Visual Arts

Philadelphia Added To King Tut Tour Philadelphia's Franklin Institute has been chosen as the fourth and final stop of the blockbuster King Tut show touring America starting this summer in Los Angeles. "A consortium of three companies - National Geographic; AEG Live Exhibitions of Los Angeles; and Arts & Entertainment International of Aurora, Ohio - is organizing and touring the show for the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. The Egyptian government hopes to raise at least $10 million from each venue to pay for restoration of ancient monuments and to build a new museum in Cairo." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 6:52 am

Tate Modern To Expand The Tate Modern is only five years old, but already there are plans to expand it. "The gallery's electricity sub-station is being upgraded freeing up more space behind the Turbine Hall. Tate Modern's outside area will also be redesigned and a new learning and extra viewing space will be created inside. Plans will be submitted in the summer." BBC 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 5:51 am

Man Caught Trying To Steal Artifact In British Museum A man was caught trying to pry open a display case in a Greek and Roman gallery at the British museum Wednesday. "He was foiled by a sharp-eyed attendant just before closing time yesterday afternoon, the museum said. The man ran off when he was approached by the attendant, but security guards later apprehended a suspect who was turned over to police." London Evening Standard 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 5:40 am

New "Super" Museum For North Of England An ambitious new £25.7 million 'super' museum in northern UK which would be home to more than 500,000 artefacts is gathering support and funding. "On Wednesday the Heritage Lottery Fund announced it was donating more than £9.2m to the Great North Museum scheme. It is due to be completed in 2009." BBC 01/27/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 10:20 pm

Small Endowment - Why David Has A Small... "As every visitor to Florence will know, the modest dimensions of David's "pisello" are a running joke with Italians, and the stuff of irreverent postcards. But, in a paper to be published at the end of this month, two Florentine doctors offer a scientific explanation: the poor chap was shrivelled by the threat of mortal danger. Michelangelo's intention was to depict David as he confronted Goliath." The Age (Melbourne) 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 6:58 pm

Report: Babylon Damaged By American Military The ancient archaeological site of Babylon in Iraq has been extensively damaged by a military base set up in the area by the American military. The Art Newspaper 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 6:46 pm

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Music

iPod-As-New-DJ Jukebox At bars and dance clubs, customers are bringing in their iPods, plugging in to the clubs' sound systems and playing to the crowd. In one club, "on a typical night, about 10 people bring their iPods loaded with a special playlist for the occasion. They sign up, wait for their turn and then plug into the Tonic Room's sound system. They have 15 minutes to wow other customers or simply soothe their own souls." The New York Times 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 6:47 am

Elvis At The Opera Elvis Costello on his opera about the life of Hans Christian Anderson: "The 50-year-old singer-songwriter has consistently expressed his unwillingness to be remembered for "a handful of songs I wrote 25 years ago. All the music comes out of the same head. It's just using different methods to get at the solution to whatever motivated you to write it in the first place." The Guardian (UK) 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 5:33 am

The Bernstein Factor Leonard Bernstein's absence looms over classical music and its current dilemma: superstar conductors and dwindling receipts, "crossover" CDs and spiraling sales, and the ongoing burnout between academic composers and listeners. When Bernstein began his Young People's Concerts in early 1958, classical culture was different in ways he changed irrevocably: the concert tradition was "high culture" filtered through Europeans like Toscanini, targeted at an educated elite, and orchestras were the province of elderly white men. How quaint that all feels today... blog riley (AJBlogs) 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 10:16 pm

Is Jay The "Greatest Composing Talent In 200 Years"? "Jay Greenberg is a child prodigy studying at the Juilliard School in New York City. Some of his professors claim he is the greatest composing talent in more than 200 years. He is composing his fifth symphony. He has about 150 fully orchestrated pieces on his hard drive and a further 300 completed works on manuscript paper." Financial Times 01/27/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 9:53 pm

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Arts Issues

Seattle's 911 Hits The Skids Another Seattle arts group is facing a crisis. 911 Media Center has laid off three of its five staff, and is cutting back after a costly move and a downturn in fundrasing. "The immediate problem is money, but the real problem is a crisis the organization survived two years ago, when a four-person board out of touch with the membership fired a popular and effective director and triggered a membership revolt." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 7:00 am

Canada To Name Toronto Cultural Capital The Canadian government plans to name Toronto the "cultural capital of Canada" and give the city $500,000 for that designation, effective this September through August, 2006. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 6:17 am

UK Watchdog Warns Of Ticket Rip Offs The UK's Office of Fair Trading says that ticket resellers are often gouging customers with fees up to 600 percent of ticket face value. "Some reputable agents add 67 per cent to the face value of pop concert tickets bought on the internet while additional charges of 40 per cent are not uncommon, the report found. One in three people surveyed by the OFT during its seven-month investigation complained that booking fees for concerts, theatre and sports events had been higher than expected." The Telegraph (UK) 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 5:47 am

