London’s National Gallery has unveiled a £21 million makeover project to improve access to the museum. “Gallery officials and architects believe the refurbishments will turn the area into the capital’s cultural focal point.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Spiderman Sets Record
On its first day in stores, the movie Spiderman sells a record 7 million DVDs and videotapes. Last spring Spidey shattered box office records with a $114.8 million opening weekend in movie theatres.
State of Shock:
Shock jocks on American radio get away with the most outrageous stunts and foul language. But while pop culture that finds an audience on one side of the Atlantic usually finds success on the other, the shock jock phenomenon hasn’t.
Media: November 2002
Friday, November 29, 2002
Where Are The Women? There seem to be more high-profile women in the movies these days. But that doesn’t mean there are more women in movies. In a recent study, women accounted for 25 percent of all characters in the top 250 films released in 2001. “That is about five percentage points higher than when researchers first tallied roles – in 1952. (On prime-time network television, women account for about 38 percent of the roles, a number rising more quickly than in film.)” It’s even worse for women over 40 – they get only 8 percent of female roles. “The percentage of working directors among the top films dropping from 11 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2001, and from 14 percent to 10 percent for female screenwriters.” San Francisco Chronicle 11/29/02
Where Are The Minorities? “There are substantially more African American, Latino and Asian American faces onscreen than just three years ago, when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People denounced the industry for the lack of cultural diversity in prime time. Indeed, on the big four broadcast networks, as well as UPN and the WB, there are actors of color in 26 of the 33 shows premiering this season.” But the gains are almost all in supporting roles, with little progress in starring roles. San Francisco Chronicle 11/29/02
To Every Season Wonder why certain kinds of movies are released at certain times of the year? Big-deal movies in December, action/fluff in summer, art films in January… “Today, the majority of a film’s box-office receipts are reaped in the first fortnight of release, and a week’s delay can make or break a film, so movie schedules are more finely tuned and globally calculated than ever before.” The Guardian (UK) 11/29/02
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Cry For Independence As the British government opens up ownership of broacasters to foreign companies, a new report says independent producers need some protection. “Under quotas, terrestrial channels have to offer 25% of their programming to independent companies. But the actual average was only 15% because channels were unwilling to offer news or large outdoor events to independent production.” BBC 11/25/02
Conduct Unbecoming “The U.S. Naval Academy has confiscated the computers of about 100 midshipmen who allegedly have pirated music and movies on their hard drives. The Annapolis students could face punishment up to a court-martial if they are found to have the copyrighted material illegally.” Wired 11/25/02
Monday, November 25, 2002
Lockout Time was when aspiring movie biz hopefuls would hang out on the studio lots and watch. The storyu goes that “Steven Spielberg’s professional movie career began the day he decided to jump off a tour bus at Universal Studios Hollywood and wander around the back lots. While exploring the buildings, he found an abandoned janitors’ closet and turned it into his office. He would go to work there everyday, wearing a business suit and tie, walking past the security officers. After some time, the security guards had seen him so often they would wave him through the gates, no questions asked.” But now, studio security locks down the lots to outsiders. Backstage 11/24/02
Battle of the TV Music Networks Is MTV in trouble in the UK? “After enjoying 15 years as a near monopoly, the network is in the biggest competitive fight of its life. In less than 18 months Emap – the magazine and radio group formerly known as East Midland and Allied Press – has been able to launch and grow six rival channels which, together, are now watched by almost as many people as MTV’s.” And there are more competitors coming… The Guardian (UK) 11/25/02
Finally – Watch What You Want “After years of failed promises, unripe business plans and half-baked technology, the cable industry is finally beginning to deliver reliable and economical video-on-demand services. Despite the omnipotence that the label implies, video on demand does not allow users to watch any program or movie under the sun. No database is yet infinite. But in New York City, for instance, Time Warner Cable plans to have 1,300 hours of programming available at any one time — the equivalent of almost two months of TV watching.” The New York Times 11/25/02
Sunday, November 24, 2002
The Movies Made Us This Way? Why are Americans so cocky about going to war? Why are they so confident everything will turn out in their favor? “The source of our unworried attitude, our sureness that Iraq will be no more than a blip on our glorious march toward the future, is, I very much fear, that we have been brainwashed by history and, more to the point, by the movies into thinking we cannot lose.” Los Angeles Times 11/24/02
The Artless Censor If a film gets an “NC-17” rating in America, it will have difficulty being distributed. So filmmakers often censor themselves before the ratings board does, taming the content to fit an “R”. “Why do we accept similar censorious interruption when it’s sex rather than violence at issue? And why is the art-house audience, supposedly the one that takes film most seriously, so willing to look the other way?” Denver Post 11/24/02
High-Tech Teen Pact A dying teenager makes a pact with friend that when the first of them dies, the others will put a small digital camera attached to the internet inside the coffin. “When one of the teenagers dies, the survivors must decide whether to fulfill their high-tech pledge and if so, how. One stipulation moves the story into the gothic realm of Edgar Allan Poe. The coffin is to contain a heating element that will speed or reduce the body’s rate of decomposition. The temperature will then be controlled by online visitors, who can adjust an interactive thermostat on the tell-tale Web site.” The New York Times 11/25/02
Friday, November 22, 2002
Communications Bill Introduced The British government has revealed its communication bill, which will reform the way broadcast media do business in the UK. “The bill aims to promote universal access to media and communications services, and self-regulation for companies in the media industry.” BBC 11/22/02
Playing Games With Race Judging by a lot of today’s movies, “you’d think race was easy. No biggie whatsoever. Not only that, it’s fun and entertaining.” But Hollywood has a long history of distorting race relations. “If anything, Hollywood is — and nearly forever has been — in the problem-dodging business, and if these movies are only becoming more strident in their insistence that race on-screen isn’t an issue, it’s because off-screen it so clearly, obviously and unsettlingly is.” Toronto Star 11/22/02
