Ideas

Harvard Looks To The Liberal Arts Model Harvard University, that great American bastion of the high-intensity, ultra-focused education, is apparently ready to lighten up a bit. A 15-month internal study has concluded that the university would benefit from allowing students more time to choose majors, and limiting the set-in-stone class requirements for those majors, so as to encourage a balanced, wide-ranging educational experience. The study also suggests that Harvard students be encouraged to study abroad, and emphasizes the importance of science for all students. The New York Times 04/27/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 6:16 am

Richard Florida Defends His Creative Class Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class has been taking a lot of hits in the past few months. Now he rebuts his critics: "The Rise of the Creative Class has little to do with making cities yuppie-friendly, though leftist critics have tried to frame it (and belittle its message) in that way. Rather, my core message is that human creativity is the ultimate source of economic growth. Every single person is creative in some way. And to fully tap and harness that creativity we must be tolerant, diverse, and inclusive." The Next American City 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 4:34 pm

Visual Arts

Museums Can't Survive On Will Alone "Since it moved into its cavernous new home, the story at [Detroit's] Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has been one of managerial blunders, lax oversight and financial calamity," according to a newspaper investigation. The museum was pushed and cajoled into existence in the late 1990s with little in the way of realistic planning or appropriate funding, and the city has pumped $13 million into the institution since then. Now, with the museum unable to balance its books and in danger of not making each new payroll, a lack of business sense and basic accountability is being blamed for the mess. Detroit Free Press 04/26/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 6:52 am

We Smell A Seinfeld Tie-In... Thirty-seven Philadelphia art institutions are collaborating on a massive project focusing on... well, nothing. From paintings that are nothing more than white canvas to tours of empty houses to philosphical explorations of 'cosmological black holes,' the collaboration, which has been dubbed "The Big Nothing," will examine the idea of art as a reflection of space. "So much of the universe - so much of us, for that matter - is empty space. The [project] examines in depth the ramifications of that idea." Philadelphia Inquirer 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 6:40 am

Saatchi: Mindless Critics Are Unfair Charles Saatchi has launched an astonishing and unprecedented broadside against the 'mindless' critics who savaged his most recent show. 'I feel I’ve grown into my role as pantomime villain, but it is mindless to dismiss the art I show just because it’s me that is showing it'." The Scotsman 04/28/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 10:28 pm

London: No Place To Show? "In London, we have a simple but serious problem: we don’t have enough room for exhibitions. In view of the scale of the capital’s art establishments – mighty Tate Modern, the grand old Royal Academy – this may seem surprising. But none the less it’s true – or true of some places." The Telegraph (UK) 04/28/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 10:25 pm

What's It Take To Make It As An Artist? "There are plenty of painters of real accomplishment working in as modern and abstract a mode as one could wish, who never achieve the support of any public gallery or institution, if they are perhaps a shade too old, their gallery is not quite advanced enough, their work is no longer seen as "cutting edge" or their face don't fit." Financial Times 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 6:13 pm

Regina Gallery Saved By City Council The Regina (Saskatchewan) city council has approved a controversial new library budget Monday that "delays the closures of three branches, the Dunlop Art Gallery and the Prairie History Room, but the new plan came at a price: the resignation of almost half of the library board." CBC 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 6:02 pm

Gordon: Milwaukee Museum On Track Milwaukee Art Museum director David Gordon takes exception to a Milwuakee Journal-Sentinel story painting the museum's financial situation: "We have conditional commitments for over $16m of the $25m target, this being the gap between the $125m cost of the Calatrava, the gardens, the refitting of the permanent collection, and the $100m so far raised. On an operating basis before interest and depreciation we made a surplus for each of the past two years since the Calatrava opened and if we miss a surplus this year it should be by a small margin." ArtsJournal Letters 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 5:47 pm

Music

Curtis Hits Its Goal Early Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, arguably the nation's top conservatory, has raised the $35 million it set as a goal in its latest fund drive several months ahead of schedule. The money will be distributed to several parts of the institution, but the bulk will go the the school's endowment, which - at $127 million - is larger than that of all but a few major American orchestras, and is a huge boon for a school which does not charge tuition to its 161 students. Philadelphia Inquirer 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 6:46 am

Scrambling For Relevance "Online services account for just a small fraction of overall music sales, but they're growing rapidly. And the new choices they give consumers threaten to remix the recording industry's traditional revenue streams, pumping up the volume of singles and subscriptions and turning down album sales... The shift to online shopping could be lucrative for the music industry if the flexibility and convenience lead people to spend more on tunes than they do today. But some industry executives and analysts fear the opposite result, with music lovers buying a few 99-cent singles instead of $15 CDs." Los Angeles Times 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 6:22 am