New Fees Threaten Outdoor UK Performances A new law before the British Parliament institutes new fees for outdoor performances. "Events attracting audiences of 5,000 people or more will be required to make a one-off payment of between £1,000 and £64,000 on top of their public entertainment licence, which will cost between £100 and £635. While organisers of large commercial programmes will be able to incorporate the extra costs into the price of their tickets, industry figures have warned that large-scale community and not for profit events will no longer be able to function when the additional charge is incorporated into their budgets." The Stage (UK) 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 5:29 am

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People

Life With Out Beverly Sills Beverly Sills' retirement as chairman of the Metropolitan Opera ends the career of an amazing cultural force in New York. First as a singer, then as an arts administrator and fund-raiser, she had a huge impact on the city's cultural life. "There are plenty who are going to follow me. My time was always going to be limited, and so were my interests." The New York Times 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 6:35 am

Philip Johnson, 98 Philip Johnson, dean of American architects, has died. "By his own description, Mr. Johnson was an architectural traditionalist. But in his view, the best use of tradition was "to improve it, twist it and mold it to make something new of it." He once described architecture as "exuberance, like sex or taste." Washington Post 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 6:37 pm

• A Philip Johnson Legacy "Johnson's own architecture received mixed reviews and often startled the public and his fellow architects. Because of his frequent changes of style, he was often accused of pandering to fashion and of designing buildings that were facile and shallow. Yet he created several designs, including the Glass House, the sculpture garden of the Museum of Modern Art, and the pre-Columbian gallery at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington that are widely considered among the architectural masterworks of the 20th century." The New York Times 01/26/05
  Posted: 01/26/2005 6:00 pm

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Theatre

Cirque's $200 Million Gamble "Kà is the latest and most grandiose project from Cirque du Soleil. Indeed, it is probably the most grandiose piece of live theatre ever undertaken. The figures only hint at the ambition of the endeavour. Each show features 158 stage technicians and 75 performers. It cost $200 million to create and needs $1 million a week to keep running." And what do you get for all that money? The Guardian (UK) 01/27/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 9:43 pm

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Publishing

The People's Choice Awards Of Books? A new philanthropy called the Quills Literacy Foundation has announced the formation of the Quill Awards, a slate of 19 annual book awards, most of which will be voted on by the general public. The New York Times 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 6:40 am

A Change of Direction At Paris Review Why did the board of the Paris Review fire Brigid Hughes as George Plimpton's successor? "Ms. Hughes’ firing was seen by some as a betrayal of Plimpton’s memory: He was fiercely loyal, and Ms. Hughes had apprenticed closely with him. But others saw it as an attempt by an anxiety-ridden board—which Plimpton himself had established—to honor his legacy by searching for new directions for the magazine." New York Observer 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 8:16 pm

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Media

Theatre Chain Slashes Movie Ticket Prices Movie ticket sales have been down in the Canadian province of Ontario. So Famous Players, the largest movie chain, is lopping off $4 from the cost of tickets. "Starting tomorrow, cinephiles will shell out $9.95, rather than the usual $13.95 for general admission, as part of a marketing ploy to lure warm bodies out of their homes and into the stadium-style seats." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 6:20 am

So-So Sundance So what's the buzz on Sundance at the halfway point? Ho-hum. "This is not to say that the 21st incarnation of Robert Redford's independent baby hasn't had its moments -- the biggest thus far being Craig Brewer's gritty urban drama "Hustle & Flow" -- but the first half of the festival has been marked more by tame audience reactions and subdued wheeling and dealing than buzz, with films drawing more shrugs than love." Chicago Tribune 01/27/05
Posted: 01/27/2005 6:05 am

New Education Secretary Criticizes PBS Margaret Spellings, America's new Secretary of Education, has denounced PBS for "spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles. The not-yet-aired episode of "Postcards From Buster" shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont — a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring. A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network had decided not to distribute the episode, called "Sugartime!" to its 349 stations." Los Angeles Times 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 7:14 pm

• Why PBS Caved On Buster Even though PBS president Pat Mitchell viewed the episode of Postcards From Buster and called it appropriate, the network pulled it from the schedule after education secretary Margaret Spellings criticized it for portraying lesbian characters. The New York Times 01/27/05
  Posted: 01/26/2005 7:08 pm

Van Gogh Film Pulled From Festival "Murdered director Theo van Gogh's controversial film Submission has been pulled from the Rotterdam Film Festival because of security fears. It was one of three of his works to be shown as part of a freedom of expression event in tribute to the late film-maker's life." BBC 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 5:31 pm

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Dance

City Ballet - Time To Move On? Robert Gottlieb deems New York City Ballet's current season better than usual. But. "We’ve recently been told by Anna Kisselgoff, in one of her farewell columns in The New York Times, that "professional Balanchine mourners" should move on. But to what? To her beloved Boris Eifman? (Yes, she’s still defending the indefensible.) Believe me, Anna, we want to move on—to any large talent that presents itself. That’s why everybody hangs over Christopher Wheeldon, praying that he’ll be the one to lead us into new green pastures. What we won’t do is abandon the standards that George Balanchine established, both for his own ballets and for the dancers in what we still can’t help thinking of as "our" company. Far from wishing Peter Martins ill, people like me cherish everything positive that he does. But that doesn’t mean we have to tamely accept second-rate performances." New York Observer 01/26/05
Posted: 01/26/2005 8:29 pm

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