Remaking Public TV Since taking over as CEO of PBS in 2000, Pat Mitchell “has been herding cats, struggling to bring unity and stability to the nation’s loose affiliation of 349 noncommercial television stations. With varying success, she has shifted some of the network’s ‘icon’ series from their hallowed time slots in an effort to bring a new thematic consistency to the weekly offerings. None of these changes, even ones that seem superficial, have been easy.” Washington Post 11/22/02
- Native Talent Native Americans have played virtually no role in Hollywood movies. “Today, say native American artists, that is slowly beginning to change.” Christian Science Monitor 11/22/02
Thursday, November 21, 2002
Acting Out (On The Outs) Radio dramas were once a staple of the dial. But TV changed all that, and though there are still die-hards plugging away producing shows, the outlets have shrunk. Fans hope new technologies like satellite radio or the internet might revive the genre. But will it? Baltimore Sun 11/21/02
Save the Canadian Drama! The head of Telefilm Canada is urging the government to spend more on Canadian drama for domestic consumption. Canada already spends $1.4 billion every year to produce original television programs and films, and yet studies have shown that not a single Canadian program ranks in the top ten list of most popular programs. Is it that the American production juggernaut is just too powerful, or are Canadian-made dramas just generally not up to snuff? The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11/21/02
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Nazis Come To German TV For the first time in more than half a century, German television is showing a program about Nazis. And it’s a comedy. “Non-German directors in a long line that stretches from Charlie Chaplin to Roberto Benigni may have dug humour from beneath the horror-strewn surfaces of Nazism and fascism. But for Germans themselves, ‘the catastrophe’, as it is often called, has been too painful to be seen as anything but a tragedy.” The Guardian (UK) 11/19/02
Hurt Me Baby One More Time Forget sex and violence. What sells these days is humiliation. Some “reality,” eh? “Viewers have shown an insatiable appetite for the queasy thrill that comes from watching an ordinary person suffer searing public embarrassment in exchange for 15 minutes of fame.” The New York Times 11/20/02
- The Next Big Movie Rental Model “Consumers love the Netflix rental model, which lets subscribers order DVDs online, receive them by mail, and keep them for as long as they want without late fees. Walmart.com likes it so much that it’s launching a nearly identical service early next year. ‘They’re printing packaging that is essentially identical to ours. Blockbuster is close behind’.” Wired 11/19/02
In Praise of Jesse Helms What’s that, you ask? Praise the anti-arts, anti-NEA, anti-progressive, anti-anything-that-hints-of-compassion obstructionist US Senator? “While his actions may very well be motivated by the interests of small conservative Christian Internet broadcasters, his support for the Small Webcasters Settlement Act (SWSA) has compelled some noncommercial station backers to feel for him what they never imagined they could – gratitude.” Salon 11/19/02
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Has Radio Quality Been Hurt by Derugulation? “The Future of Music Coalition (FMC) charges in a new report that the 1996 Telecom Act, which allowed companies to own more stations, ‘has not benefited the public. It has led to less competition, fewer viewpoints and less diversity in programming.’ Nonsense, says the National Association of Broadcasters. “Studies repeatedly show 75% of Americans express high satisfaction with radio. This report has all the credibility of Miss Cleo.” New York Daily News 11/19/02
The Scholarly Buffy A Melbourne University professor puts out a call for scholarly papers on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is flooded with proposals. “Scholarly Buffyphiles prefer the Online International Journal of Buffy Studies (www.slayage.tv), a website governed by an editorial board with academic contributors examining notions such as Buffy as ‘transgressive woman warrior’, or Buffy ‘and the pedagogy of fear’. Intellectuals around the globe are deconstructing, dissecting and extrapolating from Buffy, across disciplines, in journals and at conferences too.” The Age (Melbourne) 11/19/02
The New Home Movies As prices for digital video cameras drop and computers with sophisticated editing capabilities are more and more available, “home movies” are looking more professional, and budding movie “auteurs” are born. Newsweek 11/25/02
Monday, November 18, 2002
Little Evidence Violent Games Harm Adults: Governments around the world have been considering legislation regulating sale of violent and pornographic computer games. Australia recently banned two controversial games. But social scientists say “more careful research before we can reach a definitive conclusion, (but) I know of no scientific evidence that the interactive nature of computer games makes them more harmful than other popular media.” The Age (Melbourne) 11/17/02
How Will Radio Evolve? Does webcasting help promote recordings in the expectation that listeners will go out and buy? Or is it just theft of free music? Should webcasters have to pay substantial royalties for the privilege of using recordings? Have big corporations consolidated the life out of traditional radio stations? These are questions confronting those trying to determine the future of music-casting. BBC 11/17/02
Sunday, November 17, 2002
How Canada is Stealing Hollywood: From 1999 to 2002, money spent on making films in Canada has doubled, as production crews look to save money by exploiting the weak Canadian dollar. By a remarkable coincidence, the number of U.S. cities that give a darn about the Northern migration of moviemaking has also recently doubled, from one (Los Angeles) to two (L.A. and New York.) What made the Big Apple sit up and notice? Well, you don’t really expect New Yorkers to sit still while a TV movie about the life of former mayor Rudy Giuliani is filmed in Toronto, do you? Boston Globe 11/16/02
Anti-Tobacco Forces Target Hollywood: Product placement has been a staple of big-budget Hollywood films ever since E.T. followed a trail of name-brand candy into Elliot’s bedroom. But a coalition of activist groups and health organizations is demanding that the film industry draw the line at in-film cigarette advertising. “The groups want the industry to encourage the Motion Picture Association of America to impose an R rating on films that include smoking, except those that ‘clearly and unambiguously’ reflect tobacco’s dangers.” Edmonton Journal (AP) 11/16/02
Egoyan’s New Role: Atom Egoyan knew his film Ararat, which tells some hard truths about the World War I-era slaughter of Armenians in Turkey, would be controversial. He wasn’t prepared for just how controversial. Since Ararat debuted several months ago, Egoyan has been called a liar, a propagandist, and had his life threatened via e-mail. It’s enough to make a director long for the days when he was only being called an anti-Semite by a Toronto critic… The New York Times 11/17/02