All That Money For A Ring, And You Don't Even Get Engaged! Looking forward to attending the Canadian Opera Company's forthcoming Ring cycle? You might want to see about a home equity loan: the COC announced its ticketing policy for the cycle this week, and patrons learned that they can expect to pay CAN$1700 for prime seats, and as much as CAN$2200 for certain VIP tickets. The cheapest ticket is CAN$300 for the full cycle. And having the money is no guarantee of getting in the door, since the company is giving ticket priority to its donors. The COC cycle commences in the fall of 2006. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 6:08 am

Robertson & St. Louis: A Perfect Match? The task of matching a conductor to an orchestra is far more complex than merely identifying a high level of skill in each. Orchestras, as well as conductors, often have distinct personalities, and a conductor who goes over fabulously in, say, Cleveland, may not get such a warm reception in Boston or Chicago. So when the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra announced David Robertson as its next music director, the real question wasn't whether either party had the necessary skills for top-notch performances, but whether this would be a match of musical personalities. The SLSO played New York with its music director-designate this week, and Bernard Holland found the new marriage promising. The New York Times 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 5:48 am

Strad Cello Stolen in L.A. A Stradivarius cello known as the "General Kyd" has been stolen from a private home in the Los Angeles area. The instrument, which is owned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and played by its principal cellist, Peter Stumpf, dates from 1684 and is valued at $3.5 million. Police are being cagey about the circumstances surrounding the theft, refusing to identify the specific house from which the cello was taken, but stating that there was no immediate sign of a break-in at the residence. Boston Herald (AP) 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 5:27 am

Is Karl Jenkins One Of Our Most Popular Composers? Karl Jenkins is a former jingle-writer and rock musican. Now he's a popular classical composer. "The wealth of these influences make him a hard composer to define, and he wearies of critics’ insistence on putting him in boxes. So let’s say that he’s a new sort of world composer: one whose music is fêted in Kazakhstan and cherished in Japan for its healing properties." The Telegraph (UK) 04/28/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 10:18 pm

The Languishing Long Island Philharmonic The troubled Long Island Philharmonic has special challenges attracting an audience. "People who have moved out here have made a conscious decision. They'll go to New York City to take in an orchestra or a Broadway show. We're an audience known for renting movies. My competition isn't Tilles Center or Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, it's Blockbuster Video and the couch." The New York Times 04/28/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 10:03 pm

It's Official - Colorado Symphony Chooses Kahane The Colorado Symphony chooses Jeffrey Kahane as its new music director. "The Los Angeles native, a finalist in the 1981 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and winner of the 1983 Rubenstein Competition, remains most widely known as a virtuoso pianist. But his reputation as a conductor is quickly catching up." Denver Post 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 4:50 pm

Arts Issues

Officials to Investigate Faltering Arts Center When Pennsylvania's Mountain Laurel Performing Arts Center closed its doors only five months after opening, arts supporters and state officials were aghast at what appeared to be a classic case of mismanagement and overreach. Now, the state Auditor General's office is getting involved at the request of Pennsylvania legislators, investigating the decisions and deals that led to the construction of the $35 million venue. Mountain Laurel, located in the Pocono Mountains in the northeastern part of the state, was to have been the summer home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and planned to host summer concerts by the Philadelphia Orchestra as well. Scranton (PA) Times Tribune 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 5:32 am

Dangerous Art? C'Mon - Art Is Impotent Are there ideas or art that are dangerous to society? That's the case made by some. "For every kid who watches The Matrix and shoots up his high school, we can cite millions more who saw the same movie and did nothing. Does this demonstrate that art is harmless? And if it is harmless, what's the point of it? Sadly, I suspect that it is harmless, and that there is no point to it..." Reason 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 6:38 pm

High School Boy Turned In To Police For Anti-War Artwork A high school student who drew pictures of George Bush including one that "portrayed Bush as a devil launching a missile, with a caption reading 'End the war -- on terrorism'" was turned in to authorities by his teacher. "The 15-year-old boy's art teacher at Prosser High School in Washington State turned the drawings over to school administrators, who notified police, who called the Secret Service." The boy wasn't arrested but was disciplined by the school. CNN (AP) 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 6:07 pm

People

The Man Who Loved Words "What started out as a memorial service for Daniel J. Boorstin yesterday at the Library of Congress also turned into a lovefest for books, reading and the power of the written word. More than 200 people gathered in the Thomas Jefferson Building to honor the bookish, bespectacled, super-brainy man who was given to wearing bow ties. Boorstin served as the 12th librarian of Congress, from 1975 to 1987, and he died in late February of pneumonia at age 89." Washington Post 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 7:01 am

