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Tuesday, March 8




Ideas

Is There A Better Case To Be Made For The Arts?: Day II What do Bill Ivey, Midori, Robert L. Lynch, Glenn Lowry, Ben Cameron, Andrew Taylor, Joli Jensen, Jim Kelly, Adrian Ellis, Phil Kennicott and Russell Willis Taylor have in common? They're taking part in a week-long blog debate on ArtsJournal about the value of the arts: "Should we be making ANY case for the arts (rather than just doing art) and if so, to whom should we imagine making this case? And once we get THAT figured out--for what purposes would we be making our case—to get their money? To put their butts in our seats? To get their support for school curricula? To get them to leave us alone?" A Better Case For The Arts (AJBlogs) 03/06/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:35 pm

The Medically-Enhanced Performer? "Forget going to the doctor for bronchitis or poison ivy. Nowadays, patients are increasingly demanding drugs to help them perform better at the company conference, study harder for tests, or eliminate performance anxiety before a big date. It's called "cosmetic neurology," this use of new drugs that help people who aren't sick psychologically perform better socially." Philadelphia Inquirer 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:10 pm

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Visual Arts

Is Defacing Public Art, Art? "Audacious and appalling when it's aimed at a museum masterpiece, the vandalizing of freely accessible, open-air artworks carries its own set of meanings and effects. Community murals, public sculpture and other forms of outdoor art are clearly more vulnerable than a museum's protected holdings. But public pieces also tap notions of shared ownership and mutual interest (or mutual distaste) to raise an ongoing, open-ended mingling of reactions, feelings and reconsiderations. The public space belongs to everyone and no one. Art that is placed there engages and enacts that idea." San Francisco Chronicle 03/08/05
Posted: 03/08/2005 8:02 am

Arrests In Munch Theft Nine arrests have been made in Oslo in the weekend theft of three Edvard Munch artworks. "A car chase ended when a police vehicle smashed into a vehicle in which the suspects were fleeing. The artworks were apparently found in a building in Oslo's Kampen neighborhood, less than a mile from the Munch Museum, from which armed robbers took one of the two painted versions of "The Scream" - the other is in the National Gallery of Norway - and another Munch masterpiece, "Madonna," on Aug. 22." The New York Times 03/08/05
Posted: 03/08/2005 7:34 am

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Needs Emergency $100 Million The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is in major disarray. "An Arizona Republic examination over the past year revealed that the foundation is beset with legal and financial mayhem, clashes over its mission and revolving-door leadership. The situation is so dire that the foundation's board of directors recently endorsed an emergency proposal to raise $100 million as part of the solution, a considerable challenge given that it has raised less than $2 million in donations over the past five years." Arizona Republic 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:04 pm

Munch Artwork Recovered, Arrests Made Norwegian police have recovered three Edvard Munch artworks stolen over the weekend from a hotel restaurant. "It seems to be a fashion among criminals to steal Munch. How professional is it to steal art? Great value, big risk and hard to sell. They would have to be very slow in the head to do it." CBSNews.com (AP) 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:02 pm

The World's New Tallest Building Taiwan is now officially home to the world's tallest building. "The official opening of the Taipei 101 Tower in December 2004, makes it — for now — the world's tallest building. In the 20th century, competition for this title was largely waged in Chicago and New York, but it has recently migrated to Asia." ArchitectureWeek 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:01 pm

Is Graffiti Just Urban Noise? "Whether it's a simple, hastily scrawled tag on a laundromat's exterior wall or an extravagant, "wild style" mural of cartoon figures and gigantic bubble letters sprawled across a factory facade near the freeway, spray-can and paint-stick imagery is a constant presence. At the low end of our attention meter, it teases, nettles and tingles. At the other, it blares out and demands to be consciously seen, whether in loathing, admiration, perplexity or some confounding amalgam of the three." San Francisco Chronicle 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 7:07 pm

Critics Assail Plans For Thai Tsunami Museum Critics have attacked the Thai Government’s plans for a tsunami museum. Particularly insensitive, they say, are plans to create the simulated tsunami attraction as part of a memorial museum.
New Zealand Herald 03/08/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 5:25 pm

Will Henry Moore Arch Ever See The Light Of Day Again? What happened to grand marble arch created by sculptor Henry Moore that used to reside in London's Kensington Garden's area? "A note in the guidebook Buildings and Monuments in the Royal Parks says that the Arch (as the sculpture is officially called) has been "temporarily removed and dismantled for repair". But it has been broken up for nearly a decade. Nor is there much prospect that this grand piece, made in 1980 by Britain's most famous sculptor for the people of London, will be repaired - or indeed seen by the public again." The Guardian (UK) 03/06/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 5:20 pm

Is The Museum Building Boom At An End? It seems like every museum in America has expanded in the past few years. But is all this growing sustainable? Is it warranted? Eric Gibson: "Every business sector goes through cycles, and there's no reason to believe museums are an exception. Instead of continuing to assume visitorship will grow indefinitely and that they should build accordingly, their officers should begin to imagine a future where demand slackens, as people find other ways to replenish themselves. It may already be here." OpinionJournal.com 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 5:16 pm

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Music

Showdown At Guarantee Corral Pop concert promoters run a risky business. They have to judge demand and specify guarantees. Often the two don't meet. "Ticket prices have spiraled out of control as artists demand higher guarantees. Every year promoters pledge to say "no" to those acts, but they never do. This year might be different." Rocky Mountain News 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:09 pm

