Italian Police Recover Stolen Art Italian police have "recovered works of art worth €1.5m that had been stolen from churches, castles and private homes throughout northern Italy since 1990. The 19 paintings and one 18th-century kneeling-stool were discovered at the home of a farmer near the city of Cremona, about 62 miles south-west of Milan." Ireland Online 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 6:13 am
Hoving: How I'd Reform The Getty By its own admission, the Getty Museum has a potentially big problem with stolen Italian artifacts. Former Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Hoving has some suggestions for resolving the issue... Los Angeles Times 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 5:56 am
London Museum Attendance Off Since July Bombings "It’s clearly a good time to go to galleries. Tate’s visitor numbers have dropped by up to 20% since July 7, and while that’s obviously not a good thing in itself, it does make for fantastic viewing conditions. Tate Britain at the weekend was similarly quiet, although the gorgeous new Chris Ofili installation, The Upper Room, was getting quite a lot of punters." The Guardian (UK) 08/23/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 9:35 pm
Cleveland Museum - Betting On City's Future The Cleveland Museum's $258 million expansion is one of the biggest cultural construction projects in the city's history. "Critics say the museum is overreaching. They claim the museum was good enough as it was and should be left alone. And they say it’s questionable whether the museum can raise all the money it needs in a city with a flagging economy, a shrinking population and a school system in financial distress." But architecture critic Steve Litt writes that "rather than envision a future based on the worst fears imaginable, trustees of the Cleveland Museum of Art are making a huge bet on the future of Cleveland. That, it seems to me, is what they ought to be doing." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 09/25/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 6:41 pm
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Sony: Help Wanted Think Sony is abandoning classical music? Naw. The label is advertising in a magazine for children for a new classical band. "Are you the next Aled Jones or Charlotte Church? One of the UK's biggest record labels is looking for boys and girls aged 10-14 to form the next classical crossover band." The Scotsman 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 4:48 am
Louisville - Looking For A Leader The Louisville Orchestra is looking for a new music director. What kind of person should lead the orchestra? "People expect more out of a music director now than they did, say, 10 years ago, because the structure of the orchestra has changed. There's more raising money and less trading on big grants and gifts. By the same token, there must be artistic excellence. There has to be a balance. We cannot have an enigma on the podium, seen only at a masterworks concert. We have to have someone who is in the community representing the orchestra." The Courier-Journal (Louisville) 09/26/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 4:30 am
UK Judge Convenes In Cuba Over Song Rights An English court considering who owns the UK rights to some popular Cuban songs has adjourned to Havana. "The case was proceeding in London earlier this year when an attempt to hear from Cuban witnesses via a video link to Havana failed. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Lindsay, then made the decision that justice would be best served if he appointed himself special examiner, went to Cuba, and gathered evidence." The Guardian (UK) 09/26/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 9:28 pm
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Orange County PAC Employee Pleads Innocent To Embezzlement Charge "An accounts receivable clerk at the Orange County Performing Arts Center has pleaded not guilty to embezzling more than $1 million from her employer since 2000." San Diego Union-Tribune 09/26/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 7:17 pm
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A Night Of Free Theatre For All Are ticket prices a deterrent to going to the theatre? October 20 has been declared National Free Night of Theatre day and the Bay Area is one of three cities testing out the idea. "The idea is to attract new audiences and to reward the curious and faithful as well. Participants cover the spectrum from the highest-profile companies to a host of midsize and small groups. Theatre Bay Area, affectionately known as TBA (for obvious reasons), has announced the availability of more than 4,000 free seats that evening at more than 70 large and small companies." San Francisco Chronicle 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 4:57 am
The End Of The (Brief) Era Of Juke-Box Musicals? Juke-box musicals, those shows built around the pop songs of this or that band or performer seems to be dying as a genre. "With the departure of the King from Broadway's Palace Theater when All Shook Up closes on Sunday, it looks increasingly as if the era of the tribute musical may be coming to an end. Between them, the Beach Boys show, the Lennon show and All Shook Up have lost $30m." BBC 09/26/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 4:07 pm
