Defining Race - Can You? "How valid is the concept of race from a biological standpoint? Do physical features reliably say anything informative about a person's genetic makeup beyond indicating that the individual has genes for blue eyes or curly hair? The problem is hard in part because the implicit definition of what makes a person a member of a particular race differs from region to region across the globe." Scientific American 12/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 4:00 pm
St. Louis New Contemporary Gem St. Louis' new Contemporary Art Museum is an $8 million gem. "The museum's architect, Brad Cloepfil, eschewed such gestures in a simple but sophisticated design that consists of interlocking concrete planes, not unlike a house of cards. But this house of cards is anything but flimsy. It's at once solid and permeable, a skillful geometric exercise that blurs the divisions between inside and outside, creating a serene but dynamic environment without the benefit of grand stairs, towering atriums or flapping wings." Chicago Tribune 11/30/03
Posted: 11/30/2003 11:05 am
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From One Generation To The Next Some of the world's most distinguished artists gathered at Lincoln Center on November 10 to celebrate the completion of the inaugural year of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. www.rolexmentorprotege.com
Better CD's, Better Sound If regular CD's aren't selling so well now, how about super enhanced sound CD's? "Introduced four years ago, SACD boasts superior fidelity and surround-sound capability when played on an SACD player. Though the format is not widely established, a renewed interest in rock classics and a considerable uptick in SACD sales have given its supporters reason to be optimistic." Chicago Tribune 11/30/03
Posted: 11/30/2003 10:55 am
Mandela's Concert Against AIDS Nelson Mandela was host to a five-hour pop concert in Cape Town in a benefit to fight AIDS. "Mr Mandela, 85, who watched the show alongside his wife Graca Machel and US TV presenter Oprah Winfrey, has said Aids is a bigger challenge than apartheid. In South Africa there are more people living with HIV/Aids than anywhere else in the world, and globally the number of those infected is now more than 42 million." BBC 11/30/03
Posted: 11/30/2003 10:36 am
Homeless Stage Opera An opera production produced by homeless people has been staged in Oxford. ""The charity behind the project, Streetwise Opera, helped train volunteers to sing, perform and develop theatre skills. Professional opera singers joined them for last night's production at New College, which was sold out. The show's director, Matthew Peacock, said he hoped the music boosted the confidence of the homeless people involved and would help them in life." BBC 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 3:55 pm
Time To Rethink Scottish Arts Funding? The Scottish Arts Council announces another destabilizing funding cut. Why must we keep going through this? "Aside from the actual funding decisions themselves (and who would deny our neglected creators of children’s drama their new money?), I think it is time to question the whole way in which arts funding is structured in this country. The annual round of funding announcements appears to breed short-termism on the part of the SAC and chronic insecurity on the part of our arts organisations." The Scotsman 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 3:36 pm
Olympic Artists... What Role? It's seven years until the Winter Olympics come to Vancouver. So what role will artists have? "Discussions are just beginning in Vancouver over the role artists can play in the games. Some figure it's going to be a great opportunity to get money and attention for new projects; others worry they will simply be eclipsed." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 1:22 pm
Message To Ben Heppner: Stay Out Of Toronto! Two years ago tenor Ben Heppner had to walk offstage in the middle of a recital in Toronto because of vocal problems. He got medical attention and stopped singing again. Earlier this year he resumed singing and the problems seemed gone. Then this recital in Toronto again: As the concert went on, "traces of fragility in the upper third of his voice became more obvious and oppressive. He began the second half with a frank acknowledgment of his problem. He would sing on, he said, for as long as we and he could manage. But it was never the forceful high notes that went awry. It was the sustained medium-volume singing in that upper third of the voice. The sound would waver and shred, and all the sophistication and subtlety of this fine artist would count for nothing. In the end, he sang five of the nine programmed songs, with varying degrees of distress." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 1:26 pm
Remembering Hugh Kenner Hugh Kenner, who died last week at the age of 80, was one of America's finest critical writers, writes Benjamin Ivry. "His 25 books are charmingly written, intellectually alive excursions. They have a scientist's eye for elegance, clarity and specificity." The New York Times 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 1:05 pm
Getting Angels From Stage To Screen "Too often, big stage deals have hit the screen, large or small, with an audible thud, making viewers wonder what was so special about the originals anyway. For some of us, "Angels in America" is a happier story. Building on his astute and graceful 2001 HBO adaptation of the Margaret Edson play "Wit," director Mike Nichols has taken the hospital bed so prominent in that drama, about a cancer patient, and wheeled it over to another, more expansive wing." Chicago Tribune 11/30/03
Posted: 11/30/2003 11:14 am
Scottish Theatres In Revolt The amateur Scottish theatre association is organizing protests against the Scottish Arts Council for its funding cuts announced last week. "The Scottish Community Drama Association (SCDA), a clearing house for some 200 drama clubs across Scotland that was founded in 1926, was told this week that it will lose its £58,000 annual grant. The money is a tiny fraction of the SAC’s £60 million annual budget, but its loss left the mostly volunteer association shell-shocked." The Scotsman 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 3:41 pm
Does Scottish Children's Theatre Initiative Cost Too Much? The Scottish Arts Council is cutting back on adult theatre to fund a new children's theatre initiative. But is this a wise trade-off? "Instead of finding new money for children’s theatre, they are cutting what seems to be the adult projects. I think that is extremely short-sighted." The Scotsman 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 3:36 pm
How Women Look On TV (And Why) A new study of the television, analyzing the 2002-3 prime-time season, "found that women made up 22 percent of all creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors and directors of photography, a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged for the last four seasons. Meanwhile, on screen, male characters outnumbered females by almost 2 to 1 (62 percent males, 38 percent females). The women were also younger than the men: 70 percent of all characters in their 40's and 80 percent of those in their 50's were men. Among major characters, only men held political office or were military or religious leaders. A total of 93 percent of business owners were men." The New York Times 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 1:01 pm
Guillem: Up, Up In The Air Royal Ballet star Sylvie Guillem has "put most of the classical tutu ballets behind her, declaring that she has lost interest in The Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère and the like. With her tall, idiosyncratically limber body and restless nature, she has spent much of her glittering career yearning for new choreographers to use her. With Maliphant, it looks as if she is finally getting something special – and yet the unthinkable is looming. Her contract expires this year. Talks have yet to be held in Covent Garden about this potentially momentous event, and Guillem's mobile face clouds doubtfully." The Telegraph (UK) 11/29/03
Posted: 11/29/2003 1:17 pm
