Ownership Of Heritage? It's Complicated "Heritage is piously declared the legacy of all humanity. But the possessive jealousies of particular claimants pose huge obstacles to our global common inheritance. Confining possession to some while excluding others is the raison d'ętre of most heritage. Created to generate and protect group interests, it benefits us mainly if withheld from others..." spiked-online 03/16/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:25 pm
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Architecture Students To Get Urban Exposure Ohio's Kent State University will move its entire graduate program in architectural studies to its Cleveland outpost "as soon as possible," according to the school's dean. "KSU has operated the Urban Design Collaborative in Cleveland since 1999," and the school wants all of its architecture students to work in an urban environment. Kent State's main campus is located 40 miles southeast of Cleveland. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 6:27 am
NY Hispanic Museum To Move Out Of Wash. Heights "The Hispanic Society of America, home to one of the largest collections of Hispanic cultural material outside Spain, has decided to move downtown [in Manhattan] from Washington Heights to draw more visitors and acquire the space it needs to display its art and artifacts... A proposal to move ahead with relocation plans received unanimous support from trustees at a meeting last month at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The two institutions have a close association." The New York Times 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 5:50 am
UK Proposes Higher Auction Taxes New proposed taxes will making buying art at auction more expensive in the UK. "The U.K. will tax the commission at the standard VAT rate of 17.5 percent, following a recent European Court of Justice ruling. Previously, businesses and individuals could use temporary import arrangements to defer the tax, which totaled 5 percent under the prior U.K. interpretation of European VAT law." Bloomberg.com 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:20 pm
Foster Tabbed To Design Moscow Tower Moscow's mayor has endorsed plans to build a 600-meter tower designed by Norman Foster. "City authorities are understood to have wanted a distinctive skyscraper that could become a landmark similar to Lord Foster’s “Gherkin” — the headquarters of Swiss Re — in the City of London. The development includes the 430m high Federation Tower, due to be completed in 2008." The Times (UK) 03/21/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 4:49 pm
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The Risky Business of Chamber Orchestras Keeping a chamber orchestra alive, even in a city known for its vibrant cultural scene, is a tough assignment, and this week's announcement that Seattle's Northwest Chamber Orchestra would fold came as a harsh dose of reality, but not a big surprise. "There was a time when the loss of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra would have been grieved much more by the music community. The impact is less now, not only because its audiences were in a downward spiral, but because there are more opportunities to hear chamber orchestra repertory now." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 5:30 am
Wilkens Takes Ohio Christopher Wilkens, music director of the Orlando Symphony and formerly of the San Antonio Symphony, has been appointed to lead the Akron Symphony in Ohio as well. "Wilkins' audition concert caused a stir in the audience because of how Wilkins helped the orchestra overcome the famously dry acoustics of E.J. Thomas Hall to achieve a large, resonant sound." Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio) 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 5:14 am
All Concertmasters Are Pretty Much Alike, Anyway Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim's appearance was to be the highlight of the year for California's El Camino Youth Symphony, but this week, as Kim prepared to leave for Silicon Valley, one of his assistant principals in Philadelphia was in a car accident, another went into labor, and he was forced to stay behind lest the orchestra go leaderless. Nonetheless, after a few phone calls, Kim was able to rustle up a passable replacement soloist for the El Camino kids - his good friend Robert Chen, concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony. San Jose Mercury News 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 5:00 am
Since We're Not Bankrupt After All... In the wake of the bitter, months-long battle that preceded the Louisville Orchestra's contract settlement with its musicians this week, the orchestra knows it has some public fences to mend. So with its April performances back on (the board had threatened to cancel them,) the orchestra is offering free tickets to several shows, and giving subscribers who exchanged out of the April shows extra passes. Louisville Courier-Journal 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 4:53 am
Honoring The Women In A Men's World The Detroit Symphony has created a new annual prize to recognize female composers. "The Elaine Lebenbom Award will be open to an international field and reward the winner with a $10,000 check and the world premiere performances of the selected work on the orchestra's classical subscription series." Detroit Free Press 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 4:49 am
Why Northwest Chamber Orchestra Folded Why did Seattle's Northwest Chamber Orchestra have to close? "A confluence of events forced the 33-year-old musical institution to draw its curtain. Chief among them, a decline in public funding of the arts and increased competition from other musical offerings. But the lion's share of the blame lies with the orchestra's history of dysfunctional leadership." Seattle Times 03/21/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:58 pm
Stolen Strad Returned To Orchestra A rare Stradivarius violin has been returned after 21 years. "The instrument, which dates from 1725, had disappeared from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1985. The violin resurfaced when it was put up for sale at auctioneers Bonhams, which struck a deal with the vendor to see it returned to the orchestra." BBC 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:08 pm
Apple Protests France's iTunes Plan Apple is criticizing plans by the French parliament to force it to unlock iTunes songs so they can be played on any MP3 player. "In a statement Apple said that if the law were passed it would result in state-sponsored piracy". BBC 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 4:56 pm