Classical Music Radio Decline Says Something About The Taste-Makers So Washington DC loses another classical music radio station. "Once upon a time and long ago, bringing classical music to the airwaves was an image-enhancing operation, a programming decision, in the words of music historian Russell Sanjek, to "win over the custodians of public taste and appease the Federal Communications Commission." These days, it's bad taste even to mention public taste, and the FCC is appeased just by keeping a wardrobe functioning. What the classical fade-out tells us more than anything is that the "custodians of public taste" have left the building. Washington Times 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:06 pm

The Bagpipes And The Library (A Story) "Susan Stafford decided she needed to practice her bagpipes outside her Lake Elmo home after her veterinarian warned her the high-pitched tones could affect the hearing of her two parrots. She didn't want to give up the birds or the instrument. But she was worried about the birds, her diabetic cat, the multitude of distractions at her house and, finally, that neighbors might complain. Bagpipes, after all, are loud. So a few weeks ago, she called City Hall in hopes that someone might suggest places she could practice without interruptions and without disrupting others..." St. Paul Pioneer-Press 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 7:08 pm

UK Musicians Protest US Visa Fees UK musicians are protesting what they claim are outrageous visa fees for visiting the US. "A singer hoping to perform in the US can expect to pay $1,300 (£680) simply for obtaining a visa. Groups including the Musicians' Union are calling for an end to the "raw deal" faced by British performers. US acts are not faced with comparable expense and bureaucracy when visiting the UK for promotional purposes." BBC 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 5:33 pm

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Arts Issues

An Irish Town Rises To A Capital Challenge "Cork has always had its home-grown art, theatre, and, especially, music. When it was designated European Capital of Culture 2005, the smallest city ever to win the title – and, with a measly 15 million euros, given the smallest ever budget – it ingeniously issued a "public call" for ideas. The result, a wide-ranging programme of 236 creative projects, takes in football, rowing and hurling, as well as the Knitting Map, an attempt at the world knitting record using satellite images of Cork as a pattern." The Telegraph (UK) 03/08/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:31 pm

Can Philly Find A Stable Arts Funding Source? Philadelphia's Kimmel Center budget woes points up the need for some sort of stable public funding, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial page. "Mayor Street hopes to revive that important conversation with his proposal to raise a sizeable endowment to supplement ticket sales and other grants. No single funding source has been identified. The mayor proposed at least one idea - selling off the naming rights to the Pennsylvania Convention Center - that, while well-intentioned, had the drawback of commercializing the center's identity." Philadelphia Inquirer 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:03 pm

Arts Bundling - Charlotte Tries For More Charlotte (NC) arts leaders are struggling to keep $147 million worth of arts projects bundled in a request to the state for funding. "The wish list encompasses a 1,200-seat performance hall, a museum for an art collection owned by Andreas Bechtler, a relocated Mint Museum of Art, a new home for the Afro-American Cultural Center, rehearsal space for the N.C. Dance Theatre and renovations at Discovery Place." Charlotte Business Journal (MSNBC) 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 4:45 pm

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People

Heppner - Looking For Signs Of Tenor Trouble A little over a year ago, tenor Ben Heppner had to shorten two recitals when he experiences vocal problems. "Ever since, the burly Canadian tenor has had to contend not just with demands of the music at hand, but with the public memory of those unfortunate, exceptional evenings. Two wretched nights in a 17-year international career is not much, but it's enough to sharpen everyone's ears for the next sign of trouble." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/08/05
Posted: 03/08/2005 7:16 am

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Theatre

Broadway's Classic Spring (But Nothing New) A number of classic dramas are coming to Broadway this spring. But there is a searth of new plays. "The high cost of mounting a play in a theater seating 500 or more people means that unknown plays are often deemed too risky, even if their authors are big names." Backstage 03/07/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:05 pm

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Publishing

Changes At The Top For Two Israeli Lit Supplements The literary supplements of two of Israel's largest publications have undergone a generational change. "Coincidentally or not, the literary supplements of the two mass-circulation dailies - Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv - are undergoing significant changes. Two months ago the veteran editor of the supplement in Yedioth retired after 39 years. He was replaced by his deputy of the past 20 years. At Maariv, the veteran editor of the literary supplement, Talma Admon, has been dismissed and Dana Elazar-Halevi has been appointed as her replacement." Ha'aretz 03/08/05
Posted: 03/08/2005 9:14 am

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Media

Oscars: Of Entertainment And Community Th Oscars are about more than just entertainment, writes Michael Wilmington. "Citing the need for even higher numbers for one of the world's top-rated programs (41.3 million viewers in this "off year") would be an idiotic excuse to wreck its meaning. The Oscars, of course, are a show producers hope will draw huge numbers. But they're also a great communal binding event for the industry itself: an annual celebration of the fact that it takes many different talents and many kinds of artists to make great movies." Chicago Tribune 03/06/05
Posted: 03/07/2005 9:24 am

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Dance

Royal Ballet Offers New Outreach Programs In Land Deal The Royal Ballet and the mayor of London have struck a deal that will expand the company school's programs for minorities and allow the school to renovate its school buildings. "The mayor had previously been criticised at City Hall by members who accused him of waging "class war" against the ballet school. Its proportion of minority pupils is higher than the national average, but falls below the proportion of minorities in London." The Guardian (UK) 03/08/05
Posted: 03/08/2005 7:04 am

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