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Thursday, June 15




Ideas

The Creative Economy "The U.S. is at the forefront of this global creative economy. Over the next decade, it’s projected to add 10 million more creative sector jobs, according to the newest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the present rate of increase, creative jobs alone will soon eclipse the total number of jobs in all of manufacturing. Already, more than 40 million Americans work in the creative sector, which has grown by 20 million jobs since the 1980s. It accounts for more than $2 trillion USD—or nearly half—of all wages and salaries paid in the U.S." Cato Unbound 06/04/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 10:06 pm

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The logic of horror signandsight.com 05/12/06
"Humans: the artsy animals" Opinion Op-Ed by Edward Albee Los Angeles Times 5/30/06
Louvre Bans Photos Culturekiosque 4/29/06
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Visual Arts

How Can It Be Great If It's Not New And Expensive? Washington, D.C.'s Martin Luther King Memorial Library is the district's only building designed by acclaimed architect Mies van der Rohe, but Benjamin Forgey says you wouldn't know it from the way the landmark building is being treated as D.C. politicians push for a new central library. "The idea that the 1972 Mies building cannot be renovated into a first-class 21st-century library is absurd... The city's idea of selling the Mies building to help pay for its new toy is shameful. There is simply no other way to put it. It is to treat a significant work of architecture as if it were a trifling leftover." Washington Post 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 7:00 am

Binging On Blue-Chips At Basel This year's Basel Art Fair is crawling with high-end dealers and prominent collectors from around the world, all intent on snapping up the hottest pieces on view. "Many felt the offerings were more predictable than in past years, making the fair a venue for acquiring blue-chip artists rather than discovering new talent... Few buyers seemed surprised by the high prices, but many marveled at the diversity of today's players." The New York Times 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 6:27 am

US Museums Buying, European Museums Falling Behind US museums are buying at this year's ArtBasel. But "even the largest, state-funded European museums are expressing fears that they are being left behind in the current boom. Most do not enjoy such a rich tradition of philanthropy or such generous tax breaks as US museums, while across Europe governments are squeezing cultural budgets." The Art Newspaper 06/15/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:15 pm

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Music

Milwaukee Revival? The Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, which hasn't given a concert in over a year for financial reasons, is showing signs of life. The orchestra has appointed a new music director, and resolved a dispute with the musicians' union, and plans on mounting a 2006-07 season. "The MCO is carrying about $9,000 total debt. The board is working on grants and fund raising to pay that off and get the orchestra playing again as soon as next fall." Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 6:04 am

Toronto Opens Its Opera House As Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts held its official opening gala last night, the music almost seemed to take a back seat to the whole concept of having an opera house. "For years, Toronto was known around the world as the city that could not get an opera house built." No more, and the opening went off without any of the usual speeches and bluster - the singing was the thing. Toronto Star 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 5:16 am

  • But How Does It Sound? "The hall sounded like a winner. It's got a very attractive resonance, flattering to all parts of the orchestra and especially to voices on stage. The sound is warm and a bit contained, but without dryness. It is clear enough to expose every section of the orchestra (a challenging asset), and to give maximum transparency to sung or spoken text." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/15/06
    Posted: 06/15/2006 5:15 am

Marketing Classical Music - Try MySpace "Common wisdom has it that the social networking Web site is primarily a hangout for teenagers and 20-somethings, where middle-aged cops can entrap pervs preying on teenagers. But savvy classical music marketers are discovering that if you want to attract young people, you’ve got to go where they are. Thus MySpace is becoming a valuable marketing tool for some of today’s biggest classical stars - and is poised to be even more important as young musicians promote their own careers." Boston Herald 06/10/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 9:59 pm

Tosca's Allure "Tosca remains one of the ten most performed operas around the world and there is no arguing with the turnstile. Its secret, I suspect, is twofold. Like The Mousetrap, most people know how it is going to end, which means they can take guests again and again with a lightly-worn air of superiority. The attraction of repetition is reinforced by the richness of interpretative possibility." La Scena Musicale 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 9:53 pm

Do We Overthink What We're Trying To Appreciate? "Being culturally and historically informed is one thing, and having an artistic experience is quite another. The danger nowadays is that with musical scholarship calling the shots in 'early music', and so much energy devoted to reviving mediocre works, we're losing sight of that distinction." The Telegraph (UK) 06/15/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 8:33 pm

Comparing Toronto's Opera House To the World How does Toronto's new opera house stack up against the world's great opera houses? Architect Jack Diamond’s new Toronto theatre has "an almost dour grey-brick exterior, which belies the warmth of the hall’s interior, an effect created by ambient lights, a cozy horseshoe-shaped auditorium — small for an opera hall — and rich wood paneling. To make the opera-going experience less elitist than European halls built by and for aristocrats, Diamond has opened the main lobbies to the passing eye, with nothing but glass between show-goers and outsiders gaping from the street." CBC 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:08 pm

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Arts Issues

Lincoln Center Pulls Out Of Armory Project Plans to convert New York's Seventh Regiment Armory into an upscale performance venue hit a snag this week, when Lincoln Center canceled its plans for a production of Tristan und Isolde because of the high cost of preparing the space. "The armory and Drill Hall, its 55,000-square-foot, column-free space, has long been eyed hungrily by performing arts presenters," and the overall plan to renovate the armory shouldn't be derailed by the cancellation. The New York Times 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 5:48 am

