DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/dance
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Bolshoi Refuses To Rehire Ballerina: The Bolshoi Ballet says it will not bow to pressure to rehire a ballerina fired last month for being "too big." "The labour ministry said the dismissal was illegal and she should be given her job back. 'The Bolshoi Theatre has not changed its decision with regard to Anastasia Volochkova'." Sydney Morning Herald 10/08/03
http://artsjournal.com/dance/redir/20031007-30871.html
MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/media
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Indian Cinemas Shutting Down More than 1000 movie theatres in western India are threatening to close later this month in a dispute over taxes... BBC 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20031007-30868.html
No DVD Movies To Oscar Voters - Bad Idea! What? Oscar voters aren't going to get DVD copies of nominated movies this year because of fears of piracy? Critics "claim that a blanket ban on screeners will suffocate independent films, and they're absolutely right. When the crunch comes for end-of-the-year screenings, there'll be no time--and nowhere near enough screening rooms--for Academy voters to see "American Splendor," "Winged Migration" or "Whale Rider," to name but three of the many superb films that lack the budgets to promote themselves. And so the elephantiasis that afflicts the movie business will proceed apace, as the most heavily marketed films--though often the least interesting ones--lumber toward Oscar glory." OpinionJournal.com 10/08/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20031007-30867.html
The (Bad) Language Of TV "Bad" language is on the increase on American broadcast networks. "It's not hard to understand why these increases have occurred on the networks during prime time. First, there is the competition from cable. Popular programs such as 'The Sopranos' and 'Sex and the City' use vulgar and explicit language that makes network shows seem prim by comparison. Then there is pressure on entertainment programs to keep up with their own network news divisions." Chicago Tribune 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20031007-30832.html
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/music
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Music Encourages Spending "The strains of Mozart, Bach and Beethoven played in restaurants makes diners feel more affluent and encourages them to spend, according to research released by the University of Leicester in central England on Tuesday." Andante (AP) 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031008-30878.html
A Carnegie, NY Phil Merger That Never Made Sense? "To many minds, the merger never made sense. Looked at solely from the perspective of the New York Philharmonic, the primary advantage was obvious: instead of being a tenant in the acoustically challenged Avery Fisher Hall, the orchestra would have become a co-resident at America's most storied and acoustically excellent auditorium. But it was much harder to see how Carnegie Hall was supposed to benefit from the merger, unless you viewed it essentially as a business venture that would have combined two endowments and two subscriber bases at a time of economic uncertainties." The New York Times 10/08/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031007-30874.html
SF Conservatory's New Home The San Francisco Conservatory is entering a new era with a new building. "The new building, designed by the San Francisco architectural firm Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris with the involvement of acoustician Lawrence Kirkegaard, will mark a huge expansion for the Conservatory. The plans call for a building nearly twice the size of the existing facility, with no fewer than three performance spaces and a wealth of new classrooms, practice rooms and teaching studios. And all at a cost of only $80 million." San Francisco Chronicle 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031007-30872.html
NY Phil & Carnegie - Calling Off The Marriage "The much-heralded union between America's oldest orchestra and its most prestigious concert hall - announced for the 2006-07 season - would have created a gigantic nonprofit corporation with an endowment of around $350 million. But there were problems from the beginning, both legal (Lincoln Center had indicated that it would seek to hold the Philharmonic, its tenant for the past 41 years, to a contract that ran until 2011) and aesthetic (the merger would have greatly diminished the variety of programming at Carnegie Hall)." Washington Post 10/08/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031007-30870.html
NY Phil, Carnegie, Call off Merger Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic have decided to call off their proposed merger. "Rumors that the deal was unraveling had been circulating in recent days after weeks of growing doubt about whether the boards of these two proud organizations would ultimately sanction the move. Lincoln Center officials said today that they were pleased to have the orchestra remain. `If you were to capture our feelings about this, they could be succinctly stated: Welcome home. All is forgiven. We have a lot to discuss." The New York Times 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031007-30866.html
