The arts (or, at least, large concentrations of artists) are usually considered an urban phenomenon, centered in and around cities and often reflecting in their local vibrance the overall quality of life in the region. But a new study by a Minnesota group shows that one of the state’s highest concentrations of arts and culture is in the mainly rural northeast “arrowhead” region. “Arts organizations bring a lot of outside money into the Arrowhead, according to the study. Nonresidents make up about one-third of the audience for nonprofit arts events in the region, and out-of-towners tend to spend more.”
Month: March 2006
Theatre Fined For Stage Collapse
A British theatre has been fined after its stage collapsed while people were on it. “Thirty people were hurt during Sing-Along-A-Sound-of-Music at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre. Audience members, many dressed as nuns, had climbed onto the stage to join in a song before they fell 20ft into the orchestra pit in September 2003.”
Welsh Arts Minister Appoints New Arts Council Head Despite Controversy
Welsh culture minister Alan Pugh has further infuriated Welsh artists by appointing his own head of Arts Council Wales after the council itslef had expressed an interest in keeping its fired leader…
Royal Ballet To Focus On New Works
London’s Royal Ballet will focus on new choreography in its 2006-07 season, with works by four British choreographers leading the programming.
What We’ve Learned About The World From Video Games
“Economics is loosely defined as choice under scarcity. After all, in the real world, there’s only so much to go around. You can’t always get what you want, and unfulfilled desires give rise to markets. But in a game world, there’s no inherent reason for scarcity. Game designers have given us plenty of utopias where we can have all the mithril we want, to buy whatever we want whenever we want it. Problem is, those worlds turn out to be dull.”
A Matter Of Timing – FCC Cancels Some Of Record Fines
The FCC has canceled a quarter of the fines it recently leveled. A change in heart? Policy? Nope. “The Indiana stations that had aired CBS’s Without a Trace that included the objectionable scene of teen-sex party, aired the broadcast at 10 p.m. in the Central and Mountain zones when indecency broadcasts are protected, rather than at 9 p.m. when the broadcast could be fined (the indecency “safe harbor” is 6 a.m. – 10 p.m.).”
How The Internet Is Rejuvenating College Radio
“Some skeptics have predicted that today’s increasingly diverse media landscape will render campus radio stations — long known for eclectic fare — obsolete. After all, many students have traded their stereos for computer speakers, forsaking FM radio for iTunes and song swapping. But, college stations with a tradition of strong listenership, are finding a bigger audience online, broadening their reach and their influence.”
Orchestra Of the Future – Laptops?
“The Princeton Laptop Orchestra, or PLOrk as it is known, has caused something of a sensation in academic circles, and avant-garde musicians are queueing up to compose for them.”
Museum Works to Fix Shattered Vases broken By Visitor
Conservators at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge are working restore Qing vases that were shattered when a museum viisitor tripped and smashed into them. What will happen when they’re glued back together? They’ll go back on display. “These vases were given to us in the 1940s and have been in the same place for 50 years. Some 9 million people have walked past them and this is the first time they have been damaged. We have to look at the risk in perspective.”
UK Orchestra Cancels American Tour Over Visa Costs
Britain’s Halle Orchestra has canceled an impending tour to the US because of the cost of visas. “Managers said yesterday they had cancelled the tour when they realised that the cost of arranging the visas, estimated at £45,000, would render the trip uneconomic. Other agents said rock musicians, also fed up with the process and expense, were refusing to visit the US to work.”