Friday, November 8, 2002
Australia Film Industry Booming: Australia’s film and TV production industry grew by 8 percent in the past year. “But while budgets boomed, there was also concern about the drop in locally made television drama, with not one adult television mini-series made here for the first time in more than 20 years.” The Age (Melbourne) 11/08/02
- Previously: THE DIGITAL TV MESS: Arizona Senator John McCain has quite a brouhaha to look forward to as he takes over the committee in charge of the transition to digital TV broadcasts. The government wants the transition to move fast, so it can sell the analog spectrum to wireless providers. The industry doesn’t want to commit to digital anything until a system is in place to prevent consumers from making personal copies of copyrighted material. And consumers want their old TVs to work with the new system, and the right to make personal copies of copyrighted material. Good luck, Senator! Wired 11/08/02
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
Sotheby’s Trust Problem How will the public regain trust in auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s? Fines are not enough. Confidence in the auction houses won’t come until everyone who had any hand in the price-fixing scandal has departed. One problem. Former Sotheby’s chairman Alfred Taubman, currently serving a prison term in remote Minnesota, is still the company’s biggest shareholder. And he’s not likely to sell anytime soon. The Times (UK)
- Previously:
- STONE BOX LINKED TO JESUS IS DAMAGED: A 2000-year-old stone box believed to be the oldest physical evidence of Jesus Christ, has been damaged in transit on its way to the Royal Ontario Museum. Existence of the box was revealed two weeks ago. Museum officials declined to reveal details of the damage. Discovery 11/04/02
- CHANSONS – OF THEE I SING: “While French artists of today glory in the richest musical heritage in Europe, they are also frustrated by the insularity of their traditions. At a time when the music business is becoming increasingly globalised, it is hard for a Francophone artist to break out of the home market. Language is a huge barrier; there are very few French songs that become international hits.” The Guardian (UK) 11/04/02
National Gallery Makeover London’s National Gallery has unveiled a £21 million makeover project to improve access to the museum. “Gallery officials and architects believe the refurbishments will turn the area into the capital’s cultural focal point.” BBC
- Previously: An Expensive Door: “The east entrance to the National Gallery is about to become the most expensive front door in Britain: opening the towering glossy black door to the public, after 170 years, will cost £21 million.” The Guardian (UK) 11/06/02
Sunday, November 3, 2002
Spiderman Sets Record On its first day in stores, the movie Spiderman sells a record 7 million DVDs and videotapes. Last spring Spidey shattered box office records with a $114.8 million opening weekend in movie theatres. Houston Chronicle (AP) 11/03/02
- Previously: FIGHTING IN PUBLIC: A public and rancorous debate is being carried out in public among two of England’s better known public intellectuals. “The debate is particularly English because its protagonists — the novelist Martin Amis and the Washington-based writer Christopher Hitchens — are so rooted in late 20th-century London. Both graduated from Oxford University and have carried out their quarrel in learned texts freckled with Latin. Both won renown while working at the leftist New Statesman in the 1970’s. Each had no cross word — in public at least — for the other. Until last month.” The New York Times 10/14/02
Saturday, November 2, 2002
State of Shock: Shock jocks on American radio get away with the most outrageous stunts and foul language. But while pop culture that finds an audience on one side of the Atlantic usually finds success on the other, the shock jock phenomenon hasn’t. The Guardian (UK) 11/02/02
Friday, November 1, 2002
Wait – the gov’t is against monopolies now? The U.S. Justice Department has filed suit to block the merger of the two largest satellite television companies, saying that the merged company would eliminate competition in the industry, particularly in rural areas not served by cable television. The suit was not entirely unexpected, but it raises questions about what the government’s plans may be for the proposed merger of cable TV giants AT&T and Comcast. Wired 11/01/02
- Turf War? What Turf War? National Public Radio has opened a huge new West Coast operations base in Los Angeles despite facing a cash crunch so severe that the network has been laying off veteran correspondents, and the expansion has nothing whatsoever to do with rival Minnesota Public Radio’s incursion into the same territory last year. (MPR is closely allied with Minneapolis-based Public Radio International, NPR’s main competitor in the distribution of programs to public radio stations nationwide.) The ‘NPR West’ mission seems a bit vague, but the important thing, according to network execs, is that there is no turf war, there has never been a turf war, and they are shocked – shocked! – that anyone would assign them such scurrilous motives. Los Angeles Times 11/01/02
Publishing: November 2002
Friday, November 29, 2002
Dumas To Be Moved To Pantheon Alexandre Dumas is one of the most popular French novelists of all time. But he’s not been officially honored. That changes this week when his remains are moved to the Pantheon in Paris. “He will then be laid to rest alongside other French literary greats such as Victor Hugo and Emile Zola.” BBC 11/28/02
Supplementary Pleasures Everything about The Times Literary Supplement, that “coded message to the intellectual elite whose 36 pages of densely packed articles have come out regularly for the past century and a bit” is “endearingly odd.” The TLS’s “circulation has never topped 50,000 and is now level-pegging at about 35,000 worldwide” but its influence is enormous. The Times (UK) 11/29/02
Art Of Words An American designer has produced “an interactive program (found at Textarc.org) that reproduces the text of more than 2,000 books as works of art. The software converts the text into an interactive map that allows viewers to quickly see relationships between words and characters at a glance, even without having read the book.” BBC 11/28/02
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Another Swipe At Lilly Meghan O’Rourke suggests that Ruth Lilly’s gift of $100 million to Poetry Magazine is a bad idea. “The gift, though well-intentioned, is foolish. The real problem is that the gift is the essence of bad philanthropy—an overblown act of generosity that undermines its own possible efficacy. Poetry, which had a staff of four, an annual budget of $600,000, and a circulation of approximately 12,000, is suddenly among the best-endowed cultural institutions in the world. If Lilly were truly interested in advancing poetry, the best way to do it would have been to spread the wealth around. Lilly should have given $10 million to 10 different magazines or started a nonprofit foundation with an elected board to hand out grants to writers. This would have started a conversation, not a cultural hegemony.” Slate 11/26/02
