Have We Overbuilt Culture? The 1990s were a time of great expansion in the arts in America. But Andrew Taylor wonders if we have too many new mouths to feed. "Perhaps what we have built together has outstripped the capacity of all combined sources to support it. Perhaps we are entering an era of contraction, merger, bankruptcy, and market adjustment. But the question still festers in my head: 'overbuilt' by what measure? Are there too many nonprofit arts organizations? Do they generate too much product? Are the organizations too large or rigid in their construction?" Artful Manager (AJBlogs) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 6:50 pm
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Community To Barnes: We Won't Play Ball One of the sites the Barnes Foundation is considering moving to in Phiadelphia is currently accupied by community baseball fields. Community groups who use the fields have reacted with dismay to the Barnespotential move. "The ball fields - two baseball diamonds and a small children's playground along the northern part of the Parkway - are home to countless children's baseball, softball and soccer games and serve hundreds of children from several city neighborhoods." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 6:37 pm
- Barnes Considers Two Sites If It Moves The Barnes Foundation, currently in court trying to convince a judge to allow it to break its founder's trust and move to Philadelphia, is considering two sites if it is allowed to move... Philadelphia Inquirer 10/20/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 6:34 pm
Knight: Is Getty On The Wrong Track? What does Deborah Gribbon's resignation as director mean for the Getty Museum? Christopher Knight canvasses the museum world and finds some criticism. "For longtime museum watchers, this avalanche of public dismay from within the upper echelon of American art museum administration amounts to a stunning rebuke." Contra Costa Times 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 6:22 pm
The Two-Sided Carr A rare double-sided painting by Emily Carr is coming up for auction in Canada. One of the images is a self-portrait that Carr presumably didn't like... Canada.com (CP) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 4:48 pm
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Will Levine Transform Boston? The James Levine era begins at the Boston Symphony this evening, and to say that expectations are high would be a gross mischaracterization of the situation. "Levine has such a strong artistic vision it will reach beyond the BSO players and audiences. BSO audiences will take their ears to other organizations and will be listening in a different way." Boston Herald 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 5:56 am
Pops Goes The Producer The Boston Pops has made a lot of money from recordings over the years. But with the recording industry all but getting out of the business of recording orchestras, the Pops had a big void to fill. So the orchestra has decided to self-record and produce its own recordings... Boston Globe 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 5:49 am
Broken Lessons - Music Instruction In The UK What's wrong with music instruction in the UK? Well, for starters, students from poor families are largely shut out of lessons. A study also found that there was "clear gender stereotyping" in the choice of instruments, and found little being done to tackle this.
BBC 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 5:32 am
Crookall To Run Indianapolis Symphony Simon Crookall has been named executive director of the Indianapolis Orchestra. "A 44-year-old Englishman who has worked in Scotland for nearly half his life, Crookall has been with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for nine years, eight as chief executive." Indianapolis Star 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 7:51 pm
A Month Of Listening - Taking The Music Industry's Temperature Just where is music going at the moment? One journalist decides to take the industry's temperature by listening to every CD released in the month of October. "I'm struck not just by the sheer quantity - 25,793 CDs were released last year, over double the figure produced in 1994 - but also by the variety. The cost of entry into the market is lower than it ever was before. It costs less to manufacture CDs, and it costs less to record an album. At the same time, the gap between those albums that sell in huge quantities and those that don't is probably greater than ever." The Guardian (UK) 10/22/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 7:00 pm
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Pittsburgh - Steeling For The Arts Think of arts and you think of... Pittsburgh? Absolutely. Over the past 20 years the city has transformed itself from rust bucket industrial to cultural Mecca. "We're the town of Mr. Rogers and Andy Warhol, which speaks of what we are and what we're becoming." Christian Science Monitor 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 5:50 pm
Canadian Artists Lose Ground The lives of artists in Canada aren't getting better - at least in economic terms, reports a new study. Though there are more artists than ever, "in 2001, artists made $23,500 – or about 26 per cent less than an average annual salary for all workers. The gap had increased from 1991, when they made 23 per cent less than the average." CBC 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 4:44 pm
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Pavarotti In The Toilet Music agent Herbert Breslin's memoir takes aim at Pavarotti. Breslin writes that "in the early days, Pavarotti was a "dream client" but artistic and financial success nurtured complacency, Breslin says, citing his client's increasing unwillingness to learn roles, memorise librettos or even turn up for performances. As the years went on, it looked more and more like he was taking this gorgeous career of his ... and flushing it down the toilet." Yahoo! (AP) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 8:58 pm
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A Handful Of New Theatres For NY New York gets five new Off-Broadway theatres, carved out of a former movie multiplex. Ambitious, but how do they work for the live stage? The New York Times 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 6:21 am
