Could it be? Salinas, California, the place that proudly calls John Steinbeck its native son, may close its public library? “Unless the city can raise $500,000 by June 30, the John Steinbeck, Cesar Chavez and El Gabilan Libraries will be shuttered, victims of the city’s $9 million budget shortfall. If the branches are closed, Salinas will become the nation’s largest city without a public library.”
Month: April 2005
Planners For Seoul Opera House Look To Copenhagen
Seoul is going to build an opera house, and is looking to Copenhagen’s new theatre for inspiration. The project will cost $247 million. “Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, just back from a tour of Europe, said Monday the Opera House in Copenhagen, Denmark, seemed to make the best benchmark for Seoul in terms of location and characteristics. Seoul City will select an architect in an international contest, with construction slated to start early next year.”
Historic Britain – Have The British Fallen Out Of Love With The Past?
“It is no secret that historic buildings have not been a government priority in recent years. While museums and the Sports Council have seen their grants rise, English Heritage has been starved of cash. Perhaps more importantly, the British public appear to be losing interest in our stately homes and grand buildings. Seekers of our country’s cultural past are more likely to want to look inside the home where John Lennon grew up in Liverpool rather than an elegant country house.”
Art Since 1900: Adding Up A Century
The big new art history “Art Since 1900” is “formidably high-brow.” It “is spectacular, gargantuan and painstakingly conceived so that it can be read in a number of ways. The authors have selected what they consider to be a defining event for every year and written essays about each one. But within those essays are signposts to other entries, so that if you were interested in a particular strand of thought, you could follow it throughout the century. The possibilities of this are endless and it’s not long before you realise that the book could be not 700 but 7,000 pages long, depending on the historical maps you choose to draw up for yourself.”
Canadians And Their Reading Habit
Canadians are voracious readers, spending $1.1 billion on books last year. “In fact, money spent on books is the third-highest category of cultural spending in the country, just after newspapers ($1.22-billion) and visits to movie theatres ($1.18-billion). Significantly more dollars are shelled out for books than are spent on live performing-arts events ($824-million) and more than double the amount spent on live sports events ($451-million).”
Ring-Heads: Roaming The World For Wagner
What is it about Wagner’s Ring cycle that provokes such passionate fans? “Not surprisingly, hard-core classical music addicts who travel the world in search of their next Ring fix have dubbed themselves Ringheads. Think Deadheads, the devotees of the Grateful Dead — minus the preshow, herb-laden party in the parking lot.”
Gender-Casting – Fighting The “Lady-Harpist”
“Historically, until recently the harpist might well have been the only woman in a symphony orchestra. Orchestras had been an all-male preserve except for one, lone instrument – the harp. Played by the lady harpist. From the days when Marie Antoinette and her kind sat around in salons and plucked in a gracious, ladylike way, the harp has usually been seen as a feminine instrument. Which is limiting.”
Protesting Tibetan Treasures Show
“For the first time, treasures from Lhasa’s Potala Palace, the 300-year-old Vatican of Tibetan Buddhism, from the Norbulinka Summer Palace and the six-year-old Tibet Museum are being seen outside Tibet. Everywhere, the exhibition has been greeted with protests and demonstrations. On this third leg of the tour, an alliance of the Students for a Free Tibet, the Tibetan Women’s Association and the Tibetan Youth Congress has denounced the exhibits as stolen “art from Chinese-occupied Tibet”.”
A Dictionary That Changed The World (It’s 250 Years Old)
Samuel Johnson was a failed teacher, who, in 1746 began work on his monumental Dictionary of the English Language. It was a labor designed to rehabilitate his reputation and redefine use of the English language. It took him nine years. April 15 marks the 250th anniversary of its publication.
LA County Museum Director’s Resignation A Surprise.
Longtime director Andrea Rich’s announcement was unexpected. “Her resignation comes just weeks after the museum announced that $156 million had been raised for an ambitious expansion and renovation, enough for construction to begin by year’s end on the first round of architect Renzo Piano’s plans for the Wilshire Boulevard facilities. That announcement marked a major turning point for the museum, which had to abandon an earlier, more sweeping plan for the museum complex after failing to raise enough money.”