Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture
Uh-oh. Turns out that the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s charismatic music director Gustavo Dudamel is not so popular with eBay fans. Maybe they don’t yet know who he is. As I mentioned here earlier this week, someone at the New York Philharmonic had put a T-shirt autographed by Dudamel and Pinchas Zukerman up for sale on eBay, with proceeds going to the NYPhil.
Alas, no bidding contest ensued. Just one bid, the minimum $100, was made when the auction ended today. The $100 goes to the NY Phil.
It has been more than a week since Francis Wilkinson published an incisive commentary in The Week headlined “Is Writing For the Rich?” In it, Wilkinson (below), The Week’s executive editor, dissects a growing problem: the number of people willing to write for free, and where that leaves professional writers, which is even poorer than they used to be.
Wilkinson focuses on young writers, unable to get started. But this is a problem for established writers, too — just ask any of the thousands of journalists who’ve been laid off in the last 18 months or the battalions of freelancers trying to ply their trade. I know a Pulitzer-prize-winning reporter/author of three books who is leaving the profession because she can’t find a job and can’t earn a living freelancing.
I called Wilkinson to ask if he’d gotten any reaction from any publishers. “No, nothing,” he said. “They’ve been battered.” He has heard from tons of writers and people who want to be writers. Unless they have other income, few can afford it.
Why should you care? Imho, when you pay writers less, you get less: articles and books are less well-reseached, less well-written, and less thoughtful. They have little value-added editing. Readers have to compensate by reading more things — or they suffer, perhaps without realizing it, from being less well-informed.
Read Wilkinson’s article here. It’s not news that the business model for publishing is broken, but it’s surprising that more attention hasn’t been placed on writers. And if anyone has any ideas for a new publishing business model, I’d love to hear them.
Official word on results from the Armory Show is in, and it’s not bad. This year’s expanded version — 243 exhibitors — drew 56,000 people, versus 52,000 last year. Dealers reported “solid sales” that were better than they expected.
Some of the larger deals:
Lisson Gallery, London: two Anish Kapoor sculptures at $1 million and $700,000
respectively;
Cheim
Galerie Michael Schultz, Berlin: a Sigmar Polke for $340,000 (o.T.(02), 2003, pictured, right);
Sicardi Gallery, Houston: a Gego wire sculpture for $195,000;
Michael Rosenfeld, New York: a Werner Drewes painting for $170,000.
Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, and Peres Project, Los Angeles, both said they sold the entire content of their booths.
A friend of mine was recently lamenting the parlous state of the one-and-only non-profit theatre in her city — you can tell this was not New York — which was in danger of closing, unless it found an angel philanthropist. Then I learned that last week the Madison Repertory Theatre closed down — at least a half-million dollars in the hole.
So I decided to see where similar theatres stood. I was pleased to find that last fall the Theatre Communications Group started doing “Snapshot Surveys” of its members,
some 460 theatres in 47 states, on fiscal matters.
The first set not only indicates danger — little surprise there — but also shows just how quickly the world has changed for theater in the last six to eight months.
Last September, of the 241 members who completed the survey, 41.5% reported a surplus, while 36.5% said they had ended their most recent season in the red. The rest broke even. Subscriptions and single-ticket sales were growing.
There are several short-hand ways to indicate approval or disapproval. Internally, The New York Times used to publish a list of “winners and sinners” and the Columbia Journalism Review has a column called “Darts and Laurels.” From time to time, I’m going to give out a few Raspberries and Strawberries.
First, a strawberry to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who told the Associated Press that “he believes the arts are key to generating revenue and strengthening the community” and that “getting children engaged in the arts must be a priority.” Nutter has also created an Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, and has increased funding for the arts in his proposed budget. Read the whole story, which was published Sunday in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Next, a raspberry to Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code. The number of people who
called Leonardo by the name “Da Vinci” was bad enough before he mistitled his book. Now, as this article from the Christian Science Monitor makes clear, even people who know better are doing it. We now have “The Da Vinci Experience” exhibit on view at the San Diego Air & Space Museum and the “Da Vinci: The Genius” exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, to name two. Even some curators and critics are calling the master by his birthplace. Pity.
