Ideas The Best Art: Perceptions Over Ideas "Most debates about what is good or bad in art, desirable or undesirable, significant or insignificant are debates about preference. Theories are evolved to vindicate that preference and, like ideologies, are stultifying. The best artists are driven by their experience to reflect that experience. Few artists worth their salt begin work with a theory of art. If they do, they end proving theory rather than reflecting perceptions about experience. Perceptions are everything." The Guardian (UK) 03/15/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 12:06 pm Visual Arts Art Theft - A Nice (Not So Little) Business Art crime is flourishing. "It is an area of crime that costs insurers £500m a year. The database Invaluable, a London private company, lists more than 100,000 stolen art and antique works. Among them, I discovered 26 Renoirs; eight Warhols unstrapped in transit from Heathrow to New York last year; 180 George III walnut clocks; Goyas, Gainsboroughs and Rubens. Unfortunately this activity is not matched by stories of thieves being collared, receivers incarcerated and "mad collectors" being sent up the river. Profits are high, punishment all too easily evaded." The Guardian (UK) 03/15/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 11:32 am Live And Online - Exploring The Museum Before You Get There "For museum aficionados, the Internet can be a serendipitous joy but it can also be a tease. A number of sites provide directories that can reveal museums you'd never think of while putting together a travel itinerary, but which can end up as the cornerstone of a trip. This is particularly true of the sites with directories of domestic museums. But for travelers who speak only English, the Web is not as generous a place." The New York Times 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 11:11 am Next Year In Terra? Chicago Museum Embroiled In Turmoil Again A few years ago trustees of Chicago's Terra Museum, frustrated by what they perceived as the city's lack of support, decided to move the m useum to New York. After a battle, a compromise settlement was reached in June 2001, "required that the Terra Foundation and a significant portion of the museum's collection stay in the Chicago area for at least 50 years. It also called for the resignations of all board members and the installation of replacements last September." But now Judith Terra, widow of museum founder Daniel Terra, "filed an appeal last month maintaining that some former board members were bullied into supporting a deal to settle the museum's future." Chicago Tribune 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 9:45 am Autry, Southwest Museums To Merge After All Last month the Autry and Southwest museums in Southern California decided to delay their plans to merge. But after lengthy negotiations, the two museums have decided to go ahead with the plan. "To cover costs of the merger, Autry officials say they plan to raise $100 million over the next five years, including $38 million to boost the center's endowment and an estimated $15 million to restore and renovate the Southwest buildings." Los Angeles Times 03/14/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 8:28 am Music Political Songs So As Not To Offend Where are the new anti-war songs? "We're in an age now when the record companies groom you not to say anything that [ticks] anybody off. The debate over activism and music is growing louder, with Friday's furor over Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines' remarks on President Bush. Earlier this week, she told a London concert audience she's 'ashamed' that Mr. Bush is a Texan, but late Friday she apologized after some radio stations decided to boycott the Chicks' music." Dallas Morning News 03/15/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 11:23 am By Arrangement Only - Music In Other Guises Making arrangements of composers' music was a flourishing business up until the early 20th Century. But more recently the arrangement "is widely regarded as second-class music. At best it is tolerated, at worst disdained." What happened? "For the last 80 years, musicology has been increasingly successful in pressing the case for the urtext: an authentic performing edition in which, purportedly, the composer's original thought is perfectly preserved, every note is sacrosanct and the 'sonic surface' of the music is reproduced exactly as the composer envisaged it. A musical performance, by this view, should amount to the re-creation of a bit of history." The New York Times 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 10:38 am Chicago Symphony - Looking For Leadership With American orchestras struggling to stay open and solve their finances, even big orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony are having to re-evaluate their positions. "Our moment of fiscal truth is fast approaching. There is a new labor contract to be negotiated next year, and many are expecting a dogfight. Whoever succeeds Henry Fogel as president and CEO of the CSO Association must satisfy the board's mandate to trim costs while satisfying musicians that he or she is maintaining the CSO's competitive edge among the Big Five U.S. orchestras. All this will place an unusually heavy burden on the CSO's next top administrator." Chicago Tribune 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 9:50 am Singing Out Of Harlem The Boys Choir of Harlem is an American success story. "The journey from church-basement dream to established institution with a $3.8 million annual budget is an astonishing achievement.Today there are 622 students, male and female (the Girls Choir of Harlem was founded in 1993). Each year, about 2,000 young people audition for about 150 places. All of the students take classes in music history, theory, voice, and an instrument, in addition to the full New York state-mandated curriculum; classes continue during tours - some teachers come along, some students keep up through the Internet. Ninety-eight percent of the graduates attend college. The academy has inspired similar schools in Chicago and Detroit." Boston Globe 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 9:16 am Rochester Philharmonic In Financial Difficulty The Rochester Philharmonic is projecting a $550,000 deficit this season. But in the short term, finances are even worse. "An estimated cash shortage of up to $900,000 this fiscal year could jeopardize the RPO’s ability to pay its musicians and vendors as soon as next month. The RPO faced a similar budget squeeze last year, but $350,000 in administrative cuts paved the way