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Fighting For Justice And The "Lion" Back in 1939 Solomon Linda wrote the song that would later be called "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." "Some 150 artists eventually recorded the song. It was translated into languages from Dutch to Japanese. It had a role in more than 13 movies. By all rights, Mr. Linda should have been a rich man. Instead, he lived in Soweto with barely a stick of furniture, sleeping on a dirt floor carpeted with cow dung. Mr. Linda received 10 shillings — about 87 cents today — when he signed over the copyright of "Mbube" in 1952 to Gallo Studios, the company that produced his record. He also got a job sweeping floors and serving tea in the company's packing house." The New York Times 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 6:01 pm
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The Shire Has Its Day - But Will It Last? It's opening night in Toronto for the CAN$28 million stage production of Lord of the Rings, and seemingly everyone is holding his breath. "LOTR is unusual in being a show that is nearly impossible to define, because it simultaneously is and is not a musical, is and is not a play, is and is not a circus act, is and is not a vast spectacle. It's a theatrical experience unlike any other. But how it is ultimately defined, by critics and audiences, will go a long way toward determining whether the show runs for one year -- or many years." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 5:06 am
Hare Skipping UK For Broadway David Hare is skipping London and opening his new play in New York. "No fewer than 13 of Sir David's previous works, including Racing Demon, Pravda and Plenty, have had their premieres at the National Theatre in London. However, Sir David said that his last stint there, for his play Stuff Happens two years ago, was 'almost the most frustrating experience I have ever had in the theatre'. The National's way of doing things, he said, was not helpful to playwrights. The Guardian (UK) 03/23/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 7:42 pm
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A Plan To Save British Public Libraries British writers have joined a campaign to rejuvenate public libraries. "The Love Libraries scheme aims to give them a makeover, transforming them into a '21st century reading service'. Revamps in the pipeline include more online borrowing, flexible opening hours and a review of book stocks. Recent research has shown that adults are losing interest in lending libraries, with one in five having never visited their local library." BBC 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:13 pm
Random House Comes Out Of Scandals Smelling Sweet Controversies over James Frey's memoir and Dan Brown's trial on plagiarism haven't dented Random House's book sales. "Random House reported a 19 percent gain in operating profit to a record 166 million euros ($200.4 million) on Wednesday on 2 percent revenue growth to 1.83 billion." AOL News (Reuters) 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:01 pm
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Going To The Movies, Without All The Baggage As Hollywood continues to puzzle over the mystery of the shrinking multiplex audience, private "film clubs" are gaining traction in some cities across the country. "Organizers of film clubs — cliques in which film lovers can bond over movies in a more controlled environment than the neighborhood multiplex — say their associations are growing in popularity. It's particularly so with those who prefer their film fare served up with respect, and minus the endless commercials, chatter and crying babies." Los Angeles Times 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 6:37 am
TV Networks Running Scared Following FCC Fines In the wake of last week's record FCC fines levied against CBS for supposedly "indecent" programming, the WB Network is self-censoring the pilot episode of a new program, and offering up the uncut version on its website, for viewers who wish to see what had to be removed from theover-the-air version. Among the scenes removed by the network are "one that depicted two girls in a bar kissing on a dare and another of a girl unbuttoning her jeans." The New York Times 03/23/06
Posted: 03/23/2006 5:45 am
MTV Canada - Anybody Care? MTV's previous entry into Canada was a bust. But MTV Canada returns to questions whether anyone will watch. "By sharp contrast, the newer, slicker version of MTV Canada will devote resources to original production; seven new homegrown series are already in the works. The network hopes to entice viewers with a zeitgeist-grabbing mix of entertainment, lifestyle and reality programming. But aren't we already swimming in this kind of stuff? What is this drought you speak of, MTV Canada?" Toronto Star 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:56 pm
Study: Link Between Kids And TV Sex A new study says that children who watch programs with sexual content are more likely to have sex. "There is a direct relationship between the amount of sexual content a child sees and their level of sexual activity or their intentions to have sex in the future, the study found. Such media also has at least an equal influence on sexual behaviour as religion or a child's relationship with their parents and peers, the study said." Daily Mail (London) 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:52 pm
UK Movie Producers Fear New Tax Law Will Kill Shooting New UK tax rules say "British films will no longer be able to claim tax relief on money spent overseas. The government says this is essential to bring the UK in line with European Union law. But some producers fear it may mean British movies that need to be filmed abroad will no longer be able to raise enough money." BBC 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:04 pm
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Smackdown: Kirov Vs. Bolshoi The Bolshoi and the Kirov are two of the world's premiere ballet companies. "This summer the two companies will play opposite each other in London’s West End, the Bolshoi at Covent Garden, the Kirov at the Coliseum. Both insist there is no box-office war, nothing more than a market opportunity to rake cash while the west effetely rests. But the haste with which the seasons have been cobbled together and the simultaneity of their launches exposes a breach in the entente and the outcome of the undeclared contest will leave casualties on both sides." La Scena Musicale 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:48 pm
Susan Marshall At 20 "Susan Marshall presented a 20th-anniversary season at the Dance Theater Workshop that confirmed her reputation as an inventive and persuasive dance maker. Like very few other choreographers (Doug Varone is another), Marshall understands intimacy and is moved by it." New York Observer 03/22/06
Posted: 03/22/2006 5:35 pm
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