Share The Wealth So many resources in the hands of so few. “The vision of an 800-pound tastemaking gorilla, no matter how august, is not a rosy one for all concerned.” There are many other ways Lilly could have made a bigger contribution to the cause of poetry. How about giving a lot of it away to other magazines? Village Voice 11/27/02
Writing For $133 A Word Any doubt modern publishing is big business? In 1975, the year’s best-selling book, E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime sold 232,000. By 2000, John Grisham’s The Brethren exceeded the sales total of “Ragtime” by twelvefold. So what do the big-time authors make? A New York Magazine survey does the math: Tom Clancy gets $45 million for two books, which works out to an advance of $42,694 per page, or $133 per word. See what some of the others make… New York 11/24/02
Book Clubs Rise Again After nearly flaming out in the early-90s, writes Thomas Winship, book clubs have become hugely popular again. But today’s book clubs serve more niche audiences… Nando Times (UPI) 11/26/02
Attacking The Judge Who Didn’t Read Michael Kinsley’s claim not to have read all the books as a judge of this year’s National Book Awards has a fellow judge annoyed. “His failure to read more books represents an abdication of responsibility—and a cynicism about the literary enterprise. When was the last time someone boasted in print of not doing his job? Which raises the question: Why did he agree to judge the National Book Award?” Slate 11/26/02
After 2000 Years – He Has A New Book Out For much of the past 2,200 years, the Greek poet Posidippus was at best a footnote in history. But scolars found a collection of his work on papyrus that had been cut up for scrap as a mummy casing. And now there are conferences on his work, and – after 2000, a new book of his work… Chronicle of Higher Education 11/24/02
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Publishing Groups Sue Over SC Censorship Law A group of publishing industry groups is suing to overturn a South Carolina law that prohibits posting images on the internet that the state considers unfit for children. The law was passed by legislators last year, and “prosecutors say the lawsuit is premature because the law it challenges has never been enforced.” FreedomForum (AP) 11/25/02
All Funded And No Place To Go? Many applaud heiress Ruth Lilly’s gift of $100 million to Poetry magazine. And yes – giving money to something so worthwhile as poetry is a good thing. But really – what can a big slug of money do to help the cause? It’s not like funding our way to the moon, or underwriting research for a new drug. “The fact is, poetry’s current problems aren’t the sort that are easily solved by large infusions of money.” OpinionJournal.com 11/26/02
New Yorker In The Black? The New Yorker magazine has been promising it’s on the verge of profitability for years. Now it finally looks like the magazine is in the black and is expected to announce a profit of $1 million. “Since Si Newhouse took over The New Yorker 17 years ago, he’s sustained losses estimated at more than $215 million – including nearly $40 million over the past five years alone.” New York Post 11/26/02
Monday, November 25, 2002
Big Brother Protest George Orwell’s estate is protesting the publication of a parody of the author’s 1940s book Animal Farm. “The contemporary setting can only trivialize the tragedy of Orwell’s mid-20th-century vision of totalitarianism. The clear references to 9/11 in the apocalyptic ending can only bring Orwell’s name into disrepute in the U.S.” The New York Times 11/25/02
Just A Lot Of Bad Sex It’s an honor to be a finalist for the prestigious Whitbread Award. Less interesting is to be shortlisted for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Hari Kunzru’s The Impressionist has been named for both prizes. “The aim of the [Bad Sex] prize is ‘to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it’.” BBC 11/25/02
I’m Just Writing To Say Fuhggedaboutit You can’t be a writer without getting rejection letters. But, as any writer knows, it’s how you’re rejected by that publisher that really counts… MobyLives 11/25/02
Sunday, November 24, 2002
Famous Poets Scam A writer enters a poetry competition, then is surprised at how bad the winning poem is. “What most of the other poets I met didn’t know is that the Famous Poets Society is a vanity publisher that heaps praise on even the worst poems to sell anthologies and convention tickets. The letter about the coveted Shakespeare trophy and poet-of-the-year medallion went to roughly 20,000 people, 500 of whom made the trek to Florida. Some of the poets, thinking this was a once-in-a-lifetime honor, paid for the trip with help from church groups, city councils or Rotary Club chapters.” Los Angeles Times 11/24/02
Sales That Aren’t Kid’s Stuff We make a fuss about adult bestsellers. But classic children’s books keep selling year after year. “Chris Van Allsburg’s The Polar Express, which has sold more than 4 million copies since 1985, magically reappears on the bestseller list every Christmas. The Poky Little Puppy has racked up sales of more than 14 million since 1942. Goodnight Moon (1947) is still going strong at 6 million. These are among the books that never seem to date or disappear.” Washington Post 11/24/02
Friday, November 22, 2002
Touch Me… Feel Me… There is a visceral thrill to collecting books. Sure they’re difficult to store. But “most true book-heads will not be content with contact by catalogue alone. They must sniff the dust of ages, they must browse, they must handle the goods. Dealers have responded to this urge by peregrinating around the country offering their wares at book fairs.” The Spectator 11/02
National Book Award Winners “The third time was the charm for Robert A. Caro, who finally won the nonfiction prize for the third volume of his majestic Lyndon B. Johnson biography, The Master of the Senate (Alfred A. Knopf). Caro was a finalist in 1975 and 1983. Other winners include: for fiction, Three Junes by Julia Glass; for young people’s literature, The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer; and for poetry, In the Next Galaxy by Ruth Stone. Washington Post 11/21/02
- Confessions Of A Judge Michael Kinsley ought to have known what was expected of him when he agreed to be a judge for this year’s National Book Awards. “It served me right when the books started rolling in and I realized with horror that I was actually expected to read them: 402 in all. Three FedEx men and our local UPS woman had been retired on full disability by the time all these packages were lugged up our front steps. If you lined up all these books end-to-end, you would just be putting off having to open one and get cracking. Who are you trying to kid?” Slate 11/21/02
Looted Books Still Not Returned Art isn’t the only thing Nazis looted. Millions of books were also stolen by the National Socialists during their cultural raids. “These are books stemming from the private libraries of Jews, who either were forced to emigrate or deported, but also books from collections that were seized by the National Socialists in occupied regions.” Though many have been returned, too many have not, and the search for rightful owners has been slow. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 11/22/02
