Baker: New deYoung A Big Improvement The facade of San Francisco's new deYoung Museum has not been a big hit with members of the public, some of whom have suggested that it looks like an aircraft carrier. But Kenneth Baker says that art lovers should reserve judgment until they've seen the whole museum, and that includes the inside. "The new de Young deploys its resources to encourage our recognition that the meanings of art, even of the decorative arts, lie neither wholly within the art object nor wholly outside it." San Francisco Chronicle 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 6:39 am
Famed Chinese Scroll To Get First Viewing "One of the most famous -- and longest -- paintings of Chinese antiquity will go on display this month in its entirety for the first time ever. Engineers at the Beijing University of Technology have built a 52-foot-long case weighing 5 tons and costing $247,000 to display 'Qingming Shanghe Tu,' or 'Qingming Festival on the River,' the official China Daily newspaper reported. The 12th Century work has long been praised for its realism and historical detail in portraying social and commercial life in an ancient Chinese city. Yet, its size, and fears of damage to the delicate colors and silk on which it was painted have prevented it from ever being shown publicly. The original painting measured more than 16 feet long." Chicago Tribune (AP) 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 6:15 am
Saatchi's Landlord Wants Him Out "The landlord of the London art gallery where Charles Saatchi houses his world-famous collection is seeking to evict him in a High Court battle. Japanese company Shirayama Shokusan is accusing the operators of the Saatchi Gallery of continually breaching the terms of its lease. It alleges the gallery hung works of art in off-limit areas and had immediately tried to renegotiate rent. Mr Saatchi is planning to move his main artworks to a new gallery in Chelsea." BBC 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 5:38 am
Working To Save Gulf Coast Art Conservators are working overtime to save artworks damaged in the Gulf Coast hurricanes. "The American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, based in Washington, is sending conservators to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency and cultural associations determine how to best repair waterlogged historic documents, sodden furniture and artwork. It also will help private citizens with damaged collections and heirlooms. Even before the floodwaters buried New Orleans, efforts were under way to preserve art treasures." The State (SC) 10/05/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 7:42 pm
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Six (8th) Blackbirds At Ten There are plenty of new music ensembles wandering the classical music world, but few ever manage to achieve serious longevity or catch on with any measurable percentage of mainstream listeners. But after ten years of diligently honing their craft and cultivating audiences with a unique blend of high energy and disarming informality, the sextet of young musicians known as "eighth blackbird" are knocking on the door of new music success previously known only by the Kronos Quartet. Baltimore Sun 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 5:54 am
Alsop To Stay On In Bournemouth The UK's Bournemouth Symphony has extended the contract of its principal conductor, Marin Alsop, through 2008. Alsop's contract had been set to expire at the end of the current season, and her international profile was recently raised when she was named as the next music director of the Baltimore Symphony, beginning in 2007. Gramophone (UK) 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 5:16 am
How Starbucks Is Changing The Music Business "When most stores are slashing CD prices, Starbucks is offering them for at least full price, and shifting millions. Traditional record retailers are both envious and nervous, major labels are rubbing their hands over the prospect of reaching 34 million new customers and industry analysts are wondering just how far Starbucks can go." The Guardian (UK) 10/06/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 9:35 pm
Opera Australia - Caught In The Middle Opera Australia is caught in the middle of a funding dispute between national and state governments. "The impasse means the company could not sign contracts with its performers for its 2007 season." Sydney Morning Herald 10/06/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 8:17 pm
Stop The Insanity. Star Soloist Fees Are Too High "The time has come to impose a ceiling on concert fees of the kind that prevails in all the leading opera houses." Outrageous soloist fees are killing the music business. "If the orchestras won't ban greedy-guts soloists, the funding authorities should step in. Music is paid for in part by the taxpayer, who does not generally approve of subsidising rich foreigners unless they play football, and in part by private and corporate donors whose innocence of musical economics is cruelly abused by avaricious musicians. A principle needs to be re-established. Money that is given to the arts in a spirit of idealism should be put towards creative renewal. Any other purpose is bad for business and death for art." La Scena Musicale 10/05/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 7:55 pm
Louisiana Phil On The Road The Louisiana Philharmonic performed in Nashville Tuesday night. "It may have been the Louisiana Philharmonic's first concert since the hurricane, but will not be its last. The New York Philharmonic will present the ensemble in a joint concert on Oct. 28 at Avery Fisher Hall. And they are weighing a half-dozen other invitations from around the country." The New York Times 10/06/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 6:52 pm
