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Wednesday, February 15




Ideas

Embrace The Chaos If the global argument over the Danish cartoons that so offended Muslims tells us anything, it is that we can no longer afford to be quite so surprised by the global reach of information, and further, that censoring the flow of content is not a solution to the worldwide culture clash. "The truth is, the internet cannot be both globally acceptable and a force for democracy... Spraying the world with a fire hose of information may not be the answer, but it's closer to the right result than filtering the internet down to a trickle." Wired 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 6:18 am

Design Debate: Engineering Or Art? There's a debate going on about the mainstream of design. "The key point at issue is whether design should retain its traditional industrial focus and concentrate on assisting in the creation of new devices that work better and more efficiently than old ones, or whether it should move with the times, align itself with the so-called 'knowledge economy' and offer a primarily aesthetic experience. The Telegraph (UK) 02/14/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 5:18 pm

Do The Beatles Still Rate? It's been 36 years since the Beatles made their last album. Terry Teachout wonders: "What was it that made these four musically untutored pop stars stand out in such high relief from their contemporaries? And has their music proved to be of lasting interest, as their admirers of four decades ago predicted it would?" Commentary 02/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 4:32 pm

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Visual Arts

Art At Risk America's museum collections are physically deteriorating at an alarming rate, according to a new study. "Nearly 60 percent of institutions surveyed acknowledged that light has damaged their collections, while 53 percent said moisture caused problems... Perhaps most strikingly, 80 percent of the institutions surveyed don't pay anyone to preserve their collections." The Christian Science Monitor (Boston) 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 6:45 am

Seattle's New Sculpture Al Fresco Seattle's new $85 million sculpture park is being built on the city's downtown waterfront. "Seattle's park will be free, fenceless and in the heart of the city. Officials hope the easy access will encourage a greater appreciation of the arts from people cycling, jogging or just strolling through the area. The collection will mix seminal works from sculptors Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Serra and Mark Di Suvero with with newly commissioned sculpture from Louise Bourgeois and Mark Dion, among others." Los Angeles Times (AP) 02/14/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 5:03 pm

Report: US Museums Are Minor Players In Antiquities Trade A report by the Association of Art Museum Directors seeks to put American museums' antiquities collecting in perspective. "The report states that 53 member institutions actively collect antiquities and altogether spent an average of $7 million per year purchasing antiquities over the last five years. This total is less than 10% of the global annual trade in antiquities, the report states, basing that figure on published reports that estimate the global trade anywhere from $100 million to $4 billion." The point is that the collecting activities of American museums are not driving the international antiquities trade. The Art Newspaper 02/14/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 4:58 pm

Gehry: Toronto Missed Its Chance For Architectural Greatness Frank Gehry says his hometown Toronto has missed out on being a great architecture center, even though several prominent projects are now underway. " 'It's like every other community. There's very little social planning; it seems to be more a world of opportunism and entertainment. ... It doesn't feel right, but I think I am just fuddy duddy because of my age,' said Gehry, who is 77." CBC 02/14/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 4:37 pm

American Museum Collections In Peril "A survey of 3,370 institutions by the nonprofit group Heritage Preservation found that some 612 million artifacts - from photographs and paintings to nature specimens and pottery - are at risk of deterioration because they aren't cared for properly. Nearly 60 percent of institutions surveyed acknowledged that light has damaged their collections, while 53 percent said moisture caused problems. And 26 percent of those surveyed have no special controls in place to protect their collections from light, temperature, and humidity. Perhaps most strikingly, 80 percent of the institutions surveyed don't pay anyone to preserve their collections. Christian Science Monitor 02/15/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 4:14 pm

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Music

Will The New Met Finally Crush The New Puritanism? Mark Swed says that the Metropolitan Opera's embrace of change under new director Peter Gelb comes just in time to counteract the creeping conservatism sweeping much of the rest of America's classical music scene. "The inclinations of big money normally are not adventurous, and the companies reflect that. But there is also a climate of fear of offending an increasingly puritanical public. Although political and moral issues are an essential part of much great opera, these are touchy, politically divided times, and few arts administrators seem willing to take chances." Los Angeles Times 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 6:55 am

