Visual Arts Brazil Halts Guggenheim Plans A Brazilian court has blocked construction of a new Guggenheim Museum in Brazil. "The ban follows public outcry that the $US250 million project is a luxury the city cannot afford. Many of Rio's citizens said the money should be spent on fighting crime or improving education and health care in the city's teeming shantytowns. Billboards have appeared showing a photograph of a homeless girl drinking from a puddle on the sidewalk with the caption, 'Does Rio need such a museum? and the Guggenheim name encircled in red." ABCNews.com 06/25/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 11:09 pm Intervening Against Art "In a number of recent and high profile instances, certain individuals, card-carrying artists and regular civilians both, have acted upon the urge to respond critically with a physical intervention into a piece of art. It would appear that the art world has gone intervention crazy. You could blame it on Guy Debord and the Situationist International with their fondness for challenging the gallery environment with dynamic interventions. But that's too obvious. As usual, I blame Brian Eno." The Telegraph (UK) 06/26/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 10:21 pm Kimmelman: Sloppiest Biennale By accident, Michael Kimmelman finds himself at the opening preview of the Venice Biennale. "There are gems to find, although the picking is especially tough this year, the 50th edition of the event. This is the largest, most sprawling and also by far the sloppiest, most uninspired, enervating and passionless biennale that I can recall. The curator, Francesco Bonami, has provided the usual nebulous title, pregnant with meaning but signifying nothing. This time it's 'Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer.' It doesn't begin to account for the miasma that Mr. Bonami has allowed to be assembled." The New York Times 06/26/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 10:07 pm Battles At Ground Zero Daniel and Nina Libeskind are battling with the various competing interests who want to control what goes up on the site of the World Trade Center. "At issue is their measure of control over what is built at Ground Zero—whether what goes up there reflects Mr. Libeskind’s vision, or the maelstrom of competing interests that has come to define the story of the World Trade Center. If the Libeskinds have one thing going for them, it is themselves. The two—with matching salt-and-pepper hair, glasses, sharp eyes and black clothing—have a way of refracting off each other. They finish each other’s sentences. They interpret each other for their audience. But they are complementary rather than similar." New York Observer 06/25/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 6:11 pm Neighbors Who Oppose Met Museum Plans (And The Neighbors Who Oppose Them) A group of the Metropolitan Museum's neighbors is mobilizing to oppose the museum's expansion plans. Museum foes are circulating a letter: "If the Museum goes ahead, it will own our lives until at least 2015. We have a window of opportunity to act now, before the first jackhammer bursts or the first blast shakes. Can you imagine the negative impact on the value of your home if trying to sell during the 12-year assault? We could stop the whole magilla." But now a group of opponents to the Met's opponents has sprung up, charging self-interest... New York Observer 06/25/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 6:01 pm Music San Antonio Looks For Answers Deep in the heart of Texas, there are those still hoping for a savior to step forward and save the bankrupt San Antonio Symphony. To be sure, the city has no shortage of billionaires who could make the SAS solvent again in the blink of an eye, but it's fairly clear that none of them are going to help, says Mike Greenberg. So why isn't anyone looking at realistic options instead of waiting for a miracle? "There's only one real answer for the symphony: It has to make more money by doing more of what it does well: making music... To build a future, the symphony needs a hammer in the hand, not a rabbit in a hat." San Antonio Express-News 06/22/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 6:45 am Why Whine When You Can Innovate? The Colorado Music Festival is not sitting around waiting for the financial woes that are plaguing so many classical music organizations to hit them, too. Rather, the Boulder-based organization is joining forces with other arts groups to offer their audience new reasons to keep streaming through the turnstiles. A collaboration with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival will find actors roaming the grounds on select nights. A local group specializing in music education is on board to assist with a new children's program. And for every concert it plays, the CMF will utilize a new orchestral 'scorecard' which invites the audience to follow along with key themes as the orchestra plays them. Rocky Mountain News 06/26/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 6:34 am Challenge Grant Could Be Big Boost In Colorado "An unprecedented grant will speed the tempo of the new Colorado Springs Philharmonic's