- New Orleans Classical In Nashville "Just as most people wouldn't think of a major symphony orchestra first (or even second) when thinking of Nashville, so too New Orleans brings up images of Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino and the Marsalis brothers--not Rossini, Saint-Saëns and Shostakovich. Still, that's something of a tourist's view of the Crescent City, as New Orleans--both past and present--has a rich tradition of European art music too." OpinionJournal.com 10/06/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 6:50 pm
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Republicans Recommend Killing NEA, PBS One hundred Republican members of Congress recommend ending funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and PBS. Says the report: "In 2001, America spent $27 billion on nonprofit arts funding: $11.5 billion from the private sector; $14 billion in earned income (tickets sales, etc.); and $1.3 billion in combined federal, state, and local public support (of which $105 million was from the NEA -- 0.39% of total nonprofit arts funding)," the report states. "The funding could easily be funded by private donations. Savings: $1.8 billion over ten years ($678 million over five years)." Backstage 10/05/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 7:36 pm
US News Eliminates Cultural Coverage US News & World Report is cutting staff, including culture editor Sarah Sklaroff. "The culture department is being eliminated." New York Post 10/05/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 7:07 pm
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Inside The National's Theatre Lab It's a facility designed to emcourage experimentation. "This ethos - encouraging people to throw around ideas, and paying them for the privilege - is the driving force behind the whole building. Aside from the two big spaces, the Studio comprises a huddle of small offices in which writers, directors and composers can do anything they like. What these people are given is 'a room, a computer, a telephone, free coffee and a weekly wage'. What they aren't burdened with is an expectation to 'perform'." The Guardian (UK) 10/06/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 8:27 pm
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Rebirth of an Indie Earlier this year, a much-beloved independent bookstore in Menlo Park, California closed, bowing to the same competitive pressures (from big chain booksellers and online retailers) that have taken out indie bookstores across the country. But in this case, the bookstore's community didn't sit idly by and mourn the passing - they passed the hat. "Local entrepreneurs developed a business plan to improve the store's long-term standing and also invested cash... $500,000 was raised from 17 individuals, who each pledged at least $25,000 to become shareholders. About 370 local residents also signed up to volunteer time to help the store." As a result, Kepler's Books and Magazines will reopen for business this weekend. The New York Times 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 6:32 am
Getting Past The P-Word The recent run of writers and historians facing allegations of plagiarism surfaced has seen some of America's best-loved authors and journalists exiled to the hall of shame that also includes steroid-popping baseball players and former Enron executives. But some writers seem to have an unusual ability to bounce back from such charges, even when their veracity seems indisputable. Take the case of presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who is embarking on a major book tour three years after she paid an undisclosed sum to settle an embarrassing lawsuit alleging plagiarism. Why is a major publisher still taking it's chances with a known copier? "Because she has a charming personality, because she has powerful friends, and not least of all because she writes like a dream." Boston Globe 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 6:03 am
We Can Think Of Some Poets We'd Like To Send Into Space... The UK's Poetry Society has conducted a poll to determine which poem Britons would most like to see shot into space - not as a way to get rid of it, you understand, more as a tribute to the spirit of poetry. The winner, announced in advance of Thursday's National Poetry Day celebrations, is "Human Beings," a poem by Adrian Mitchell. It's worth noting that there currently are no plans to actually shoot the poem into space, and a copy of it will reside at the UK's National Space Society for the foreseeable future. BBC 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 5:40 am
My Name Is Shakespeare, Theory #3,482 The latest theory in the who-was-Shakespeare sweepstakes has arrived: "An Elizabethan diplomat named Sir Henry Neville was the real author of William Shakespeare's plays, a new book claims." BBC 10/05/05
Posted: 10/05/2005 7:30 pm
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PBS Gets An In-House Critic Under increasing pressure from right-wing politicians and its own funding body, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS has announced that it will hire Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler to handle complaints about its programming. Washington Post 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 6:29 am
NC-17 As A Promotional Stunt? If you've heard anything about Atom Egoyan's latest film, you've likely heard that it contains an explicit three-way sex scene that garnered the film an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. Egoyan loudly appealed the rating, but the ratings board refused to grant him the more mainstream 'R' rating he so desperately wanted. Or did he want it after all? " In recent weeks, there have been suggestions that the appeal... was launched as a sort of 'Banned-in-Boston' tactic to generate some pre-release fizz." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/06/05
Posted: 10/06/2005 6:20 am
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