Not Just Another Orchestra Crisis There's a different kind of orchestra crisis going on in Northern Ireland, where the Ulster Youth Orchestra was revealed last week to be in nearly complete disarray. The UK Arts Council stepped in when it was discovered that "bills had not been paid, the phone was disconnected and staff were no longer employed in [the UYO's] office." Now, a former vice-chancellor of a major British university has been placed in charge of overhauling the organization, and implementing an emergency plan agreed to by the orchestra and the council. BBC 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 5:41 am

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COT: No. 2, and trying harder Selling a season with a little help from `Dick Nixon' Chicago Tribune 02/12/06
Baroque on a budget Chicago Sun-Times 02/12/06
Classical Music Takes Digital Leap Billboard 1/20/06 (syndicated by Reuters)
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Arts Issues

Showing Opera To 8-Year-Olds Now A Firable Offense A Colorado teacher is on the verge of being fired because she showed her class of elementary schoolchildren a few minutes of the opera, Faust. "Some parents said their children were traumatized by the appearance of a leering devil in the video as well as such objectionable elements as a man appearing to be killed by a sword in silhouette and an allusion to suicide." The teacher has been on paid leave since late January, and says she intends to sue the school district if she is dismissed. Denver Post 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 6:48 am

Are We Going About Arts Funding All Wrong? A new report from a San Francisco arts task force is suggesting that the city completely rethink the way it funds culture within its borders, and find ways of linking the arts to everyday life through neighborhood connections. "There's also a clear undercurrent in the report: The city's most vibrant, community-based arts organizations don't get their fair share of the money, which goes to big, flashy operations like the symphony and opera. The entire plan has the feeling of a manifesto for more democratic oversight of arts money and more grassroots participation in the funding process. That, of course, flies in the face not only of city policy but also of arts-funding policy in general." San Francisco Bay Guardian 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 5:50 am

What Are The Arts Worth To A City? Salt Lake City is at a crossroads as it prepares to make a decision on whether the city should fund a new downtown cultural district, which would involve building two new theatres in the hope of drawing more people (and their money) into the urban core. A consultant's report confirmed what some supporters of the plan believe, that a cultural district could generate between $12 and $22 million annually in ticket sales alone. However, the same report states flatly that far from being a money-maker, the district would be unlikely ever to turn a profit, and would probably require constant subsidy to stay afloat. Salt Lake Tribune 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 5:32 am

No Federal Funds For Edinburgh Fest The Scottish government has rejected calls for it to do more to fund the Edinburgh International Festival, despite strong support for the idea from the government's own Cultural Commission. Supporters of greater government funding point out that the festival is perennially underfunded (it's had to be bailed out by the Edinburgh Council at the last moment several times,) but because the event is stationary in Edinburgh, the government doesn't consider it a national company, and won't get involved. The Scotsman (UK) 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 5:22 am

A Getty Director's Home Is His Castle, Apparently "Already under investigation for questionable executive spending, the J. Paul Getty Trust recently purchased a $3.5-million official residence for its new museum director's use only to find that the house was contaminated with mold and uninhabitable... The Getty then made an offer on a $5.5-million house near Santa Monica. Spokesman Ron Hartwig said the trust pulled out of the deal Tuesday after inspectors found structural problems with the roof. Meanwhile, the Getty is paying $15,000 a month to rent [the director] a Holmby Hills home with five bathrooms and a swimming pool on a two-acre lot." The Los Angeles Times 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 5:13 am

What Does Australian Culture Need? "The answer to Australia's cultural crisis under Howard, according to the artists and their academic handbags, is more money. Our money, of course, in the form of taxpayer-funded subsidies to the arts. But those calling for more money had better be careful what they wish for. By all means let's start a debate on this issue, but that means, as a starting point, following where the money has gone over the past few years. And it's not a pretty picture..." The Australian 02/15/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 5:32 pm

What Led To Munitz's Downfall At The Getty Last month then-Getty president Barry Munitz rewarded his assistant with a huge severance award. "Munitz promised Jill Murphy severance worth twice her annual salary at a time when he was under investigation by both the state attorney general and the Getty board, and despite a clear warning from the board that he should seek prior approval for any controversial moves, several trustees said. By acting 'unilaterally' to benefit a staff member who had come to symbolize his divisive administration, Munitz turned trustee sentiment against him as they were weighing his future at the Getty." Los Angeles Times 02/14/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 10:50 am

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Restoring Laurels Lost Los Angeles Times 2/5/06
Outrage of Muslim world is misplaced Philadelphia Inquirer 2/5/06
Colorado Music Teacher Defends Screening of Faust Video playbillarts.com 02/03/06
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People