Scottish Theatres Offer Money-Back Guarantee Two Edinburgh theatres have begun offering a money-back guarantee: buy a ticket to a show, and, when it's over, if you didn't like it you get your money back. "We’re always trying to do something a bit innovative when it comes to attracting audiences and this one is really aimed at people who are a bit nervous about going to the theatre." The Scotsman 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 8:52 pm
Cariou, Others Inducted In Theatre Hall Of Fame Actors Len Cariou, Gregory Hines, Ian McKellen, Brian Murray and Estelle Parsons, playwright A.R. Gurney, designer Santo Loquasto and producer Elizabeth Ireland McCann will be inducted into The Theater Hall of Fame on Jan. 24, 2005. Playbill 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 6:29 pm
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NYT Names Grimes As Book Critic William Grimes has been named the New York Times' new book critic. "Mr. Grimes, who stepped down as chief restaurant critic at the end of 2003, has spent most of this year writing reviews of consumer products and recounting his experiences under the heading "Just Browsing." The New York Times 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 7:36 am
Garcia Marquez Alters Book After Pirates Steal Copy Gabriel Garcia Marquez' publishers released the Nobel laureate's new book early when pirates began selling stolen copies of it. "Vendors were tapping on car windows, offering the long-awaited novel at half the official price." But it appears that Garcia Marquez changed the last chapter for the official version and that the pirated version is wrong. BBC 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 5:37 am
Drowning In The Booker What is it like to be a judge for a prize like the Booker? "Reading 132 books in 147 days is like taking a course in kick-boxing; you quickly lose any flabby concentration and wishy-washy standards, becoming fitter and leaner and more demanding. In the process, you learn a great deal about why so many novels—even well written, carefully crafted novels as so many of those submitted were—are ultimately pointless." The Economist 10/22/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 7:57 pm
Hollinghurst: More Than Gay Alan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize win earlier this week was announced in much of the British press as a victory by a "gay" novel. But it's much more than that. "I only chafe at the 'gay writer' tag if it's thought to be what is most or only interesting about what I'm writing. I want it to be part of the foundation of the books, which are actually about all sorts of other things as well - history, class, culture. There's all sorts of stuff going on. It's not just, as you would think if you read the headlines in the newspapers, about gay sex." The Guardian (UK) 10/22/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 7:41 pm
Winning The Booker - Not Always The Ticket To Sales There is a myth that books that win the Booker Prize end up selling a lot of copies. But a look at previous winners' sales shows that isn't always the case. "Due to the scale of the Booker award any book that wins, whatever your reason for buying it, will be the sort of title that will become a library staple in many people's homes and will continue to sell across the decades. The surprise this list throws up is how some books you may not have expected are stronger sellers than some of the bigger names further down the list."
The Guardian (UK) 10/22/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 7:32 pm
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FCC Fines Disney, Viacom Over TV Ads Viacom and Disney have been fined a collective $1.5 million for exceeding the number of commercials aired during children's programs. "The advertising violations were discovered in routine audits of cable system operators. Federal regulations stipulate that children's programming may contain no more than 10 1/2 minutes of advertising per hour on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays.
Viacom acknowledges that Nickelodeon violated that regulation nearly 600 times over approximately 10 months, representing the equivalent of 1,021 extra 30-second ads." Washington Post 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 7:42 am
Nothing To Watch In The 210-Channel Universe Tim Goodman says that his TV provider tells him he has 210 channels. "I have no idea. It looks like I'm capable of receiving 400, possibly 700 or so channels, but only half that comes into the house." But even with 200 channels - shouldn't the programming be better? Why is it there never seems to be much good on? Why doesn't it get better? Becase: "It's the money thing. For future reference: It's always the money thing." San Francisco Chronicle 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 6:37 am
Will Movies Change Politics? This has been the year of the political film in America. "Beyond the partisan bickering and charges that these films are merely political propaganda or media manipulation, some observers even see them signaling a new era in the way Americans choose to be politically informed. Such films, they suggest, may represent a seismic shift in American journalism." Christian Science Monitor 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 6:15 am
Emin Fights Film Rating Artist Tracey Emin is showing her first film at the London Film Festival. But she's angry at the UK ratings board who gave the movie a rating that bans kids from seeing it. "Top Spot, which receives its premiere at the London film festival today, was awarded its rating by the British Board of Film Classification for its depiction of suicide. But the decision has surprised and dismayed the 41-year-old artist, who hoped her 'modern morality tale' would be watched by teenagers." The Guardian (UK) 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 5:44 am
Women Gain Power In Aussie TV The world of Australian TV management has traditionally been dominated by testosterone. But there are signs this is changing, as more women get power in the corporate offices of the country's commercial TV companies. Sydney Morning Herald 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 6:53 pm
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The Bolshoi's New Road The Bolshoi Ballet has had a rough several years. But the company has a young new director, and a corps of new dancers... Seattle Times 10/22/04
Posted: 10/22/2004 7:27 am