Hubert Selby Jr, 75 "Hubert Selby Jr, the acclaimed author of Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream, has died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 75. The author, who had been in and out of hospital in recent weeks, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease." BBC 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 5:14 am

Riopelle Heirs Settle Estate Dispute Heirs of the late Canadian painter Jean Paul Riopelle have settled their disputes and dropped their lawsuits against one another. Ripelle's children "agreed to the sale of a small number of paintings to cover their father's debts and to drop litigation against Huguette Vachon, their father's common-law wife." CBC 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 5:59 pm

Theatre

Scottish Theatres Get Their Funding Back The Scottish government has changed its mind and decided to refund the country's theatres. "Only months ago the groups were told their core grants from the SAC would end in 2005 and they would have to re-apply for money from a greatly reduced pot. The change now means the companies will effectively be guaranteed funding from 2005 to 2006. There are no guarantees beyond then." Glasgow Herald 04/28/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 7:26 pm

Publishing

Are E-Books About To Break Through? New e-book readers are hitting the market. But "if the e-book is going to be a hit, a few things have to happen. First there has to be a good selection of material to read, and, for publishers, that means taking the risk that their best titles may wind up being distributed for free on the Internet. The recording industry has struggled with this problem in ways both overt and subtle: It has sued batches of pirate downloaders but also circulated its own falsely labeled music files intended to frustrate and dissuade would-be pirates." Forbes 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 7:21 pm

Grammar Book Becomes Global Hit What is it about Lynne Truss'little book of grammar "Eats, Shoots & Leaves?" "The slim volume, subtitled The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, is storming bookshops in country after country, entrancing pedants everywhere from Saudi Arabia to South Korea. It has soared to number one in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa." The Guardian (UK) 04/25/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 6:32 pm

• In Praise Of Rules (For Grammar, At Least) There seems to be new interest in the rules of grammar. So how come, and why now? "This new passion for grammatical rigour indicates a cultural sea change - in this country, any road. I'm not sure what kind of sea change it indicates in Hong Kong." Maybe it's a simple as wanting to impose a little more order on the world, rejecting the idea that perhaps there are no right answers... The Guardian (UK) 04/27/04
  Posted: 04/27/2004 6:24 pm

Nigerian Named Orange Prize Finalist Twenty-five-year-old Nigerian teacher Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been chosen for the short list of this year's £30,000 Orange award, "defeating more than a dozen highly tipped and experienced authors. Adichie is up against the Booker prizewinner Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, Gillian Slovo's panoramic vision of communist Russia, The Ice Road, and three other novels." The Guardian (UK) 04/27/04
Posted: 04/27/2004 6:17 pm

Media

Bochco Ready To Kill Blue Over FCC Crackdown When the gritty cop drama NYPD Blue debuted on ABC a decade ago, it was viewed as a major taboo-buster, airing coarse language and occasional nudity on a major network for the first time, but backing up the vulgarity with top-quality writing and award-winning acting. Over the years, Blue has come to be a mere blip on the radar screen of America's self-appointed decency squads, largely because it was seen as an unhittable target due to its popularity and critical success. But with the new FCC crackdown on broadcasters, the show's creator, Steven Bochco, says he's been forced to cut multiple scenes from upcoming episodes, and is ready to give up on the show if the censorship continues. New York Daily News 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 6:32 am

Comcast Backs Away From The Mouse Cable giant Comcast has withdrawn its hostile takeover bid for the Walt Disney Corporation after Disney's board showed no interest in accepting the deal. A Disney-Comcast merger would have created the biggest media company in the world, but despite Disney's recent well-documented boardroom chaos, the company spurned Comcast's $66 billion offer immediately after it was announced in February. There is no guarantee that federal regulators would have approved the deal in any case. BBC 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 5:17 am

Dance

Oakland Ballet Gets A Boost "The financially strapped Oakland Ballet is breathing a little easier this week after the receipt of a major grant that, if matched, could put the company close to the $500,000 make-or-break goal it set for itself earlier this month. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has approved a $200,000 matching grant to help the company meet its goal by May 31. Because of declining ticket sales and $200,000 in debts, the company suspended its fall 2004 season and announced that if it couldn't raise $500,000, it would go out of business." San Francisco Chronicle 04/28/04
Posted: 04/28/2004 5:42 am

• Previously: Does Oakland Need A Ballet? As the Oakland Ballet struggles to reestablish itself financially, an old Oakland refrain is rearing its head: why does Oakland need a ballet/symphony/arts scene, anyway, with San Francisco's glittering cultural landscape just across the bay? Such talk has always been a thorn in the side of East Bay artists, and the Ballet is at a crossroads that Oakland's symphony and theater professionals have seen before. Contra Costa Times 04/25/04