Fighting To Speak On American Campuses Freedom of speech is under attack on American college campuses. "On one campus or another, speech that is discomforting, embarrassing, flirtatious, gender specific, inappropriate, inconsiderate, harassing, intimidating, offensive, ridiculing or threatens a loss of “self-esteem” is banned by speech codes." InsideHigherEd 04/13/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 5:37 pm
Is US Falling Behind In Basic Research? The US has been a world leader in basic research for generations. But budgets for that research on many levels is being cut. Many scientists fear that "the United States unwittingly may be positioning itself for a long, steady decline in basic research - a key engine for economic growth - at a time when competitors from Europe and Asia are hot on America's heels." Christian Science Monitor 04/14/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 4:51 pm
Do Critics Count Anymore? (Nope) Today's art critics have been marginalized. "Ultimately, the critic seems trapped in an inherently reactive and ever-more marginalised position. After all, the function of critics has remained largely static while the art world metastasised, growing too big to allow them any real overview, charging too fast for their publication deadlines and developing a slew of new information channels that bypass critics altogether. Not so long ago, Europeans depended upon travelling critics to relate the latest developments in New York or London. Today, fairs and biennials function as seasonal trend updates, and anyone curious about a faraway show can simply hit the gallery’s website for JPGs and a press release." The Art Newspaper 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 3:55 pm
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The New Walker - Exhilarating "For decades now, the Walker has been one of the liveliest museums in the country, an institution that maintained a strong independent voice despite its ties to the mainstream art world. When the museum hired the Swiss team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron to design a $67 million expansion and renovation of its existing 1970's-era building, it seemed like a match made in heaven. The architects had built their reputations on museum projects like London's Tate Modern and the Goetz Collection in Munich, known for their meticulously refined materials and a sense of inner tranquillity. The result is an exhilarating place to view art. The New York Times 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 7:07 pm
Peru's Emergency Plan For Machu Picchu The Peruvian government has come up with an emergency rescue plan to save the ruins of Machu Picchu from erosion and tourists. "The $132.5m (£70m) plan is to be studied by Unesco and the World Bank at a three-day meeting in Lima beginning on Saturday. Machu Picchu is the most visited archaeological site in Latin America. It has been a Unesco world heritage site since 1983, but the UN's cultural organisation made it clear last year that if something were not done soon it would be put on the list of sites at risk." The Guardian (UK) 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 6:28 pm
US State Department, NEA, Agree On Biennale Selection Process The National Endowment for the Arts and the US State Department have signed an agreement to create a new committee to choose American artists for international biennales. "The committee will comprise “up to seven people”, appointed by the NEA for terms of “no more than three years”. They will include curators, artists, museum directors, specialists in American contemporary art, and perhaps persons from outside the field as well. Important details remain uncertain, including the names of anyone who will serve on the newly established panel, precisely how the selection will take place, and how exhibitions will be administered and funded." The Art Newspaper 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 3:58 pm
Dispute Over Mandela Artwork A legal dispute has scared buyers of artwork by Nelson Mandela. "The row has left a bitter taste - raising questions over whether the value of the art might plummet. Questions have also been raised over whether Mandela painted the series or merely endorsed them with his signature." The Star (South Africa) 04/14/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 5:50 am
MoMA Notches A Million Visitors The Museum of Modern Art has had 1 million visitors since its new building opened in November. "If the current rate of visits continues, the museum expects to have twice as many visitors this year as the 1.5 million it received annually in the mid-1990s, prior to the revamp." BBC 04/14/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 4:16 am
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Beleaguered Muti In New York Riccardo Muti goes to New York to conduct the New York Philharmonic. At the end of rehearsal he spoke to musicians: "He made no specific mention of Milan, but the fabulous, brilliant and sometimes imperious Muti dropped whatever guard he had, and told the musicians how good they had been to work with, and how much he looked forward to their working together in the future." Philadelphia Inquirer 04/15/05
Posted: 04/15/2005 7:45 am
The World In A Click Major music labels may not think world music is worth the bother, but thanks to small labels there's never been so much music easily available. "The broad rubric holds a wealth of music that is now more accessible than ever before. And while major labels have largely lost interest in world music, independents have been busy, while listeners are no longer dependent on the shelf space or classification skills of local record stores." The New York Times 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 6:58 pm
