Of Fairness And Discrimination "A graduate student at the University of Wisconsin studied the difficulties of former prisoners trying to find work and, in the process, came up with a disturbing finding: it is easier for a white person with a felony conviction to get a job than for a black person whose record is clean." The New York Times 03/20/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 10:00 am
The Greening Of A Freeway The route along the freeway in Boston that has been relocated underground (the Big Dig) is to become a greenbelt. As the old freeway is dismantled, Robert Campbell is taken with how big the space is. "It's just possible that the greenway site is more stunning today than it will ever be again. That's because of the way the remaining fragments of the old artery stand around in it, like mysterious wreckage from an earlier civilization. They may be junk, but -- as artists long ago discovered -- junk can be visually rich." Boston Globe 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 1:07 pm
The Community Powers Of Weather Olafur Eliasson's Weather Project installation in the Tate Modern's vast Turbine Hall has been a phenomenal hit with visitors. But it's coming to an end and Eliasson reflects on why it appealed to people. "I wanted a subject that implied `community' and that was open-ended. Predicting weather is one way we collectively try to avoid the unforeseeable, which our lives are always about. The weather is a subject about which a community may also permit a high degree of disagreement: I can say `I hate the rain,' you say, `I love it,' and you may still think I am a nice guy." The New York Times 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 9:04 am
SF Museum Garage Construction Halted By Judge A San Francisco judge has halted construction of a parking garage in front of the de Young Museum, saying that the way the garage is being financed is not allowed. Delay in construction will cost the museum millions. "The de Young museum's summer 2005 reopening will be delayed until the garage is built, because a big hole will be created in front of the museum as the garage is being constructed. Museum officials now expect to open the facility next September -- three months late -- which means $3.8 million in lost revenue and added expenses, San Francisco Chronicle 03/20/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 7:20 am
Sydney Opera House Being Retrofitted With Bomb Protection The Sydney Opera House is getting bomb blast barriers for its entryways. "Police and security agencies fear a truck or car bomb could be driven into one of Sydney's most recognisable landmarks. The building has been identified by ASIO as one of Australia's top terrorist targets along with the rail network and government buildings in Sydney." News.com.au 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 1:34 pm
Mr. Perlman Takes The NY Phil Itzhak Perlman makes his debut as conductor with the New York Philharmonic. "There are a few things to be said for Mr. Perlman as a conductor. Whatever the flaws in his conducting technique, his inherent musicality goes a long way in communicating what he wants. Clearly he is not doing this half-heartedly, as some soloists have." The New York Times 03/20/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 9:51 am
How Pavarotti Got To Say Goodbye To The Met Last year, when Luciano Pavarotti canceled two performances at the Metropolitan Opera, it looked like his career at the Met was done. Met impressario Joseph Volpe intimated as such. But there the tenor was on the Met stage two weeks ago singing his farewells. So how did it happen? The New York Times 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 9:26 am
Of Obscenity And Small-Time Politics Why is the US Congress making such a big deal about obscenity on the broadcast airwaves? Frank Rich says it's politics: "While the current uproar over broadcast indecency is ostensibly all about sex, it is still all about politics, especially in an election year when a culture war rages. Washington's latest crew of Puritan enforcers — in the administration, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission — are all pandering to a censorious Republican political base that is the closest thing America has to its own Taliban. The media giants, fearful of losing the deregulatory financial favors the federal government can bestow, will knuckle under accordingly until the coast is clear." The New York Times 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 8:57 am
Is LA's New Cultural Affairs Department An Opportunity Or Political Salve? Last week, Los Angeles' mayor relented and decided not to kill the city's cultural department to save money. "It remains to be seen whether the mayor's redefined Cultural Affairs Department is more than a political tactic to quiet angry arts supporters as the city struggles to close an estimated $250-million budget shortfall. But the arts community shouldn't simply declare victory and accept the mayor's largely commercial vision of his new arts council. Rather, it should emerge from the affair with a new determination to position arts and culture at the center of city life." Los Angeles Times 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 8:40 am