Philly Opera - Blasting Out The Half-Price Tickets The Opera Company of Philadelphia finds its season subscriptions on the decline. So it's trying something new - four days before a performance, the company releases remaining tickets at half-price. "The availability of half-price seats is made known through periodic e-mail 'blasts' much in the fashion of last-minute airline deals. The question remains whether opera fans are the type who will make last-minute plans. Last week's Il Trovatore opening sold 100 half-price tickets on 24-hour notice." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031007-30845.html
PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/people
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Dario Fo Vs. Those In Power At 77, Italian playwright/director Dario Fo is still rabble rousing. He's in Genoa restaging Rossini's opera, Il Viaggio a Reims: "They discovered I had re-written some of Rossini's text, a story about Charles X, the King of France immediately after the French revolution. He threw out the Government, called for new elections, limited the number of voters, made laws for his own benefit. Yes! Many understood him to be similar to (the Italian Prime Minister) Berlusconi! So the politicians said we could not do this opera in Genoa. It was a big struggle. In the end, the city council said to the provincial governors, 'Sorry, the program is set, tickets have been sold, we cannot stop the production'." The Age (Melbourne) 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/people/redir/20031007-30829.html
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing
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Wal-Mart's Magazine Clout Wal-Mart is the biggest single retailer of magazines' newsstand sales, "accounting for what industry executives peg as at least 15% of all such sales. It holds that place despite some selectivity in choosing which magazines to stock in its stores." That "selectivity" includes a "moral" standard that now has a big impact on how magazines are sold. Ad Age 10/06/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20031007-30876.html
Why Does An Author's Ethnicity Matter? Booker favorite Monica Ali is the object of much speculation about her ethnicity. "The cult of the ethnic author is infuriating for the simple reason that it takes the focus away from the work. Who cares if Ali is 'black' or 'white,' or whether she was closer to her Mum or her Abba? People have been so wrapped up in Ali that few have bothered with critical examination of the book." MobyLives 10/06/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20031007-30875.html
New Word Order Ten thousand new words made it into the new Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Editors are constantly monitoring language for new words to include. "If 'cowboy up' or other promising newcomers - at the moment, 'blog' and 'senior moment' are coming up fast on the outside - appear in a wide range of published sources over a sustained period of time, they could land a spot in the next edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary a decade or so from now. If not, they will meet the fate of such former up-and-comers as "vidiocy" and "cable-ready," which now sit forlornly atop the citation files in brown cardboard boxes marked "rejected," or old standbys like "long play," which was dropped from the dictionary because CDs have supplanted long-playing records." Boston Globe 10/07/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20031007-30830.html
THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre
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A Crisis For Live Theatre "People watch an unprecedented amount of drama today, but they generally prefer to experience it through film and television; the appetite for the 'live' spoken variety is limited now, and there's no going back on that. So a regional theatre must programme across the spectrum - stand-up comedy and modern dance as well as Shakespeare and Pinter. The immediate difficulty here is that there simply aren't enough high-quality acts or shows designed to suit smaller stages." The Telegraph (UK) 10/08/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre/redir/20031007-30873.html
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/visualarts
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The Whitney - Digging Out Of A Hole The Whitney Museum is deep in trouble. "Adam Weinberg, its former curator of collections, recently director of Andover's Addison Gallery, returned as its director on October 1. Weinberg is an encouraging choice; he's smart, convivial, knows the board, and loves art. In order to save this ailing institution, however, he must do several thorny things while standing up to its pesky trustees." Village Voice 10/08/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20031008-30877.html
Turners Rescued By Newspaper Reader A fan of JMW Turner gives £13,000 to the Victoria & Albert Museum to repair two of the artist's paintings after reading in the paper that they were disintegrating. The BBC 10/07/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20031007-30869.html
Artist Sues Company To Keep Work Intact In 2000, artist David Phillips created his biggest work - a park installation for a big insurance company in Boston. Two years later, the company wanted to add some trees and sidewalks, but Phillips protested that the plan would change his work. Now the artist and the company are in court. Phillips wants to prevent the company from changing anything; the company wants to remove the work altogether... Boston Globe 10/07/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20031007-30831.html
