In his essay looking back on Lincoln Center on its 50th birthday, Joe Horowitz suggests that the cultural citadel built optimistically to be a launching pad for the American performing arts, might have turned out instead to be a box canyon. Perhaps the buildings are to blame: the Met theatre is too big and unwieldy, and Philharmonic Hall and the State Theatre, despite renovations, haven't … [Read more...]
Are Orchestras A Ticket Or An Art? Maybe We’re Thinking About The (Made Up) Model Wrong
As recently as 1990, American symphony orchestras accounted for an average of 60 percent of their budgets in earned income. This meant, at the time, that if you weren't selling enough tickets (and other services) to make 60 percent, then you weren't considered healthy. A report in 1991 - The Financial Condition of Symphony Orchestras - conducted by The Wolf Organization, said that attendance at … [Read more...]
Five Highlights From This Week’s AJ: The Big Ideas You Need To Know, Says MIT
This Week: Trump, the arts, the culture budget and protest... Harvard ART school gets suspended...MIT's list of 10 things you need to know... Writers and money - the straight dope. Trump Inauguration And Artists: Obviously the biggest story this week was the American inauguration and the demonstrations the day after. There were dozens of stories pondering the role of art and artists in … [Read more...]
Killing NEA, NEH And PBS Is Just Collateral Damage In The Commodification Of American Values
So it begins. A report in The Hill, then picked up in the Washington Post, says that the Trump administration intends to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities and sell off PBS. It's part of a plan to cut some $10.5 trillion over the next decade. Zeroing out the culture budgets isn't about money; together, the NEA, NEH and PBS account for … [Read more...]
Context: Hollywood’s Political Bias? It’s Money
Unquestionably, a majority of the people who work in Hollywood lean politically left. More than lean, in many cases. But how much of their politics makes it onto the big screen? Rory Carroll takes up the question in the Guardian, writing that: "the industry as a whole could disappoint those hoping for a liberal, inclusive wave from Los Angeles to counter rightwing populism from … [Read more...]
Five Highlight Reads From This Week’s AJ: Did Originality Steer The Arts Wrong?
This Week: The Trump era is a challenge to America's arts institutions... Artificial intelligence is teaching us how to better-design concert halls... How originality has failed art... The Metropolitans Museum and Opera are struggling... Is Canada becoming the first "post-nation" state? The Role Of Arts Institutions In The Era Of Trump: As what follows any seismic shift in the landscape, … [Read more...]
Five Notable Stories From This Week’s ArtsJournal – Blockbuster Mozart?
This Week: Mozart outsells every CD this year?... How artificial intelligence is changing thinking... Why should artists be entrepreneurs?... How the West dominated global culture... Zadie Smith speaks out about multiculturalism. Was Mozart The Best-Selling CD Of The Year? That's the claim. Universal Classics says that a major Mozart release this fall has sold 1.25 million CDs so far, more … [Read more...]
This Week’s Top ArtsJournal Reads: An Artist Identity Crisis?
This Week: The next wave of arts journalism layoffs begins... Lots of debate about the role of artists in the Trump era... Prominent Canadian artists petition the government to "fix" support for creativity... It's getting harder to define what "home" is... Is "mindfulness" overrated? Three More Big City Newspaper Arts Writers Call It Quits: A new wave of reductions in arts coverage have … [Read more...]
This Week’s Top AJ Stories: Does Pittsburgh Symphony Strike Settlement Solve Anything? Should Arts Funding Be Dependent On Encouraging Bad Behavior?
This Week: Did settling the Pittsburgh Symphony strike just kick the can down the road?... The idea of progress is a fragile (and recent) notion... Why should this arts funding depend on encouraging bad behavior?... The art establishment is caught in an increasingly high-stakes investment battle... We celebrate reading - but has the dissemination of ideas and knowledge moved on? Pittsburgh … [Read more...]
This Week’s AJ Highlights: “Hamilton” Teaches The Art Of Protest, At Last Some Real Data On Orchestras
This Week: That Mike Pence goes to "Hamilton" story? A textbook protest... Finally - some real data on the health of orchestras... Arts criticism is either being reborn or it's in dire shape... Pop culture is getting to be only for the rich... The myth of the outsider is a standard pop culture meme... The Arts And Our Next President: Many many many stories this week about artists reacting to … [Read more...]