Connecting Up Study About Who We Are "Do we want the center of culture to be based on a closed system, a process of text in/text out, and no empirical contact with the real world? One can only marvel at, for example, art critics who know nothing about visual perception; 'social constructionist' literary critics uninterested in the human universals documented by anthropologists; opponents of genetically modified foods, additives, and pesticide residues who are ignorant of genetics and evolutionary biology. A realistic biology of the mind, advances in physics, information technology, genetics, neurobiology, engineering, the chemistry of materials—all are challenging basic assumptions of who and what we are, of what it means to be human. The arts and the sciences are again joining together as one culture, the third culture." Edge 02/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 11:34 pm
Vivendi To Sell Off Art Holdings "Vivendi Universal has chosen two New York auction houses to sell its modern art and photography collection - valued at about $15 million - this spring as part of an effort to decrease the Paris-based entertainment conglomerate's multibillion-dollar debt. Christie's will offer the modern art holding, which includes works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Mark Rothko, at an auction that has yet to be scheduled. Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg will put the collection of photographs on the block April 25-26." Los Angeles Times 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 6:24 am
The Ax Falls In Detroit "Facing a revenue shortfall and a bleak economy, the Detroit Institute of Arts will eliminate 55 jobs - 13 percent of its 416-member workforce - and close both its satellite mall shops in moves designed to cut costs and restructure operations. The layoffs, which will go into effect in the next two weeks, will result in an immediate saving of $1 million." Detroit Free Press 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 6:02 am
- Previously: Staff Cuts Coming At Detroit Museum "The Detroit Institute of Arts could announce staff layoffs as early as Thursday as the economic shock waves rippling through Michigan arrive at the doorstep of the state's premier cultural museum... Though the museum - with an annual $40-million budget - reported no deficit for last year and projected none for the ongoing fiscal period, some employees were reminded of the dire cuts in 1991.That was the year state arts funds were eliminated, resulting in 84 layoffs and a reduction of hours." Detroit Free Press 02/19/03
Blake Paintings Fetch Five-Spot A small collection of watercolors by William Blake has fetched £5 million at auction in the UK, the most money ever paid for a work by the British poet and artist. The paintings were commissioned to accompany Robert Blair's poem "The Grave," and while the fact of their existence was known to scholars, they had been missing since 1836. Two Yorkshire dealers discovered the paintings in a Glasgow bookshop last year, and acquired them without telling the bookstore of their significance. A bit of legal wrangling followed, and the upshot is that this week's auction will leave both the dealers and the shop quite a bit richer. BBC 02/19/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 5:17 am
Critics: More Must Be Done To Keep British Art Treasures Home Britain is losing some its important art to foreign buyers, the the current laws only delay export, not keep it permanently in the country. "The objects that have been temporarily kept here, but then exported, invariably through lack of funds, greatly outnumber those that have been saved. Several important pieces of art currently under temporary export ban are expected to end up overseas." BBC 02/20/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 11:01 pm
"Brilliant" Art Collection To Be Split Up The Potamkin collection of American art, "one of the best of its kind in private hands," is being split up after the death of Vivian and Meyer "Pat" Potamkin's collection. The collection includes an "estimated several hundred paintings, sculptures, and works on paper" and most will be sold at auction by the couple's heirs. "The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which was widely expected to be the major recipient, gets just a small portion, but it is the choicest and most valuable - eight paintings, one pastel drawing and a sculpture, which are estimated to be worth from $18 million to $22 million." Philadelphia Inquirer 02/20/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 1:44 pm
Layoffs In St. Paul The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, America's only full-time professional chamber orchestra, has laid off ten administrative employees in an attempt to balance its books in the face of a shrinking endowment and below-average donations. Observers were surprised by the layoffs, since the SPCO finished last season in the black, one of only three American orchestras to do so. The ensemble survived a brush with bankruptcy a decade ago, but has operated without deficits for nine straight seasons. St. Paul Pioneer Press 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 6:42 am
Dallas Symphony Raises $20 Million At a time when American orchestras are struggling to keep operating, the Dallas Symphony has made the acquaintance of a generous benefactor. Said anonymous foundation has given the orchestra $10 million for its endowment, and others have already matched the gift to bring the total to $20 million. That brings the orchestra's endowment to $86 million. Dallas Morning News 02/20/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 6:20 am
