tied to trees — and 'release them into the wild.' They leave them at public places such as park benches, library shelves, hospital waiting rooms, grocery bulletin boards and malls. Those who find the artworks can keep them, throw them away or leave them someplace else." USAToday 07/29/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030730-27256.html
Aboriginal Art Sales Records Australian aboriginal art has recorded record sales at auctions in Sydney this week. Most of the sales - an estimated 70 per cent of the works - were sold to international bidders. The Age (Melbourne) 07/30/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030730-27254.html
Egypt Asks Museums To Loan Stolen Artworks Egypt is seeking the loan of artworks that were stolen from Egypt and are now in other museums, for an exhibition next year marking the 100th anniversary of Cairo's Egypt Museum. "Top of the museum's list is the ancient Rosetta Stone, which is housed in the British Museum, and a bust of Nefertiti from Germany." BBC 07/30/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030730-27234.html
The US Military And Art "Each of the five branches – Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy – has a collection, consisting mostly of paintings and sketches. The Navy's is the largest, with about 17,000 works, followed by the Army's 15,000, the Air Force's 8,800, the Marines with about 8,000 and the Coast Guard with 5,000. They arrange exhibitions at bases and museums." Dallas Morning News 07/30/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030730-27232.html