Kids Online A new website is putting thousands of children’s books from countries around the world online. And it’s free. “When it’s completed in about five years, the International Children’s Digital Library will hold about 10,000 books targeted at children aged three to 13. ‘There are places in the world where you’re going to find a computer way before you find a library or a book store’.” The Age (Melbourne) 11/22/02
Last Days For Salon? Is the online magazine Salon on its last legs? This week its stock was demoted toWall Street’s Little League. “The San Francisco company has said it could run out of money by Dec. 1, barring an emergency infusion of cash.” In the past two years, Salon has slashed staff and scaled back. “In all, Salon had revenue of $1 million in the last quarter. That is tiny by business standards, the equivalent of sales at two neighborhood gas stations.” San Francisco Chronicle 11 22/02
Art Of Familiarity Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations puts out its first new edition in 10 years. “Massachusetts bookseller John Bartlett first published his book of quotations in 1855 as a literary reference work. Shakespeare still leads everybody with 1,906 of the 25,000 quotes from more than 2,500 people in the 17th edition. The Bible is next with 1,642 entries. The book quotes about 100 new people, among them Mother Teresa and Maya Angelou, Alfred Hitchcock and Hillary Clinton, Jerry Seinfeld and J.K. Rowling, Katharine Graham and Princess Diana.” Chicago Tribune 11/22/02
$100 Million For Poetry? “One can but wonder what this will do for that most marginalized literary form. Visibility, for sure, since suddenly there’s lots of 0000’s at the end of the $$$$’s attached to the word poetry. Poets are a quirky lot, and the first, but not lasting, reaction from some was concern, since this peripheral art’s loneliness was seen as part of its strength; the next common reaction was that the idea of connecting money to poetry was somehow unpoetic.” The New York Times 11/21/02
- Previously: $100 MILLION FOR POETRY? “One can but wonder what this will do for that most marginalized literary form. Visibility, for sure, since suddenly there’s lots of 0000’s at the end of the $$$$’s attached to the word poetry. Poets are a quirky lot, and the first, but not lasting, reaction from some was concern, since this peripheral art’s loneliness was seen as part of its strength; the next common reaction was that the idea of connecting money to poetry was somehow unpoetic.” The New York Times 11/21/02
Thursday, November 21, 2002
This is Getting Ridiculous If you want to get a sense of the plot of the next Harry Potter book, it’ll only cost you $9500 or so. The latest installment of the wildly popular series by J.K. Rowling still has no official publication date, but Rowling has announced that she has prepared an index card with 93 ‘random words’ on it which hint at the plot, and that card will be auctioned next month at Sotheby’s in London. Seriously, an index card. Will be auctioned. At Sotheby’s. New York Post 11/21/02
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Limn This, Buster Is it because New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani is such a forceful and effective writer that everyone’s jumping on her right now? And what, for a little four-letter word? MobyLives 11/19/02
Bellesiles Stands Fast Michael Bellesiles, the historian who resigned his professorship last month after a panel of his peers concluded that he had made up much of the information and many of the sources for his controversial book on the history of guns in America, remains defiant about his scholarship, insisting that his facts are good, and that he was not motivated by anti-gun political leanings. He denies that Emory University paid him off to go quietly, and continues to carry on a vigorous e-mail debate with some of his sharpest critics. Chicago Tribune 11/20/02
- Previously: Bellesiles Resigns From Emory “Historian Michael A. Bellesiles, author of a controversial 2000 book on gun ownership in early America, resigned from Emory University in Atlanta yesterday after a devastating indictment of his research was made by an outside committee of scholars… Mainstream scholars raised questions [in 2001] about research Bellesiles did into probate records. His credibility problems were compounded when he said that he had lost all of his research notes in a flood at Emory.” Boston Globe 10/26/02
Stolen Books Returned “Four rare books — including a 17th century edition by Sir Isaac Newton — were returned to Russian libraries Monday after police arrested three people suspected in their theft.” Yahoo! (AP) 11/19/02
Regressing to Harry Everyone has read Harry Potter by now, of course, and the franchise shows no signs (so far) of waning in popularity among all age groups. But why are adults so interested in these books aimed at children? Certainly, they are well-written and exciting, but what is it about today’s world that is making grown-ups more interested in reading about sorcerers and witchcraft than about love, sex, tragedy, and other more traditional ‘adult’ literary subjects? City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 11/20/02
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
No Hard Feelings – Poet Gives Mag $100 Million Some 30 years ago, the editor of Poetry Magazine rejected a submission by one Mrs Guernsey Van Riper Jr. of Indianapolis. Over the next few decades she kept submitting poems and he kept rejecting them. It turns out she was fabulously wealthy, and, now 87 years old, has just made a gift to the influential Poetry of $100 million over the next 30 years, with “no strings attached.” Chicago Tribune 11/18/02
- Newly Rich This gift has suddenly turned Poetry from a struggling journal little known outside literary circles to one of the world’s richest publications. [Editor Joseph] Parisi said it was by far the largest single donation ever made to an institution devoted to poetry. ‘There just isn’t anything to compare it to. We will be the largest foundation in the world devoted to poetry. It’s a huge responsibility, as I’m realizing every day more and more.” The New York Times 11/19/02
Zine Dreams Zines are a publishing phenomenon. They’re self-published little magazines usually “written and self-published by one or two obsessed souls in places like Hoboken and Topeka, then sent out into an unsuspecting world bearing such wonderfully loopy titles as Brain Thong, and Murder Can Be Fun, and The World Would Be a Much Better Place if Everybody Wore Tight Pants.” Zines are what result “when the citizens of a great nation are granted an inalienable constitutional right to publish anything they darn well please – then also granted easy access to computers and copy machines.” Washington Post 11/19/02
An Indie Success Story Enough with stories about the woes of independent bookstores. Here’s a success story, in a southern suburb of Miami: “At a time when book lovers are mourning the disappearance of the independent bookstore, Books & Books has become a beacon of hope for independent booksellers. It is one of the few stores in the country that have succeeded in showing that individuality, personality and a passion for books can go a long way in competing against retail giants.” The New York Times 11/19/02
