Are You A "Prosumer?" The word 'prosumer' was coined in 1979 by the futurist Alvin Toffler. Initially, it referred to an individual who would be involved in designing the things she purchased (a mash-up of the words 'producer' and 'consumer.') These days, the term more often refers to a segment of users midway between consumers and professionals. This kind of prosumer doesn't necessarily earn money by making music, videos, or photos, but is still willing to invest in more serious hardware and software than the typical dabbler, and spend more time using it." Boston Globe 06/12/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 7:18 pm
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Chicago Art Institute Steps Up To Architecture The Chicago Art Institute is expanding its commitment to architecture, "appointing a forward-looking curator and expanding and renaming the department to include modern and contemporary design." Joseph Rosa, 45, will become the curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute's newly christened Department of Architecture and Design. On Monday the museum's board of trustees approved the appointment of Rosa, who is currently in a similar position at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Chicago Sun-Times 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 6:55 am
Art Basel Opens The Art Basel art fair opens, and as much as $300 million in sales could be made. "Names on collectors' shopping lists include classic contemporaries, such as Andy Warhol; artists in mid-career who did well at the New York auctions, including Prince and Kippenberger, and younger ones who have waiting lists for new works, such as Kai Althoff and Neo Rauch, say collectors and dealers. It's hard to see who the promising new artists are because a rush of money into the market has pushed up prices for everyone in recent years." Bloomberg.com 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 6:31 am
Barnes President Steps Down Kimberly Camp, the embattled president and CEO of the Barnes Foundation since 1998, has resigned. Camp had joined the Barnes after heading the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. Philadelphia Inquirer 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 5:54 am
UK Museums - Show It Or Lose It UK museums are under pressure in a new report to show off their collections or get rid of the art they can't display. "Collections are potentially museums' most precious asset - but what business would allow up to 80% of its assets to go unused, while continuing to consume significant resources?" the report's authors ask. The Guardian (UK) 06/14/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 9:51 pm
Was "Scream" Theft A Diversion? Was the theft of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" from an Oslo museum last year merely a diversion for a gang of criminals on a crime spree? "The theft of The Scream was supposed to take the heat off them - and it worked. They successfully raided several banks in the weeks following the theft." The Guardian (UK) 06/14/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 9:48 pm
What's Wrong With Art Education Time was, artists honed their craft in school and by learning from the skills of masters of the day. No more, writes Laurie Fendrich. "Art education (by which I mean the education of artists for the professional contemporary art world, as opposed to the education of high-school art teachers, which is an entirely separate matter) has become a hodgepodge of attitudes, self-expression, news bulletins from hot galleries, and an almost random selection of technical skills that cannot help but leave most art students confused about their ultimate purpose as artists. This mishmash approach has been going on for so long that it amounts to an orthodoxy..." Chronicle of Higher Education 06/03/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 6:56 pm
Can You Afford To Work In A Museum? "The fact is that museum careers in the UK are becoming less and less affordable for anyone with even fairly modest life style expectations and a family to raise in a world of soaring cost of education, health and retirement provision. Add to this the cost of property (not just in London) and anyone starting off on a museum career today is almost guaranteed a pauper's existence. Are traditional museum jobs imperceptibly returning to be the preserve of the privately wealthy or otherwise financially independent, with a sprinkle of inveterate believers in the cause happy to ‘pay' for their careers with a garret existence?" Platform 06/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 10:21 am
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
JVC Jazz-NY's Got The Blues (And We Don't Mean Music) JVC Jazz-New York is in a down cycle, clearly playing second place to its Newport cousin. "Concert promoters always know better than critics what will break even. But the concerts in the New York festival, for the most part, do not reflect the current excitements of jazz. Filling those theaters is taking the priority over smart programming. Something's got to change, at least to keep appearances up." The new York Times 06/14/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 9:38 pm
Report: Take The Blame Away From Downloading Maybe music downloading isn't the reason music sales have fallen in recent years, suggests a new report. "The report said it is difficult to establish a causal connection between the rise of file sharing and a drop in music sales. While the music industry's revenues fell 20 percent from 1999 to 2003, other factors, such as illegal CD copying, might have played a role in the decline, the OECD said." Wired 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 7:15 pm
European Labels Want Copyright Extension European recording companies are pushing to have EU copyright term extended to 100 years. "Currently in the EU, there are separate copyright terms for composers and performers. Composers are awarded copyright for the life of the author plus 70 years. Performers hold a copyright for 50 years from the first recording. It's the 50-year term the IFPI wants to extend." Wired 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 6:39 pm
Click here for more Music stories...