The Bolshoi's Precarious Condition The Bolshoi has been threatening to disintegrate for years. The original theatre was built between 1821 and 1825, then destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1853. In 1920, the building started to shake during a performance. They fixed that with a concrete base beneath the floor - which affected the acoustics. In 2002 a second world war bomb was discovered beneath one of the theatre's entrances. But it wasn't until last year's closure that anyone realised exactly how serious the situation was. The foundations had sunk by 20cm. There were areas of brickwork that, when the restorers tried to take them apart, crumbled to the touch." The Guardian (UK) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:47 pm

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People

Simon To Receive Twain Prize "Neil Simon, one of America's most successful playwrights, has been chosen as this year's recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center announced yesterday. For the past half-century, Simon has been prolific and often produced. Everyone of a certain age probably can name numerous Simon works, as his plays -- including The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park and The Sunshine Boys -- have translated into film and television and into the national consciousness." Washington Post 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 7:04 am

The Philanthropist And The Publisher (One And the Same) "For about 20 years, Sigrid Rausig has been a quietly formidable philanthropist. Her gifts - nearly £70m so far - have often gone towards human rights projects in the third world, where a small amount can be a significant windfall. But recently she has been branching out. Last spring, she launched Portobello Books, which aims to publish "activist non-fiction" as well as some fiction. Then, in the autumn, she bought Granta - both the magazine and publishing house. While Granta's significance may have waned in recent years it remains a literary kingmaker. This makes Rausing, its new owner, a major player in British cultural life." The Guardian (UK) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:01 pm

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Theatre

Expert Dismisses Leicester Theatre Plan Theatre consultancy guru Richard Pilbrow has dismissed designs for the new £48 million Leicester Performing Arts Centre by leading architect Rafael Vinoly as “impractical” and “extremely problematic”. TheStage 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 10:14 pm

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Publishing

Rereading Childhood Faves Can Be Hazardous To Your Nostalgia The books we loved as children always seem to hold a special place in our hearts, and though we may not reread them often as adults, they never fail to conjure warm and fuzzy memories. In fact, not rereading them is frequently a good idea. "Moments I had treasured from the book down through the decades now seemed like cheap gags... Where as a child I had seen mystery and wonder, as an adult I saw smug, self-satisfied intellectual humor." Chicago Tribune 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 6:45 am

The Mother Of All Book Tours Most authors wouldn't extend the length of the average book tour for anything, but J.A. Konrath can't get enough of the road, apparently. With the aid of an in-car GPS device that allows him to locate bookstores not on his official itinerary, Konrath visited 95 more stores than his publisher asked him to on his last tour. "His ability to use the technology to find more places to promote his book impressed his publisher enough that this summer, Hyperion is sending Konrath out for a two-month, 500 bookstore tour." Wired 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 6:20 am

Google Gets Into The Shakespeare Business Google has launched a site devoted entirely to the Bard that "allows U.S. users to browse through the full texts of his 37 plays. Readers can even plug in words, such as 'to be or not to be' from 'Hamlet,' and immediately be taken to that part of the play." Yahoo! (AP) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:22 pm

Your iPod In Verse "Listening to poetry on your iPod may not be everyone's idea of entertainment, but a new website called iPoems (which has nothing to do with iTunes or its owner, Apple) is setting out to persuade audiences that downloadable poems read by their authors are the next big thing - and worth 50p per poem." The Guardian (UK) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:51 pm

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Media

GOP Plan To Gut PBS Moves To House Floor An appropriations committee in the Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives has voted to slash public television funding immediately, eliminate all federal funds for PBS's transition to digital broadcasting, and to zero out all PBS funding by 2009. The plan, which is unlikely to get through Congress in its current form, is similar to past Republican efforts to eliminate subsidies for public broadcasting. The New York Times 06/15/06
Posted: 06/15/2006 6:33 am

Hollywood's Internet Marketing 2.0 This summer Hollywood studios are turning to new websites. "Some of these studios are enjoying massive exposure by placing marketing materials on smaller, cutting-edge sites that emphasize on-demand and user-generated content, as well as video sharing. While still promoting their films through standard ad buys on big-reach portals like Yahoo!, MSN and AOL, many studios are seeding their content on smaller venues and banking on their fans to form their own distribution channels." Yahoo! (Adweek) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:14 pm

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Dance

Singing Carlos Acosta's Praises So why isn't the Royal Ballet's Carlos Acosta a popular hero? "Why isn't he a celebrity on the scale of Nureyev? He is incontrovertibly one of the great artistic phenomenona of our time. It's hard to imagine anyone else, in any artform, who could combine such of virtuosity, wit, charm, grace and interpretative skill." The Guardian (UK) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:55 pm

Pacific Northwest's New Dance Era Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet finishes its first season of a new era under director Peter Boal. Portland's Oregon Ballet picks up some of PNB's DNA with its director Christopher Stowell, son of former PNB directors Francia Russell and Kent Stowell... The New York Times 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:17 pm

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