Magazines Too White “A survey of 471 covers from 31 magazines published in 2002 — an array of men’s and women’s magazines, entertainment publications and teenagers’ magazines — conducted two weeks ago by The New York Times found that about one in five depicted minority members. Five years ago, according to the survey, which examined all the covers of those 31 magazines back through 1998, the figure was only 12.7 percent. And fashion magazines have more than doubled their use of nonwhite cover subjects. But in a country with a nonwhite population of almost 30 percent, the incremental progress leaves some people unimpressed.” The New York Times 11/18/02
Monday, November 18, 2002
Booker Won’t Admit Americans: Organizers of the Booker Prize say that they have decided not to open up the award to American writers. Earlier this year the Booker, which is given annually to an author who writes in English somewhere in the Commonwealth, toyed with the idea of including Americans in the competition. Critics complained the move would damage the tone of the award. The New York Times 11/18/02
Powell’s Expands Seattle may be home to Amazon. But any Northwesterner will tell you the best bookstore is Portland-based Powell’s. The independent bookstore is in no danger of going out of business. Indeed, in spite of the general corporatization of the industry, Powell’s has flourished, making major expansions to its store in recent years. Now it’s bought a 60,000 square-foot warehouse about two miles from its downtown location to handle its expanding online business. The new building will store one million used books. Publishers Weekly 11/18/02
The Real Dave Eggers – Who Knows? Dave Eggers has a way of polarizing opinions about him. Is he a brilliant writer, a lone wolf who has gone his own way and eschewed Big Publishing? Or is he a shrewd PR guy who’s figured out how to play the fame game? “Eggers can’t lose: he will either be remembered as one of the leading American writers of the twenty-first century, or as someone who discovered, nurtured and galvanised those who are.” The Observer (UK) 11/17/02
Sunday, November 17, 2002
Alt-Weeklies face Antitrust Action: “The U.S. Department of Justice has begun what some legal experts believe is a serious investigation into whether the country’s two largest alternative newspaper chains violated federal antitrust laws when they closed competing weeklies in Los Angeles and Cleveland, thereby dividing the markets between them.” Los Angeles Times 11/16/02
Dance: November 2002
Bolshoi Controversy The inauguration of a new auditorium in the Bolshoi theatre complex “marks the end of the first phase of a £300 million restoration of one of the best-known buildings in Russia. But the rest of the project is in jeopardy as traditionalists and theatre administrators fight over the fate of the Beauvais Portico – the 10 marble columns around which the theatre was built. “Theatre managers want to see it moved from its current position – inside the stageworks of the old auditorium – to make room for improved stage machinery.” The Guardian (UK) 11/28/02
A Dance Between Friends Balanchine and Stravinsky had a long and brilliant career together – the two collaborated in a partnership that inspired both. “For each, music was the ‘floor’ without which there could be no dance: ‘The composer creates time,’ said Balanchine, ‘and we have to dance to it.’ As such, Balanchine revered Stravinsky and deferred to him willingly. Balanchine transformed classical ballet from a lyrical, romantic, fairy-tale art into a gripping, sharp-edged, plotless drama of pure movement, and Stravinsky’s music led him to some of his most innovative choreography.” New York Review of Books 11/29/02
Pina Bausch – Old Is In When Pina Bausch decided to restage one of her classic works with dancers over the age of 60, she had 120 volunteers. “They all had some kind of shimmer in their eyes. They saw this as the chance of a fabulous new life experience, a new adventure.” The Guardian (UK) 11/27/02
No Permission To Move Why are police raiding clubs in New York? To stop people from dancing? Village Voice 11/26/02
A Life In Dance New York City Ballet dancer Robert La Fosse is retiring after 16 years. He “has performed here with, and for, most of the great ballet names for a quarter century, and he was one of the last of a handful of dancers still onstage who were central figures in the dance boom of the 70’s and early 80’s.” The New York Times 11/24/02
Slimming Down To Greatness Matthew Bourne is famous for his subversive rewrites of familiar ballets. But as his success got bigger and bigger through the 90s, he got more caught up in keeping his company viable. “It was all getting a bit grand. I felt that I was running an office rather than a company.” So he pulled back. Now he’s back to choreographing low-budget shows… The Guardian (UK) 11/20/02
Former National Ballet Dancer Dies In Motorcycle Accident William Marri, 33, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, died Saturday after being in a motorcycle accident in New York. Marri had left the National last March to join the cast of the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp show Movin Out, which recently landed on Broadway. “Marri was riding his motorcycle before an evening performance when he crashed.” Calgary Herald (CP) 11/19/02
Australian Dance Theatre on Top: Adelaide’s Australian Dance Theatre has won three of eight top awards in the sixth annual Australian Dance Awards. The Age (Melbourne) 11/17/02
Who Owns Dance? Who owns a dance once it’s been done? “In the 18th and 19th centuries, choreographers were rated so low that it was the composer’s name which usually headed the posters. The ownership of a ballet, if contested, would generally have been considered the right of the theatre. This meant, if you were a choreographer, that your ballet was fair game for the subsequent improving hands of producers acquiring it for other companies or staging it after your death.” Prospect 11/02
Is the Large-Scale Ballet Passe? In Boston, where the Boston Ballet recently underwent a very public overhaul, everything has changed, and nothing has changed. The big ballet company is still struggling to sell tickets, despite an undeniable uptick in artistic quality. Meanwhile, the city’s smaller, more daring dance companies are thriving, mirroring a trend in countless cities around the U.S. But does the success of the little guys necessarily mean failure for large-scale classical ballet? Boston Globe 11/17/02
Visual: November 2002
Friday, November 29
Austrian Court Seizes Painting The Austrian court – long criticized for not doing more to ensure the recovery of artwork looted by the Nazis – has taken the remarkable step of seizing an Egon Schiele painting valued between €45,000-60,000 which was to have been sold at auction. “The Vienna seizure is preliminary to possible private action to recover the painting. Although Austrian law favours owners who in ‘good faith’ have acquired stolen objects, a lawsuit nonetheless will apparently take place.” The Art Newspaper 11/29/02