- Houston Musicians Seize On Dallas Success In Houston, news of the Dallas Symphony's newfound endowment largesse has further exacerbated the tensions between the Houston Symphony musicians and management. Within hours of the Dallas announcement, Houston musicians had issued a press release demanding, for the umpteenth time, that the management embark immediately on an endowment drive. (Houston has the smallest standing endowment of any year-round American orchestra.) The Houston Symphony Society responded that such a drive would be impossible until the contract situation with the musicians is resolved. Houston Chronicle 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 6:16 am
Metzmacher Resigns In Hamburg "Conductor Ingo Metzmacher says he will step down when his contract as general music director in Hamburg expires in 2005 because he is disappointed with the attitude of city officials toward arts and culture... Metzmacher, who heads both the Staatsoper and Staatsorchester in Germany's second-largest city, told a newspaper that the city was unwilling to make adequate commitments toward the arts. He said that subsidies for the arts have remained stagnant for a decade while expenses have climbed." Andante (Deutsche Press-Agentur) 02/20/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 5:26 am
Yet Another Frickin' Napster Lawsuit Just when you thought you'd never have to hear the word Napster again, another lawsuit has been filed over the now-defunct song-swapping service which led the record industry on a merry chase through the courts over the past couple of years. Of course, Napster isn't around to be sued anymore, so this time, a coalition of songwriters, composers, and publishers are suing German media giant Bertelsmann for 'prolonging' the existence of Napster by investing $100 million in the company as it fought for survival. The suit is in US court, and the plaintiffs are asking for a whopping $17 billion in damages. BBC 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 5:09 am
A Cello's Tale Several cellists in the New York Philharmonic could have solo careers. Some have. But there's something special about being a member of an elite orchestra. "Ask cellists to define the part the cello plays in an orchestra, and they describe it as subtle but essential. 'It's a foundation role. It provides stability and structure." The New York Times 02/21/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 11:18 pm
Dresden Cathedral Decides On Modern Organ, Purists Protest Music purists are protesting the decision at Dresden's famed Frauenkirche to replace the organ there with a more modern instrument. "The board of trustees of the foundation in charge of reconstructing the cathedral, which was destroyed at the end of World War II and left as a ruin during more than four decades of communist rule, decided on Monday to give the contract to an organ builder in Strasbourg. In doing so, they rejected a competing proposal for an exact reproduction of the original organ was described by a number of prominent supporters as 'historically correct'." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/21/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 10:49 pm
Danielpour, Morrison Team Up For Opera Poet Toni Morrison and composer Richard Danielpour have been commissioned to write a new opera by the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Detroit's Michigan Opera Theater and the Cincinnati Opera. Working title for the piece is "Margaret Garner", "the name of a pre-Civil War Kentucky slave. Forced to be the mistress of a plantation owner, Garner escaped with her children, but, when captured, attempted to murder them and herself rather than return to slavery." The premiere will be February 2006. Philadelphia Inquirer 02/20/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 1:50 pm
Sydney Opera House Closure Requires Intricate Dance The Sydney Opera House Theatre will have to close for a big renovation - probably in 2005. Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet and the Sydney Dance Company will all be affected. So "what will happen in the Sydney performing arts scene when the Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House closes for renovation?" Sydney Morning Herald 02/21/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 11:25 pm
Texas Commission On the Arts Braces For Cuts After a seven percent cut in its budget the Texas arts council cut some programs. State agencies have been asked to trim 12.5 percent. And there's at least one recommendation to do away with a freestanding arts commission and its employees altogether. With a state deficit of $10 billion, arts supporters are bracing for trouble. Midland Reporter-Telegram (TexaS) 02/20/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 1:41 pm
Producers May Be Backing Down There appears to be some movement in the contentious negotiations between Broadway producers and the musicians who staff the pits of the Great White Way. The central issue in the talks is over the requirement that a minimum number of musicians be employed for every show. Producers have been insisting that the policy must be eliminated outright, but sources now say that they may be willing to accept reductions in the minimums instead. Why the change of heart? It's possible that producers aren't as ready as they suggest to start using canned music as accompaniment to Broadway musicals. New York Post 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 6:31 am