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Debating Google Print Some publishers are complaining that Google's print project violates their copyrights. But Google believes it has enough restrictions on searches that copyright is not in danger. "Under Google's strictures, readers can see just five pages at a time of publisher-submitted titles -- and no more than 20 percent of an entire book through multiple searches. For books in the public domain, they can read the entire book online. Not all publishers are opposed." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (AP) 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 5:17 am
Tilting At Windmills - Quixote's Enduring Popularity "Some writers achieve great popularity and then disappear forever. The bestseller lists of the past fifty years are, with a few lively exceptions, a somber graveyard of dead books. Yet permanence is not a wilful proposition. No one can write a book aspiring to immortality, for it would then court both ridicule and certain mortality." And yet, "Don Quixote was a big bestseller when it first appeared in 1605, and has continued to sell ever since." Sign & Sight 09/13/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 6:50 pm
Hard Times For Russian Literature "Publishing experts admit Russian literature is in a state of crisis and up-and-coming authors have been reduced to asking would-be readers to pay for books in advance in order to make sure they get published. The crisis in Russian publishing has seen the country's own authors squeezed while publishing companies rely on cheap-and-cheerful detective and war novels and translations of foreign books." Scotland On Sunday 09/25/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 6:37 pm
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Movie Gamers Also Had A Difficult Summer Every major movie release is now accompanied by a video game, and this summer's movie woes bled in to the game world. "A major summer trend was the emergence of cell phone games as companions to any film launch. Even movies that did not have console games attached to their bows, such as "War of the Worlds" and "XXX: State of the Union," had mobile titles released within the movie's launch window." Chicago Tribune 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 5:46 am
New Leaders For Corporation For Public Broadcasting Cheryl F. Halpern, a New Jersey lawyer and real estate developer, has been elected chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "The board also elected another conservative, Gay Hart Gaines, as its vice chairman. Gaines, an interior decorator by training, was a charter member and a chairman of GOPAC, a Republican fundraising group. With the changes, conservatives with close ties to the Bush administration have assumed control of every important position at the agency, which distributes about $400 million in federal funds to noncommercial radio and TV stations and is supposed to act as a buffer against outside political influence." Washington Post 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 4:37 am
- A Michael Brown For CPB? Cheryl Halpern, newly elected as chairwoman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is a major Republican fundrasier. "Ms. Halpern, on the corporation board since 2002 and previously chairwoman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, has criticized National Public Radio's Mideast coverage, calling it biased against Israel. Her family has business interests there. At her confirmation hearing two years ago, Ms. Halpern suggested that journalists in public broadcasting be punished for editorializing." The New York Times 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 4:35 am
Lifeline - Direct-To-DVD Your movie really isn't up to theatrical release? "For movies that have developed fan bases through several theatrical sequels, direct-to-DVD versions can be a cost-effective way to wring more dollars out of an established movie franchise." USAToday 08/26/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 10:23 pm
Return Of The Australian Film Industry? Three Australian-made movies are currently on the Australian Top 20 box office list. So does this signal a resurgence in the Aussie film industry? Sydney Morning Herald 08/27/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 10:07 pm
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Dancers Need A Wellness Team Dancers face more physical challenges than athletes. So in 2001 New York City Ballet formed a wellness team to work with its dancers. "From 2000 to 2003, the number of major workers' compensation claims made by City Ballet dancers fell 24 percent, to 29, and the weeks of disability logged by company dancers fell 46 percent, to 231. The number of ballets performed in a season and the intensity of the company's touring schedule can affect injury levels, but since the wellness program began, costs have gone down." The New York Times 09/27/05
Posted: 09/27/2005 5:26 am
Colorado Ballet's New Home Puts It In The Black Colorado Ballet has been fighting deficits the past few years. But its move into Denver's new Ellie Caulkins Opera House has caused a spike in ticket sales and subscriptions. The new flush of cash seems to have solved the company's money woes for now. Rocky Mountain News 09/26/05
Posted: 09/26/2005 6:31 pm
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