Buy High, Sell Low? Dotcom pioneer Halsey Minor bought millions of dollars worth of paintings at the top of the market. Now he has another venture to fund, and he’s selling off his art. “Mr. Minor stands to lose about $13 million on the Christie’s sale alone, scheduled for Thursday. And experts speculate that he has already lost $10 million on paintings the Gerald Peters Gallery recently sold privately, including works by Hopper and Hartley.” The New York Times 11/29/02
Open Season Art openings aren’t about the art. In the popular imagination, they are glamorous affairs, exclusive soirees where stylish sophisticates rub shoulders with artists from the fringe. In truth, they’re mundane occasions. Imagine a year-end office party held every month and you’ll get the idea.” Los Angeles Times 11/28/02
Hirst In Space When British scientists were designing a small vehicle to land on Mars, they knew they wanted an artist to design a piece of art to go with it. They picked Damien Hirst. He came up with “a spot chart design, scaled down to 26 grams on a background of aluminium, and tinted with copper, cobalt, manganese and molybdenum in the nine colours of Mars, will be bolted to the side of the lander.” The Guardian (UK) 11/29/02
Wednesday, November 27
Contemporary Art – The New Impressionists? This fall’s auction season has confirmed one big shift in the art collecting world. “Whether new fortunes, changing fashion or opportunity are offered as an explanation, Post-War and Contemporary art has become as or even more valuable a profit center for the three houses as Impressionist and Modern art, the traditional motor of their business.” Forbes 11/27/02
The New Americans From where do you get your art history? If you’re a student, probably from a textbook. “Until recent years, few choices existed for textbooks of American art history, still a relatively young field in academia.” But the field has exploded with new choices. “Scholars applying the ‘new art history’ have expanded all boundaries of ‘American’ art in their studies—including media, people, and methods—creating a yearning in the field for new teaching tools that reflect these changes.” American Art 11/02
Tuesday, November 26
Et Tu, Saatchi? Charles Saatchi is probably the biggest collector of contemporary art in Britain. But he’s down on the Turner Prize and its judges (Like a lot of others are these days). He says the real art is going on outside of the Turner world and that he prefers “something that gives real visual pleasure and makes you sit up and think, not the pseudo-controversial rehashed claptrap that Turner judges actually believe is cutting-edge art.” The Telegraph (UK) 11/24/02
Going For Greatness The Cleveland Museum unveils plans for a major expansion. “With an estimated construction cost of $225 million, the project already has a price tag more than twice that of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, finished in 1995. Designed by New York architect Rafael Vinoly, the project calls for two large new curving wings on the east and west sides of the museum complex, which will frame the spacious, skylighted ‘Great Court’ in the center. The Great Court will be bigger, museum officials say, than the main lobby of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.” The Plan Dealer (Cleveland) 11/26/02
Filling In The Cracks A small band of philanthropists known as the Friends of Heritage Preservation is trying to save important buildings with targeted funds. The group looks for important buildings in need of help. Members of the 20-member group pay $25,000 in dues every two years and the money is used to take on projects that tend to “fall between the cracks.” Los Angeles Times 11/25/02
Drawn In It wasn’t too long ago that architects’ drawings were typically thrown in the trash after a project was finished. But they’ve become prized by collectors and scholars who want to study the ideas behind buildings. “Given the rise of computer-assisted design (CADS) as the standard tool for designing today’s buildings, it may seem surprising that architectural drawing remains a dynamic art form – and not only for traditionalists.” The Telegraph (UK) 11/25/02
GalleryWalk What is America’s Second City of art (after New York, of course)? “Despite its endemic sprawl and persistent inferiority complex, Los Angeles is the nation’s second city for the visual arts, and commercial galleries are a vital part of the scene. With nearly 100 that present public exhibition programs and keep their doors open during regular hours, Los Angeles is second only to Manhattan and well ahead of Chicago, its closest competitor, which has about 60 comparable galleries.” Los Angeles Times 11/24/02
Artist Offended By Exhibition Name An artist in Newfoundland is protesting the name of a show of his work at a local gallery that used to represent him. But the name is taken from the name of one of the artist’s own paintings. The artist accuses the gallery of being offensive, but the gallery owner maintains “iIt’s my painting. It’s the title of the painting. The artist named the painting. What’s the problem?” It’s hilarious. I didn’t name the painting. He did. It’s not like it’s written on the back of the painting. He named it. Now he’s claiming the painting is defaming himself.” National Post 11/26/02
Art Merger “The Bay Area’s pre-eminent fine arts schools – the California College of Arts and Crafts and the San Francisco Art Institute – are considering merging into a single new institution that would be one of the biggest independent art colleges in the country.” San Francisco Chronicle 11/25/02
Monday, November 25
China In The Recent Past The first Guangzhou Tirennial is a good check of the stew of styles emerging from Chinese art in recent years. It’s been a period of experimentation, and the rest of the world is taking notice. “As evidence of the growing global buzz about China’s art, opening night drew groups of collectors and donors from the Museum of Modern Art and the Asia Society in New York. And in a sign that its museums are also entering the global mainstream, the gift shop at the Guangdong Museum was filled with attractive tie-in products, including T-shirts and watches with images by leading artists.” The New York Times 11/25/02
The Best Job In British Art “Norman Rosenthal is the master of the big production. He occupies a unique and enviable role in British art. While other gallery directors find themselves bogged down in bureaucracy, in running an institution, Rosenthal can devote his time to conjuring up the dreamiest exhibitions. His track record is amazing. When he arrived at the Royal Academy 25 years ago, it was a fusty and largely irrelevant institution. Today, it is one of the world’s great exhibition spaces.” The Guardian (UK) 11/25/02
Why Can’t Public Buildings Be Art? Richard MacCormac’s design for a London Tube station has attracted hrodes of fans. “The station manager enjoys its obvious theatricality and musicians have responded to its magic. There isn’t even any graffiti on the wall. It is a lovely thing, a happy surprise as the jaded tube traveller emerges from the fetid heat of an underground train into the regenerative joys of born-again Southwark.” The station design was inspired by music and theatre, says MacCormac. So why can’t more public buildings be this way? The Guardian (UK) 11/25/02
Sunday, November 24
