“The staircase and the Pavilion’s other markers of classical European opulence still dazzle. But 50 years later, the Music Center has a very different awareness of the need to reflect its audience, and it can’t be done just with mirrors.” Mike Boehm looks at the Center’s changing offerings, from a hip-hop festival to an ambitious dance program to a huge ukulele jam session.
Month: November 2014
L.A.’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Needs Work – $350 Million Worth
From acoustical improvements to replacing 50-year-old heating and air-conditioning equipment to addingmore bathrooms to a big backstage wall “that appears to serve no purpose except getting in the way, … the needs are not cosmetic but fundamental to how efficiently and cost-effectively the Pavilion can operate.”
50 Great Moments From L.A. Music Center’s 50 Years
From Zubin Mehta sipping champagne onstage during the Philharmonic’s first concert there, through the birth of opera and theater companies (and one of the great works of American drama), to a celebrated concert hall and a new ballet troupe – with plenty of Oscar lore and offstage drama along the way.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.18.14
The Myth of the Lone Genius: A Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture Conversation
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2014-11-18
Tomorrow’s Museum Leaders – And A Few Of Today
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-11-18
Are Books an “Essential Good”?
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2014-11-18
Billy Bragg: Taylor Swift vs. Spotify
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2014-11-18
The Henry Mollicone underground operas
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2014-11-17
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Oslo Is Building A New National Museum. These Architects Are Fighting To Save The Old One
“A group of prominent Norwegian architects who have long opposed the new building are now speaking out to save the original National Gallery, which dates to 1842.”
Rome Opera Settles With Its Musicians (A Test Case For Opera In Italy)
“The closely watched standoff is emblematic of the troubled state of opera in Italy. It was also seen as a test case for labor relations in the country, whose government has been struggling to change laws to make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers.”
How Data Is Revolutionizing Design
“More than ever, highly technical design is becoming more data-driven, faster, and smarter. As I learned at the Dassault Systèmes’ 3D Experience Forum in Las Vegas this week, engineers are increasingly using virtual test benches, new data sources, advanced computer simulations, and extremely sophisticated 3D modeling software to build much better mousetraps.”
Longtime LA Times Critic Charles Champlin, 88
“During his 26 years at The Times, Champlin served as the paper’s principal film critic from 1967 through 1980. He then shifted to book reviewing and, with his “Critic at Large” column, offered a more general overview of the arts. He retired in 1991 but continued to contribute to The Times’ daily and Sunday Calendar sections and wrote two books despite becoming legally blind from age-related macular degeneration in 1999.”
Reality TV Networks Are Moving Into Scripted Shows (Here’s Why)
Not only does scripted represent a promised land for boosting audience interest, it’s also bursting with creativity at a moment when reality is, by comparison, “a little bit dull, a little bit stagnant.”
The Problem With How Arts Organizations Collect Data
“In many cases, arts organizations’ collection of data has been driven by the need to comply with funders’ reporting requirements rather than by a desire to collect information that could improve their future decision making. While the databases that have been generated through this process provide rich sources of information, it is not always clear what that information is good for, or how individual organizations can benefit from it.”