Collision Course - Two Shows Square Off On Same Night "Two high-profile, upcoming Broadway productions - the musical 'Urban Cowboy' and Yasmina Reza's play 'Life x 3' - are scheduled to premiere March 27, and both say they won't change their plans. It is unusual for two Broadway shows to open on the same day, thus going head to head for newspaper space, television coverage and opening-night party publicity." Nando Times (AP) 02/21/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 11:41 pm
Bellesiles Back In Business Less than a month after the Alfred Knopf pubishing house took Michael Bellesiles's controversial book on guns in America off the market, the volume has found a new, albeit somewhat less prestigious, publisher. "Soft Skull Press of Brooklyn, N.Y., which calls itself 'a small, radical, independent publisher,' will republish a revised edition in October. The book will have a new introduction and what a Soft Skull statement called 'several clarifications concerning research.'" Bellesiles lost his job at Emory University last year when claims surfaced that much of his research for the book was falsified. Boston Globe 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 5:43 am
- Previously: Bellesiles Stripped of Prize Historian Michael Bellesiles has been vilified by the political right, ostracized by his colleagues, and forced out of his professorship since charges of falsified research in his controversial book on America's "gun culture" hit the front pages several months back. Now, Columbia University is stripping Bellesiles of the prestigious Bancroft Prize it awarded him when the book was originally published. For the record, Bellesiles continues to stand by his research. Washington Post (AP) 12/14/02
Roiling Politics At Writers' Union The controversial president of the National Writers' Union abruptly announced his departure from the post last week, but the infighting which has plagued the NWU in recent days doesn't appear to be waning with Jonathan Tasini's resignation. "Some in the anti-Tasini faction Your Union said they expect next fall's election to be intense," and nobody appears to be above taking shots at Tasini as he leaves the premises. Publishers Weekly Newsline 02/18/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 5:30 am
A Book A Day...Creating The Instant Book Forty German authors are hoping to set a new world record by conceiving, writing and printing a book in 12 hours. The team of writers will get their topic at 7.45 a.m. on April 23, World Book and Copyright Day. "They aim to have the finished book on shop shelves in 10 German cities by the evening of that day." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/21/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 10:53 pm
Big Ambitions For New Culture Mag A new magazine on culture out of Los Angeles has attracted some high profile writers - among them Douglas Rushkoff, Kristine McKenna, Spike Jonze - despite not being able to pay high-profile fees. The magazine is called Arthur, and it's distributed free with a print run of 40,000 "Arthur's success in gathering talent comes in part from a promise that writers will be lightly edited, and that underground artists and controversial subjects will be championed. 'I know all this stuff sounds pompous. But there is no money here. This is an activist magazine. I have a clear idea of what's wrong with this culture and this world. This is the stuff I'm interested in, this is the work that's gratifying to me'." Los Angeles Times 02/20/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 1:58 pm
Smart Economics Or The Americanization Of Canada? Canada has always made a point of keeping its culture distinct from its neighbor to the south, and even has laws to ensure that it stays that way. So it's no surprise that this week's federal budget, which appears to allow greater American incursion into the Canadian TV marketplace, is taking no small amount of flak from producers, critics, and the public. The government insists that the new plan will bring great economic benefit to Canada's entire cultural community, but John Doyle disagrees: "If you, the viewer, think that the federal government's new screw-you tactic on Canadian TV production will matter little in terms of content or culture, you're dead wrong." The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/21/03
Posted: 02/21/2003 6:07 am
- Previously: Slashing Canadian TV Canadian TV producers are apoplectic over a 25% budget cut handed down by the federal government this week. The cuts came as the nation's TV industry prepares to select which funding proposals for new and existing shows will actually get the money they need for production. Additionally, the government is offering new financial inducements designed to attract even more American production crews to Canada, leading Toronto-based TV execs to complain that Ottawa is favoring foreign media interests over domestic ones. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/20/03
French: American Movies Make Stupid Children In Francs, as in most countries, American movies dominate the theatres. "But a number of French critics are attacking Hollywood movies for what they see as a poverty of ideas, which in turn is having an adverse effect on the country's children. If the technology is controlling us, it will transform us into stupid children, and in a way, part of the American cinema does that." BBC 02/20/03
Posted: 02/20/2003 11:09 pm