march toward solvency - if the orchestra can raise $650,000 in four months. A quartet of regional foundations... have joined forces to offer a 2-to-1 challenge grant of $325,000, orchestra officials announced Tuesday. It's the largest grant in the history of the former Colorado Springs Symphony, which went bankrupt earlier this year, then re-formed as the Colorado Springs Philharmonic." Denver Post 06/25/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 6:16 am Dallas Shrinks A Deficit With many large American orchestras facing multi-million dollar deficits, bloated budgets, and uncertain futures, the Dallas Symphony is continuing to be a model of fiscal sanity, without compromising artistic integrity. The DSO "came within $150,000 of balancing its $21 million budget for the 2002-03 fiscal year. That's a big improvement over the $847,000 deficit during 2001-02– and a considerable achievement in a year marked by bankruptcies, multimillion-dollar deficits and contract rollbacks for other orchestras." The news isn't all good - ticket sales in Dallas are down again - but in the current economic climate, the DSO has to be considered a major success story. Dallas Morning News 06/25/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 5:47 am Gerhart Resigns In San Diego, Likely Headed to Pittsburgh San Diego Symphony president Douglas Gerhart has resigned from that position, saying that his candidacy for the top job in Pittsburgh had become a distraction. The financially embattled Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra isn't returning phone calls on the subject, but it's possible that Gerhart has already been hired. The San Diego prez first surfaced as a leading candidate for the PSO job two weeks ago, based on his record of service with orchestras attempting to navigate dire economic straits. San Diego Union-Tribune 06/25/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 5:39 am Previously: A Manifesto, A Commitment, Amd A Darkhorse Candidate Board members of the embattled Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra are being asked to sign a "Commitment To Excellence" manifesto which states that "the board will 'not compromise the artistic future of the Pittsburgh Symphony,' and 'will not accept anything less than the establishment of permanent financial stability. ...'" News of the manifesto came as rumors began to circulate that the PSO is looking seriously at hiring Douglas Gerhart, known as something of a turnaround specialist in the orchestra world, as its next managing director. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 06/12/03 Recording Industry To Hunt Down Swappers, Demand Big Bucks The Recording Industry Association of America wants to go after music file-swappers and fine them - demanding $150,000 from each. "The organisation says it wants to track down the heaviest users of song-swapping services, and then sue them for thousands of dollars in damages. 'We're going to begin taking names and preparing lawsuits against peer-to-peer network users who are illegally making available a substantial number of music files to millions of other computer users'." BBC 06/25/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 5:27 am You Talkin' To Me? No, Seriously, Are You? With the recording industry threatening to begin suing the biggest file-swappers, millions of users of file trading services like Kazaa and Morpheus are wondering just how many downloads qualifies as lawsuit-worthy. And that, of course, is exactly what the RIAA wants. "The intent is to scare everyone from prototypical pirates who share hundreds of ripped CDs through T-1 lines to teens who trade a handful of pop tunes. Still, the heaviest sharers are a distinct bunch relatively easy to pick out in a crowd." Wired 06/26/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 5:26 am Vanguard Comes To The Front Again The legendary Vanguard Classics label is being resurrected. "Artemis Classics, a division of Artemis Records, will begin releasing both Vanguard's printed catalogue as well as previously unreleased material from this autumn. In addition, Artemis will also be working with a handful of young artists, including violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Matt Haimovitz and composer Michael Hersh." Gramophone 06/25/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 11:16 pm A Carnegie/NY Phil Rift? Are cracks beginning to appear in the marriage between the New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall? Carnegie officials are looking forward: "People think that we are simply going to graft the current Philharmonic schedule on top of the Carnegie Hall schedule. The opportunity here is to create a merged institution that is forward-thinking. We are looking at new ways of presentation and new types of scheduling." Forward-thinking. Sounds good. "Except that the Philharmonic, however splendid an orchestra, has not been forward-thinking since the 1970's." The New York Times 06/26/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 10:15 pm People The Musical Bounty Hunter Let's say you're an old jazzer who just happened to notice that a record you released in 1961 was just reissued on CD, and