Frey May Be Finished In Hollywood, Too By now, everyone knows the sad story of James Frey, whose memoir was far too good to be true. But lost in the spiralling demise of Frey's literary career is the other side of the author's life. "Frey spent nearly a decade in Hollywood, hanging out at industry barbecues, hustling movie ideas and co-producing a few indie flicks." But as the scandal surrounding his fictionalized life has grown, Frey's Hollywood connections have grown more and more frayed, and his future there is as uncertain as it can be. Chicago Tribune 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 6:40 am

Woman Arrested For Complaining About Cell Phone In Cinema An Australian woman tried to get another woman to stop talking on her cell phone during a movie in a theatre in Texas. Australian Pauline Clayton said "the woman stood up over her, started shouting expletives at her and then stormed out of the cinema, in the town of Webster, just outside Houston. A short time later two Texas police officers walked into the cinema and escorted Ms Clayton out." The Daily Telegraph (Australia) 02/15/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 4:08 pm

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Theatre

'Ol Blue Eyes Back In London A new show about the life of Frank Sinatra is ready to hit London's West End. "The show has the blessing of the Sinatra family; it is described in publicity leaflets as 'bona fide, 100 per cent Frank', which sounds a little like a junk food chain trying to convince a recalcitrant public of the purity of its burgers. It is a beefy story, all right; but there is also a slightly cheesy whiff to the proceedings. Ersatz tribute shows such as this have their place, but it is surely not proper theatre?" Financial Times 02/14/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 5:10 pm

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Publishing

Warning: Talking To This Author Can Be Hazardous To Your Reputation When author John Berendt laid the city of Savannah, Georgia bare in his bestselling book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, many of the town's residents were aghast at what they saw as an invasion of civic privacy and a betrayal of their good will. Now, months after Berendt's latest tome (an examination of the burning of Venice's La Fenice opera house,) the complaints are starting up all over again - this time, in Italian. The New York Times 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 6:26 am

Paperbacks For The Price Of Postage It's a swapping scheme, whereby you list books to share, and in return choose books to read. "At PaperBackSwap.com, members list at least nine paperbacks, earning three credits. Credits allow them to search available titles and choose up to three. Senders pay the postage. They receive one credit for each book they mail, enabling them to order other titles. The website formats a mailing wrapper. The sender then prints out the wrapper, adds stamps, and mails the book." Christian Science Monitor 02/15/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 4:17 pm

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Media

Another DaVinci Dustup A prominent Catholic group portrayed in The DaVinci Code as a power-hungry collection of conspirators is urging that Sony Pictures remove passages of the book that are "insulting to Catholics" from its upcoming film version. Opus Dei, which is based in Rome, stopped short of calling for a boycott of the film, saying instead that "changes to the film would be appreciated by Catholics." BBC 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 6:11 am

Salary Disclosure Law Irks MPR It isn't often that a public broadcaster will intentionally turn down free money, but that's just what's happening in the Twin Cities, where Minnesota Public Radio is balking at a new state law requiring it to release a list of all employees earning more than $100,000 in order to qualify for $190,000 in funding from the state. The law is the brainchild of a state representative who made news two years ago when he proposed another measure which would have proibited anyone working for an arts organization from making a higher salary than the governor of the state. Minneapolis Star Tribune 02/15/06
Posted: 02/15/2006 5:07 am

A Culture Of Celebrity Swag "Originally conceived at the Academy Awards in 1989 as a way to thank actors for presenting awards at the Oscars, the gift basket has in recent years outgrown its origins to become a marketing juggernaut in its own right, in some cases all but overtaking the events themselves. Even celebrities seem somewhat mystified by the trend." The New York Times 02/15/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 5:48 pm

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Dance

British Dance, 2006 Edition "Publicly supported British dance seems politically correct to a fault. There were dances for babies and for the elderly, for the fit and the disabled, for people of most every culture and color, for adult audiences and children, for trained dancers and everyday folk. There was no ballet and not much classical-music accompaniment. But there was modern dance ("contemporary dance," in British parlance) of every kind. Contemporary dance here is strung between the poles of abstraction and 'physical theater,' which is so engrained as to seem almost old-fashioned." The New York Times 02/15/06
Posted: 02/14/2006 5:43 pm

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