Free For All (And Count The Returns) Open source is the free distribution of software or information. But why give it away? "The characteristics of information — be it software, text or even biotech research—make it an economically obvious thing to share. It is a “non-rival” good: ie, your use of it does not interfere with my use. Better still, there are network effects: ie, the more people who use it, the more useful it is to any individual user. Best of all, the existence of the internet means that the costs of sharing are remarkably low. The cost of distribution is negligible, and co-ordination is easy because people can easily find others with similar goals and can contribute when convenient. The question is, can sharing be used to supply more than just information?" The Economist 02/04/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 4:28 pm
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Art Gallery Of Ontario Lays Off 71 Workers Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario is laying off 71 employees as it begins work on its $195 million Frank-Gehry-designed expansion. "This likely is the harbinger of further cuts in staffing over the three-year construction period that is expected to conclude in the spring of 2008. The AGO has an estimated 450 full-time and part-time staff. The initial layoffs involve 58 staff members -- 18 of them full-time -- in the AGO's retail and food/beverage operations, as well as 13 temporary employees. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 9:04 am
Bush Favors Mall Site For African-American History Museum George Bush endorses the National Mall as the site for a new national museum honoring African-American history. "A commission formed to establish an African American history museum on the Mall is considering four sites in Washington; only two are on the Mall. Many African American groups have said if the museum is not built on the Mall, they would consider it a slight." Washington Post 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 7:48 am
Central Park In Orange Only a few days to go before New York's Central Park unfurls in a wash of orange cloth, courtesy of Christo and Jeanne Claude... Morning Edition (NPR) 02/09/05 (Audio clip)
Posted: 02/09/2005 7:00 am
Judge Dismisses Elizabeth Taylor Van Gogh Suit A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Elizabeth Taylor over a Van Gogh painting a German family claimed had been stolen by the Nazis.
The 1889 artwork was bought by actress Ms Taylor at auction in 1963. BBC 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 6:49 am
Meet The Christo Groupies New York officials are expecting thousands of visitors to come to the city to see Christo's Central park Gates. "From art collectors to museum groups, tourists to paid Christo volunteers, the city expects 200,000 to flock to the city for the installation, which will remain through Feb. 27. Such figures, of course, are mere guesses for now. But there does seem to be universal agreement that in a traditionally slow tourism period, New York will draw record numbers of visitors, thanks to "The Gates."" The New York Times 02/09/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 9:40 pm
Factory Artists (21st Century Model) "Cities like New Haven are installing artists in factories and other workplaces to see how technology, be it vintage or cutting-edge, can inform art in the 21st century. Under the auspices of Artspace, a local arts organization, 10 artists were selected last year to be in residence at Connecticut businesses." The New York Times 02/09/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 9:23 pm
Tate Breaks Tcket Sales Record "A record 21,000 people have booked tickets to see the new Turner Whistler Monet exhibition at Tate Britain, the largest advance booking for a Tate show. The previous record was set by the Hopper exhibition at Tate Modern last summer, which had advance sales of 13,500 tickets." The Guardian (UK) 02/09/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 8:30 pm
Chicago's Millennium Park - No Photos Allowed "Chicago spent $270 million on its Millennium Park, placing a big public sculpture by Anish Kapoor in the middle of it... Woe betide any member of the public who tries to photograph this sculpture, though: it's a copyrighted sculpture and Chicago is spending even more money policing Chicagoans who try to photograph it and make a record of what their tax-dollars bought." Boing Boing 02/08/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 4:16 pm
Moscow Biennale - Art Of Protest "The buzz of the first Moscow Biennale is not the dozens of critically acclaimed international artists represented, some of whom swooped down for the opening last week. While the organisers said they saw record crowds of 2,000 visitors a day on the first weekend, the Lenin Museum had the calm, slow atmosphere of a library by midweek. Rather the beating heart of the festival is Russia's protest art, which is experiencing a boisterous resurgence in Moscow." Financial Times 02/08/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 3:54 pm
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Rock And Roll Museum Sues Website Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is suing two journalists and a radio company executive from putting up a website called the Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The trio "misappropriated Rock Hall's substantial intellectual property rights as well as the goodwill associated therewith. Unless restrained ... by the court, such conduct will, permit defendants to gain an unfair advantage over Rock Hall.' It said the Cleveland museum has suffered irreparable harm and was seeking damages in excess of $100,000." Reuters 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 9:33 am
A Design For Atlanta's New Concert Hall A design for Atlanta's new concert hall, designed by Santiago Calatrava, has been unveiled. "The building, roughly as tall as 13 stories, features a ribbed-glass roof surrounded by a metal collar. A smaller version, which houses a recital hall and learning center, nestles on the south side. Each is adorned with a free-standing, ridged steel arch that is 186 feet (about 18 stories) at its highest point. The Spanish architect calls it the feather." Atlanta Journal-Constitution 02/08/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 7:09 am
- New Hall Sign Of Atlanta Symphony's Fortunes The Atlanta Symphony's new hall is just one more sign of the orchestra's soaring fortunes. "It might open in 2011, at the earliest. But in the short term, it's likely these designs further invigorate an orchestra that's already on a steep ascent, since the 2001 debuts of conductors Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles as its artistic leaders." Atlanta Journal-Constitution 02/08/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 7:02 am
Orchestra Victoria Finds Success Is Free Melbourne's Orchestra Victoria performs in the State Theatre. But its real griowth has been for free concerts outside the theatre. "This year, it expects to increase its audiences at free concerts in regional centres by 10,000, to more than 70,000, a jump of more than 16 per cent. Orchestra Victoria is expanding its pioneering scheme of free concerts supported by charities and philanthropic bodies in regional centres and suburban Melbourne. Now into its fourth year, the community program raised $1.4 million last year from Melbourne-based organisations. The Age (Melbourne) 02/09/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 4:36 pm
Click here for more Music stories...