you haven't seen a dime, or even heard from the record company. Or maybe you're the artist behind that great '80s dance track that never catapulted you to stardom, but which keeps showing up on those compilations they sell on TV. Who do you call? Meet Jon Hichborn, the Royalty Hunter. "In an industry that treats discarded talent like spoiled milk, Hichborn is an anomaly. He works to get artists royalties they are owed. He doesn't care if you're a one-hit wonder or dead bluesman. Just as long as you feel you've been cheated." Boston Globe 06/26/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 5:59 am Domingo Gets Oxford Honor Placido Domingo has been awarded an honorary music degree from Oxford University. Oxford chancellor Chris Patten said to Domingo, in Latin: "You are the darling of audiences, a champion of music, the Orpheus of the age." BBC 06/25/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 5:30 pm Theatre West End To Get A Facelift Theatrical producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the man behind such smash shows as Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, has pledged to pump £35 million (about $58.25 million) into London's struggling West End theatre district. Mackintosh, who owns many of the West End's venues, will significantly revamp six of his properties, and build a whole new 500-seat theatre, to be known as The Sondheim. The pledged amount is thought to be more than 10% of Mackintosh's estimated personal fortune. BBC 06/25/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 5:20 am Publishing The Might Bird Penguin is flexing its muscles to get itself more prominence in bookstores. "If a store commits to stocking a 'good amount' of Penguin titles and agrees to ten displays per year 'in prime selling space,' it receives an extra 1% discount on all titles published within the last year. Stores have to make a three-year commitment and must agree to promote both adult and children's titles. To some small publishers, the move, coming from the country's second-largest publisher, seems like yet another sales obstacle on a road already scattered with them. 'The net effect is going to be less exposure for small houses'." Publishers Weekly 06/24/03 Posted: 06/26/2003 7:33 am Media TV's Diversity Problem Television in the US is still more white than the population. "Hispanic characters received only 3 percent of screen time in fall 2002 programs on the six major networks, according to the study by the University of California, Los Angeles. Hispanics make up 13.5 percent of the U.S. population. Whites received 81 percent of screen time and blacks 15 percent, the study said - both disproportionate to their population." Backstage 06/25/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 11:27 pm BBC's Out-Of-Practice Arts Efforts The BBC debuts its new TV arts series, but the cobwebs are showing. The BBC has become rusty when it comes to arts. "Over the past six years the BBC has all but abolished television arts coverage, scrapping The Late Show, Arena, Omnibus and one-off documentaries. Live performance also died, except at Proms time and Christmas. A corporation that once set the world standard for arts presentation resolved under director-general John Birt to dispense with art as an expensive nuisance. His successor Greg Dyke made a gestural restoration, employing the animal-lover Rolf Harris to enthuse about painting and recommissioning some live performance, though only for the minority channel, BBC4. It didn't work." London Evening Standard 06/25/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 11:22 pm Is Art Film Quality Dropping? Sydney has seen a surge in the number of art film theatres. But are the films they're showing as good as in previous years? "Yes, there is more choice now because there are more screens. But people are putting on some films that once upon a time would have gone straight to video. Because of the number of screens, more and more mediocre films are being released. Standards have dropped." Sydney Morning Herald 06/26/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 5:34 pm Hands Off My Spike! Spike Lee is trying to prevent an American cable network from changing its name to the Spike Network. But other Spikes are getting into the act. "The latest twist in the case came yesterday, when Spike Jones Jr, the son of the 1950s comic bandleader Spike Jones, filed court papers saying a ruling in Lee's favour would be disastrous for other well-known Spikes. Jones Jr said Lee's injunction might interfere with his own efforts to promote, sell and market both his father's work and other autobiographical commercial projects." And Spike Jonze, the quirky filmmaker might have something to say... The Age (Melbourne) 06/26/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 5:04 pm Canadian TV - Looking For A New Deal "The Canadian TV racket used to be a simple thing: Buy U.S. programming cheap, sell ads for more than what you paid for the shows and presto chango! Your broadcast licence became a licence to print money. Lots of money." Not anymore. So Canada's big media companies are fighting for changes. Toronto Star 06/24/03 Posted: 06/25/2003 9:09 am