Will The Minnesota Orchestra Be America's Best? "When Osmo Vanska says that within a few years, the Minnesota Symphony will be one of the best orchestras in the United States, right up there alongside the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, you're inclined to believe him. He says it in such a matter-of-fact way that it never for a moment sounds like boasting and, more importantly, he does have the track record to back up his claim, having taken a run-of-the-mill municipal orchestra in Finland, the Lahti Symphony, and, in less than two decades, transformed it into one of the most distinctive bands in Europe." The Guardian (UK) 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 6:43 pm
Indies Protest UK Chart Downloads Plan Independent music labels are complaining that a plan to include downloads in UK Top 40 singles charts is unfair to indies. "A large chunk of the independent community are concerned about the way the chart has been thrust on us and the fact that most indie labels are unable to get their music into i-Tunes, which is unfairness from the off." Some indie reps say they'll game the new downloads system in protest. The Guardian (UK) 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 6:32 pm
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An English Critic Goes To Broadway "As The Independent's reviewer, I have seen theatre across the globe, from Bucharest to Phnom Penh. But nothing feels more foreign than Broadway. This is because, in some respects, it has the appearance of being so like home, while actually being very different." The Independent (UK) 04/14/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 6:21 pm
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Atlantic Magazine Moving To DC The owner of the Atlantic magazine has decided to move it from its lohg-established home in Boston to Washington DC. "It's a Boston institution. It's a huge disappointment . . . and I'm really sad about it. I've actually written an apology which I'm sending to all of the Boston staff tonight." Washington Post 04/15/05
Posted: 04/15/2005 10:43 am
Ah, You're Such A Romantic (Just Don't Admit It) Why are people so snobby about romantic fiction? "Domestic? Boring? Who would want to be dubbed romantic as well? Maybe that explains the collective identity crisis that seems to have seized the Romantic Novelists Association in its choice of shortlisted novels for its annual prize." The Guardian (UK) 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 6:48 pm
Lit Bloggers Band Together For Book Club "Hoping to promote overlooked contemporary literary fiction, 20 literary bloggers have created Read This! Four times a year, the Litblog Co-op will share its pick with readers, with the first announcement coming May 15." The idea is to see if coordinated focus on the same books will help promote them. Yahoo! (AP) 04/14/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 4:27 pm
- A Lit Experiment The new Lit Blog consortium is an experiment in literary sociology. "Can a group of people frustrated with prevailing trends in the publishing industry (which is constantly on the lookout for the next Da Vinci Code, as if one weren’t enough) and with mainstream media (where reviewing space shrinks constantly) win recognition for a worthy, but otherwise potentially overlooked, piece of fiction? Or, to put it another way: Do literary bloggers have any power? Considering how many novels and short story collections they now publish, university presses may well want to monitor the results." InsideHigherEd 04/11/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 3:49 pm
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What's Behind Entertainment's Religious Kick Why is mainstream Hollywood suddenly making religious-themed programming? "First, and perhaps most important, is the general misperception - shared by Hollywood - that the number of evangelical Christians in the United States is growing. According to church estimates, the actual number (somewhere between 25 million and 75 million, depending on the definition) has remained steady over the past three decades. Instead, the Christian entertainment industry has simply become more sophisticated." Christian Science Monitor 04/14/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 5:08 pm
Star: Bollywood Needs Marketing Help Bollywood is the world's biggest producer of movies. But its marketing efforts are weak and uncoordinated, says a top Indian star. "Bollywood is a movement known to Americans only through satire. That needs to change. The Americans have a very good marketing system in place... which can, and should be emulated." BBC 04/15/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 4:10 pm
Video "Cleaning" Riles Artists A growing number of companies are offering "sanitized" versions of music and movies. They remove scenes or language they believe is offensive and sell the cleaned up versions. But what about the integrity of the original work? What about the rights of the artist to control how his or her work is used? "The challenge of ensuring artistic integrity in a digital age will only grow as the free market offers new ways to customize what we view, read and hear. Copyright protections have changed enormously since the introduction of the printing press to England in the late 15th century. They're about to change again." Philadelphia Inquirer 04/14/05
Posted: 04/14/2005 9:47 am
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