Arts Council England Salaries Have Jumped "Arts Council England salaries have increased by an average of 66% in the past six years, despite a £10 million reorganisation in 2001 which was designed to cut costs, new research has revealed." On top of that, Arts Council funding has been slated for a three-year funding freeze, amgering arts institutions. The Stage (UK) 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 8:51 am
The 2005 Challenge: Raising Money Fundraisers expect 2005 will be a difficult year in which to raise money. "With fund raising growing more competitive, charities of all kinds are lavishing attention on individuals who have the potential to make significant gifts -- especially after such efforts paid off handsomely last year." Chronicle of Philanthropy 02/07/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 6:55 am
The Golden Decade (The 50s?) "The 1950s have an image problem. Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe are now the decade's most famous faces: a pair of troubled celebrities who abused drugs and died young. Visual shorthand for the decade is always the same: black-and-white clips of row after row of cloned houses in Levittown, or gaudy tailfins on cars, or H-bomb clouds mushrooming over Bikini Island." But maybe this is all wrong. Brian Murray contends that "the literary 1950s were a "third flowering of American talent." In fact, American literature of the 1950s "now asserts special claims to greatness," drawing energy from a decade that was far from being "smug and absorbed with its own splendors." Weekly Standard 02/08/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 3:42 pm
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
A Bell With Two Sides "On PBS, movie soundtracks, and any number of crossover discs for Sony Classical, violinist Joshua Bell is the boyish, 37-year-old violinist with a matinee-idol following and glamorous girlfriends such as Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth. In concert, he's a classical violinist in the Jascha Heifetz mold, delivering objective, insightful tours of the great classical masterpieces with one of the cleanest violin techniques in the business." Philadelphia Inquirer 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 9:24 am
Haas: Maestro Of The Radio Karl Haas's syndicated program, "Adventures in Good Music," for many years attracted the largest audience of any classical music radio program in the world and was carried by hundreds of stations in the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Panama and on Armed Forces Radio. "Karl Haas had the unique knack of being able to convey his love and knowledge of classical music to an audience that, for the most part, wasn't all that familiar with it. But instead of bringing the music down to them, he brought them up to the music. He was like Leonard Bernstein in that respect." Washington Post 02/08/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 4:34 pm
Click here for more People stories...
A Translation Boom? "Increasingly, writers, readers and publishers are turning to literature as a bridge between cultures, particularly Western and Arab societies estranged since Arab extremists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. This in turn is driving a boom in translation." CTV (Canada) 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 8:48 am
Wolfe's Book Falls Flat At The Cash Register Thomas Wolfe's new book is on the bestseller lists to be sure. But crappy reviews have translated into sales of "only" 250,000, far below the announced first printing of 1.5 million. "Despite its continued tenure on most national best-seller lists, "I Am Charlotte Simmons" is being discounted by 50 percent or more at bookstores and online, a move publishers often make to try to recoup some of their investment in a book that has not met expectations." The New York Times 02/09/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 8:37 pm
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Oscar's Best? Really? "Over the past 76 years, the Academy Awards have repeatedly, almost methodically, overlooked great artists and enduring achievements in favor of passing fancies, fleeting trends and one-shot wonders. What can you say about the foresight of a group that excluded the original talkie, "The Jazz Singer," from the first awards ceremony in 1928? They found it too gimmicky. The new crop of nominations gives us a chance to remember wonderful films and filmmakers that Oscar forgot, and to try to recollect others supposedly destined to withstand the test of time." The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 9:12 am
Denver Station Broadcasts Controversial Buster In Prime Time Not only is Denver public TV station KBDI airing the episode of Postcards from Buster that drew complaints from education secretary Margaret Spellings and caused PBS to cancel national broadcast, but the station is airing it in prime time. The broadcast will be followed by a public discussion of the show. "We're not only pleased to offer the episode but want to use it as a basis for extended discussion on one of our signature, local prime-time public-affairs programs."
Rocky Mountain News 02/09/05
Posted: 02/09/2005 8:33 am
Group Calls For Boycott Of Canadian Movie Theatre Chain A group opposing same-sex marriage in Canada is calling for a boycott of Famous Players (the country's biggest theatre chain) because of an ad being shown in the chain's theatres. The ad "calls on theatre patrons to contact their Member of Parliament to say they support the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 'We are deeply saddened by Famous Players Theatres' decision to subject unsuspecting moviegoers to ads promoting same-sex marriage,' says the group. CBC 02/08/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 3:32 pm
Italy To Sell Off Public Broadcaster RAI The Italian government says it will sell off 30 percent of RAI, the country's public broadcaster. The sale should be complete by the end of the year. "A media reform law passed in 2004 eased restrictions on media ownership and paved the way for the partial sale of RAI and some of its branches. The controversial law once again raised accusations that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – a billionaire media tycoon as well as a head of state with influence on the public broadcaster – faced a conflict of interest." CBC 02/08/05
Posted: 02/08/2005 3:28 pm
Click here for more Media stories...