for a modest surplus. This year, however, the ensemble has little left to cut." The Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester) 03/14/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 8:47 am Arts Issues Art Matters When The World Goes Strange What use is art as the world looks to be headed to war? Aren't there more important things to be thinking about? "I agree that art is useless, but so is life, and it's precisely our awareness of the 'uselessness' of life that makes us want to struggle to give it purpose, and to give that purpose meaning. We're told that we're engaged in a Manichean contest between 'civilisation' and 'terrorism' to create 'a new world order'. If anything is to change, what we need is to understand ourselves better as well as understanding those who are different from us." The Guardian (UK) 03/15/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 11:59 am What They Make - Arts Execs Are Well Compensated A survey of executive salaries in Minnesota arts organizations reveals that top executives are well-compensated. "Some who watch the nonprofit world wonder why arts administrators tend to out-earn their peers in other nonprofit categories such as those related to health, social services and education. In the Twin Cities in 2001, median pay packages for directors of top arts and culture organizations was $273,125, compared to $177,708 in education, $215,557 in health care and $123,984 in social services. 'These jobs are much tougher now than they were. It's difficult to recruit good, experienced people for director positions, and for critical marketing and development jobs. This narrows the pool and increases the salaries of really good people." The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) 03/13/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 8:41 am People Suzan-Lori Parks - Confidence To Find Your Own Way Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' career is rolling at high speed. Last year she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama for 'Topdog/Underdog.' On May 6, Random House will publish her first novel, 'Getting Mother's Body,' about a family's quest to dig up the jewelry supposedly buried in the grave of one of its members. The first printing is 100,000 copies." And her new play? Her new play has a name that ensures no mainstream paper will ever publish the title. The New York Times 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 10:27 am The Making Of John Adams Composer John Adams, at 56, "is now old enough that the major works of his youth and early maturity are coming into focus as bright, certain lights from a confused and confusing time." Lincoln Center is showcasing Adams with a festival - its first devoted to a living composer. "There will be concerts, films and ballets in four auditoriums as well as the first New York performances of Mr. Adams's most recent dramatic score, the ebullient Christmas opera-oratorio 'El Niño,' at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Forget about Mostly Mozart: this is Absolutely and Adamantly Adams. The festival should help listeners recognize what makes Mr. Adams's music so special — and what made it so special right from the first." The New York Times 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 10:14 am Theatre Virtually Yours - Shadow Over Broadway Broadway's making music again. But "most musicians employed by Broadway musicals thought the union settled too quickly, for too little. Producers felt demonized, and argue they weren't trying to kill off live music on Broadway, even though Broadway tours in particular rely increasingly on virtual-orchestra 'enhancement' of increasingly tiny pit bands." One thing's sure - the virtual orchestra isn't going away. "Ten years from now, they probably are going to be able to put us out of work." Chicago Tribune 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 9:40 am Publishing Record Retail For Romance Novels While some book publishers are hurting with the down economy, the romance-novel business has never been better. Harlequin reports "a revenue increase of 3.5%, to C$618.1 million ($414 million), combined with better operating efficiencies to produce record operating profits of C$119.2 million ($80 million). The company's 4th quarter was particularly strong, "when revenue increased by 8.6%, to C$164 million, and operating profit jumped 31.7%, to C$30.8 million." Publishers Weekly 03/17/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 12:33 pm Media TV - Down And Out On Staurday Night What happened to Saturday night television? Saturday night used to be the premiere night of the TV week, the most important night. But "it's been TV's most ignored and neglected night for years, the video equivalent of a landfill. Saturday now is where TV series go to live out their last useful seasons, or where they escape from to thrive on another night. Saturday night television has become so degraded that it no longer sustains a single original sitcom." Washington Post 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 12:27 pm DVDs Rule - They Earn More Than VHS Or Theatres "Money measures success in Hollywood, and industry figures show just how successful the DVD format has become in its six-year history. People spent nearly $20.3 billion last year to buy or rent movies to watch at home. DVD accounted for 57 percent of that total or $11.6 billion, compared with $9.3 billion in theatrical ticket sales, according to various financial analyses. Money also means power, and DVD has become a major creative force in Hollywood, changing how movies are made by giving filmmakers a new and vast canvas on which to work." Denver Post 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 11:28 am Dance Real Dance On Virtual Music Often live music is a preferable accompaniment for dance. But "most dance performances have no live accompaniment. For years, the not-for-profit dance industry has endured a battle between artistic ideals and financial practicality. The dance world has long been dealing with the same issues that were part of the recent Broadway strike. Budgets make recorded music a necessity." Chicago Tribune 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 9:56 am Dance In The Desert Once again, Arizona State University's dance program has been ranked in the top ten dance study programs in the US. "A student can concentrate in performance, choreography, dance education or what we call dance studies, which can be anything from ethnographic study of dance to a combination of dance and business." Arizona Republic 03/16/03 Posted: 03/16/2003 9:03 am