Arts Education Feels The Budget Squeeze As state governments in America find their budgets squeezed, money for education is being cut. And educators, looking for places to cut, are choosing to kill arts education. In California, "music enrollment statewide is at a 20-year low, according to the latest statistics. From a high of 1.1 million students in the 1999-2000 school year, music participation plummeted to 624,516 students last year. The trend is disturbing to music teachers and others now that more is known about how the arts benefit academics." Sacramento Bee 03/20/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 8:14 am
How The Arts Convinced Florida To Give It Money A year after Florida chopped its arts funding, how did Florida arts lovers get its legislature to approve 115-2 to restore $21 million a year in new funding? The old fashioned way - lobbying. "Before the first committee meeting of this legislative year, arts groups began flooding legislative offices with 200,000 multicolored protest cards, just one of the strategies dreamed up in weekly conference calls that organizers held with arts groups in each of the state's 67 counties." Palm Beach Post 03/20/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 7:05 am
MTT, American Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has been music director of the San Francisco Symphony for ten years. "The conductor was a man with a mission from the beginning, and he is still focused on bringing forward new music, American music, and neglected repertory as well as refreshing the standard classics. But his explorations have taken on a special urgency in recent years." Boston Globe 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 1:03 pm
The Man Inside The Actors Studio James Lipton is the popular host of "Inside the Actors Studio." "He's a figure both revered and mocked for his highly researched, forelock-tugging, truth-inducing encounters with some of the most famous members of the acting profession. In real life, Lipton is an intriguing contrast to his TV persona. To begin with, he's shorter than his imposing air might lead you to believe. (He's always sitting down on the program.) But he's also surprisingly shy, self-effacing and the possessor of a little-boy-lost charm that's at odds with his actual age of 77." Toronto Star 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 12:39 pm
Sued To Fame And Fortune No one likes to be sued, right? Usually. But some publishers find that being sued over a book is a big boost for sales. "Paradoxically, a lawsuit, especially a flimsy one, can be a boon to a book's fortunes. And increasingly, some writers and publishers admit to hoping they'll attract one." Boston Globe 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 1:22 pm
Packaging Adult Books For Kids Plenty of adults read kids books. But, in a search for crossover audiences, can publishers turn kids on to adult books? Maybe a little different pacakging helps? Toronto Star 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 12:33 pm
Iraq As A Soap Opera Iraq TV is getting its first post-American invasion soap opera. "During Saddam's reign, show business was under tight state control and all actors were employed by a government ministry. Television and feature films were heavily censored. Since the fall of Saddam last year, independent film-makers have enjoyed unprecedented freedom. Ironically, as the plots of Love and War indicate, much of this new-found artistic energy is being used to criticise, subtly or not, the American and British forces who brought the freedom." China Daily (Reuters) 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 1:39 pm
Toronto Film Industry Bounces Back Last year was an awful year for the Toronto film industry. "This year, the industry, weary but determined, slept with one eye open as it watched the Canadian dollar buoy to its highest level in decades. The players had to wonder, would American producers choose to make their big-money movies at home? Was this the end for Hollywood North? Hardly." Toronto Star 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 12:43 pm
Why Advertisers Like Youth Why do advertisers value younger consumers over older, even though older buyers have more money? "It's complicated. First, advertisers believe that by the time you reach a certain age, you have pretty much decided which brand of dishwashing detergent you like and you're going to stick with it. Younger viewers, on the other hand, are still trying to figure out whether they prefer Excedrin to Bufferin and whether they look better with hair dyed by L'Oreal or Clairol. Second, advertisers believe that by the time you reach a certain age, you are much less likely to buy a product just because Michael Jordan is wearing it." Washington Post 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 12:28 pm
UK Announces New Movie Investment Tax Credit A new tax credit program for British filmmakers will help spur the industry. A government program that had given tax breaks for those who invest in UK movies is coming to an end, and the movie industry had complained that its discontinuation would kill British film investment. BBC 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 8:46 am
ABT - Road To Recovery? American Ballet Theatre's artistic director Kevin McKenzie says ABT's financial worries aren't serious. He "insists any financial shortfall is strictly a routine cash-flow crunch. "We have no long-term debt. We do have an operating deficit of around $1 million, but that's the same as it has been for several years. We don't owe vendors; we raised more money last year than ever before, and it's a far cry from when I took over. Then, you'd call, tell people you were with ABT and they'd hang up." Chicago Tribune 03/21/04
Posted: 03/21/2004 1:48 pm