Europe's Oldest Civilization Discovered "Archaeologists have discovered Europe's oldest civilisation, a network of dozens of temples, 2,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids. More than 150 gigantic monuments have been located beneath the fields and cities of modern-day Germany, Austria and Slovakia. They were built 7,000 years ago, between 4800BC and 4600BC." The Independent (UK) 06/12/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 6:41 pm
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
James Beard Foundation Head Sentenced "The former president of the James Beard Foundation was sentenced to one to three years in prison Monday in New York after he pleaded guilty to stealing more than a million dollars from the charitable organization he led for nine years. Leonard Pickell, 50, acknowledged he had stolen $1,106,099 by writing foundation checks for such personal expenses as groceries, his daughter's sweet 16 party, limousines, renovating his home in Howell Township, N.J., and a BMW." San Francisco Chronicle 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 7:38 am
Collector David Whitney, 66 David Whitney, a respected curator and prominent collector of contemporary art who was Philip Johnson's companion, acerbic alter ego and behind-the-scenes art adviser for more than 40 years, died on Sunday at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. The New York Times 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 7:25 am
Edmonton Symphony Gets A Flamboyant Conductor William Eddins, who is 40, "may be the most flamboyant thing to happen to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since British rockers Procol Harum showed up to make a live recording over three decades ago. Whatever happens during his tenure, it likely won't be dull."
The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 7:08 am
David Diamond, 89 American composer David Diamond has died at the age of 89 at his home in upstate New York. He composed 11 symphonies and 10 string quartets. Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester) 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 6:48 am
Vilar Pleads Not Guilty Alberto Vilar has pleased not guilty. "He said he was not guilty of investment adviser fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges in an indictment returned last week. Vilar has been unable to post $4 million in assets to secure a $10 million bail set after his May 27 arrest. Prosecutors have said Vilar is a threat to flee and suggested he is hiding assets. If convicted, he could face more than 10 years in prison." MSN (AP) 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 9:41 pm
Mogul's Millions Make Reading Difference For Kids Five years ago, Netscape founder Jim Barksdale and his late wife, Sally, "put up $100 million of their own money to improve 'preliteracy' skills for preschoolers and reading for children in kindergarten through third grade in Mississippi. The Oxford-based institute they created provides books and teacher training for some of the state's neediest and lowest-performing schools. Barksdale chose his brother, attorney Claiborne Barksdale, to run the institute, with strict instructions that he wanted results. An independent analysis recently confirmed the program was making a statistically significant difference." Yahoo! (AP) 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 7:09 pm
Click here for more People stories...
Public Theatre Nominates A Chairman Warren Spector has been nominated to be new chairman of New York's Public Theatre. "Mr. Spector, a millionaire many times over who has overseen robust profits of late at Bear Stearns, the global banking and brokerage firm, said yesterday that he hoped to preside over an equally rosy period at the Public, which finished last fiscal year in the black and debt-free." The New York Times 06/14/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 9:33 pm
Nebraska Names Theatre School After Johnny Carson The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is naming its theatre school after Johnny Carson. "The college is Carson's alma mater. Officials approached the entertainer about the possibility of honouring him last year, before he donated $5.3 million US to the school in November." CBC 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 6:46 pm
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Writers Band Together For Sanity "A group of freelancers in San Francisco believe they've found a way to help remedy writer's block, share advice, get feedback on a first draft and keep from driving their families crazy. They call it The Grotto. Strip away the pretentious moniker and their strategy is deceptively simple -- shared office space." Miami Herald (AP) 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 7:15 am
NY Library Starts Digital Borrowing Library The New York Public Library says it is "making 700 books — from classics to current best sellers — available to members in digital audio form for downloading onto PCs, CD players and portable listening devices. Users can listen to digital audio books through a computer, burn them to CDs or transfer them to many portable devices, library officials said. Digital audio books are available for free to members through the library's Web site. Users can borrow up to 10 digital books at a time, and after 21 days the materials will be automatically checked in and made available to others." Yahoo! (AP) 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 7:05 pm
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Brits Clean Up At Banff TV Fest "A stylish British miniseries synthesizing music, gambling and drama took top prize at the Banff Rockie awards on Monday, leading a British invasion that captured nine trophies as the best shows in international television were honoured. Canada, Japan and the United States each won three international Rockies at the 26th annual awards." The Globe & mail (Canada) 06/14/05
Posted: 06/14/2005 7:10 am
US Supremes: Won't Hear Media Ownership Challenge The US Supreme Court declines to hear challenges brought by big media companies to whether regulations limiting ownership are constitutional. "The high court turned down appeals by media companies, including Tribune Co. and Gannett Co. Inc., which have argued that the ownership limits the Federal Communications Commission set in 2003 violate free speech rights and a 1996 law they said ordered deregulation." Yahoo! (Reuters) 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 7:02 pm
Click here for more Media stories...
Hope For German Ballet? Germany has never had a strong ballet tradition. But "now, as a curious result of Germany's and Berlin's arts-subsidy meltdown, a company with such potential may finally be emerging in the German capital. After only its first season, it is far too early to tell how distinguished the new Berlin State Ballet can become. And there might seem to be disadvantages: a star dancer with little managerial or choreographic experience as artistic director, ever dwindling subsidies and no school to help shape a cohesive corps de ballet. Still..." The New York Times 06/14/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 6:33 pm
Click here for more Dance stories...
