Book sales seem slow this holiday season. Is it because of the economy? “I suspect there is another reason that there seems to be so little fun in book publishing and selling now: there’s no buzz book, no book that people talk about or at least hear about, even if they don’t read it. Book talk is great for book selling.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
You Have To Leave To Get Respect?
Canadian writers are hot these days – all over the world. But why does it take international acclaim before the folks at home pay you any respect? “We parade our multiculturalism – but our posturing cannot camouflage our grudging embrace of the best our culture produces.”
How To Stand Out In A Crowd (Maybe):
“I have heard estimates that there are over 10,000 living composers in the United States today, which is ironically a number larger than most audiences for the majority of new music concerts and recordings. So, how to stand out from the crowd and be noticed? A good start is to be included in a book.” The question is – which book, and where does it count?
“The Arts” – A Meaningless Banal Phrase
The etymology of the phrase “the arts” is fascinating. ” ‘The arts’ has also become one of those irritating modern pieties, like ‘community’, ‘compassion’ or ‘ excellence’, which have people crossing themselves. All too often, ‘supporting the arts’ is little more than a badge of gentility. It doesn’t imply a real discriminating passion for music, painting or the theatre, let alone any sense of how they might inform your life or change society. It doesn’t even imply paying a fair price for the work of an artist. It is simply part of the cement in the thin wall that separates the respectable from the barbaric.”
Festival Of Brains
“Coming soon: A big-brained summit featuring some of the world’s foremost scientists, artists, businesspeople, media figures, writers and all-around cultural visionaries… It’s the Toronto International Marshall McLuhan Festival of the Future,” and it’s being launched by the man behind the very successful Toronto International Film Festival. A skeptic might point out that Toronto already has an “ideas” festival, a 4-year-old gathering known as ideaCity, but McLuhan organizers say their event will be broader in scope.
Study Say Arts Better Students
Canadian researchers studying the effect of arts education on overall learning in students, discover that “the 10- to 12-year-olds who spent three years in the Learning Through the Arts program scored as many as 11 percentile points higher on standardized math tests than their peers in the study’s control schools. ‘It certainly makes us wonder why there isn’t more arts in the classroom. Many people assume that the arts somehow detract from the learning of other subjects, but this study shows that that isn’t the case’.”
Kennedy Center Looks To Dance Patrons To Help
The Kennedy Center has been looking for ways to shore up its dance offerings ever since Michael Kaiser took over as director, and now, even as fundraising by arts organizations nationwide is suffering the effects of the stagnant economy, the Kennedy hopes that its patrons will help foot the bill. “In a letter this week, the center is asking patrons to join the Kennedy Center Ballet Circle by making contributions of $1,000 to $250,000. The money will support the annual season of ballet, and donors will receive ticket privileges as well as invitations to special receptions, rehearsals and discussions.”
Stories No One Wants To See Now
How did a movie adaptation of a 1955 Graham Greene story go from being touted as Oscar-worthy before its planned September 2001 release to being all-but unreleaseable? September 11. “What freaked me out after the 10th was the 11th. I showed the film to some people and staff, and they said: ‘Are you out of your mind? You can’t release this now; it’s unpatriotic. America has to be cohesive, and band together.’ We were worried that nobody had the stomach for a movie about bad Americans anymore.”
Recovery In the UK
The British film industry appears to be on the road to recovery after a dismal year in which investment fell off, writers and actors strikes (or the threat thereof) stalled production, and producers took their projects elsewhere. But things are definitely looking up: “More than £280m has been invested in the UK by foreign film companies so far this year compared to £230.4m in 2001, according to the Film Council, the government body which promotes the industry.”
Record Year For Foreign Oscar
“Competition for the best foreign-language film is stiffer than ever this year, with movies from a record 54 countries vying for an Oscar. Three countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Chad — entered films for the first time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.”