A Life In Art Since retiring New York collector/dealer Gene Thaw “has made philanthropy something of a second career. The Thaw Charitable Trust, established in 1981, is endowed largely from the sale of a van Gogh painting, The Flowering Garden, a decade ago. A founding member and past president of the Art Dealers Association of America, Mr. Thaw retired from active dealing a decade ago but remains an insider’s insider.” Says the director of the Morgan Library: “Gene’s generosity has been so great that he must be regarded as the single greatest patron of this institution since the death of its founders.” The New York Times 11/24/02
Languishing In The Provinces England’s great regional temples of culture – “mostly built and stocked by Victorian philanthropy, – have become tatty and are withering for want of love, money and inspiration. The municipal museums and galleries of England have for too long been run by local authorities. When money is tight, their museums, like the libraries and parks, are the first to suffer.” The Central government has said it wants to help… but where is that help? The Telegraph (UK) 11/23/02
The Glenn Gould Of Collecting Last summer Canadian art collector Ken Thomson paid $117 million for a Rubens (or maybe it wasn’t a Rubens, depending on who you ask). This month he announced a gift of $300 million to the Arts Gallery of Ontario. The man’s appetite for things art is voracious. “To describe Ken Thomson as a driven collector is like describing Glenn Gould as a gifted pianist; the words cannot quite do it justice.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/23/02
Fort Worth – A New International Player The new Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth opens to the public in two weeks. But this past weeks critics were allowed in to take a look. “In addition to a sublime building designed by award-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando, it now boasts works of a quality one expects of a museum that has suddenly become the country’s second-largest arena for postwar art. The message rings clear: What was once considered a regional museum with modest ambitions has become part of the international mainstream.” Dallas Morning News 11/24/02
Art Of Infamy Courtroom artists don’t generate much excitement in the art world. But collectors are starting to pay attention. “Celebrity criminals tend to garner the most interest… But even white-collar cases can fetch a fat price if the parties have brand-name appeal and the trial is deemed historic. The sale of an original drawing from the Microsoft antitrust trial, for instance, earned courtroom artist Walt Stewart $8,000.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/13/02
Friday, November 22
Art Critics – Underworked, Underpaid So what does you average art critic look like? The National Arts Journalism Program has produced a new report with some answers. “For starters, most art critics make less than half their annual income writing criticism. Only 40 percent of those surveyed are employed as full-time critics, yet 75 percent function as chief art critics for their publications. Furthermore, some of the nation’s largest daily papers do not have full-time art critics. The most notable example is USA Today, Gannett’s national newspaper with a circulation of 2.3 million. Most critics are older than 45 and make less than $25,000 a year from their work as critics.” The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 11/22/02
Royal Collecting/Royal Inertia The British Royal Collection has 7000 paintings in it. But what has Queen Elizabeth added to it in her 50 years on the throne? Twenty pictures. “Although the scale of acquisitions may be modest, no reigning monarch has done much better since Queen Victoria, and the record under Edward VII, George V and George VI was equally disappointing.” The Art Newspaper 11/22/02
Ken’s Art/Frank’s Building Ken Thomson’s $370 million gift to the Art Gallery of Ontario will help make possible a $178 million rebuild of the museum by Frank Gehry. Gehry grew up in Toronto before leaving for the US in 1947, but up til now hasn’t designed anything for his hometown. “The Thomson-Gehry alliance is a magical one. The men enjoy a relaxed jocularity together and their admiration for each other is easy to read.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/21/02
The Art Of Sinking How fast is Venice sinking? For at least three centuries it’s been going down at a rate of about 8 inches a century. How do scientists know? By looking at the paintings of 18th Century painter Giovanni Antonio Canaletto. The scientists turned to Canaletto because precise measurements of the city’s sea level only date to 1872, while the artist’s works are from the previous century. Canaletto was so true to detail he even painted the dark algae stains on buildings along canal banks, a detail many artists avoided for aesthetic reasons.” MSNBC (AP) 11/21/02
Thursday, November 21
Uffizi Gallery May Shut Florence’s Uffizi Gallery could see its lights turned off because it has been unable to pay its utility bills. “The arts authority owes £165,000 for electricity and other bills have been mounting up. Its financial plight, which caused a stir in the art world when it was reported in the newspaper La Repubblica yesterday, is attributed to recent government moves to make the management of art heritage autonomous.” The Telegraph 11/21/02
A Billionaire’s Gift To A Toronto Museum Ken Thomson is Canada’s premiere art collector. He’s also Canada’s wealthiest person with a fortune worth $23 billion (CDN). Now 79, he says he plans to give “$70-million in cash and $300 million in art to an expanded and renovated Art Gallery of Ontario,” and that the gifts are only “the start of a series of gifts and loans to that institution.” Tuesday he “staggered the Canadian art world by announcing he would donate in trust an estimated 2,000 works to the AGO.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/20/02
- Art Donors – What’s In It For Me? The foundations of some of the world’s great museum collections generally come from private collectors. But what do collectors get out of giving or loaning their artwork? Quite a bit, actually. “If a gallery is seen not to respect the legal wishes of its donors, that may well undermine other peoples’ confidence in making gifts and bequests. And, in the present climate, where galleries have relatively little financial power in art markets, they are increasingly reliant on the kindness of strangers.” The Guardian (UK) 11/21/02
- New Ethics Standards for Museums The American Association of Museums lays down new guidelines “for accepting contributions to ensure the institutions maintain their integrity and donors don’t benefit by giving. A museum’s governing authority and staff must ensure that no individual benefits at the expense of the museum’s mission, reputation or the community it serves.” Nando Times (AP) 11/20/02
Smithsonian Flying High “Smithsonian officials yesterday showed off their next museum, a facility so big it could swallow the Titanic, with space left over. The new building is part of the National Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles International Airport that will give the public a close-up view of more than 200 historic aircraft — from sleek spy planes to World War I biplanes. [The exhibition space is] a cavernous structure 10 stories high and covering the equivalent of three football fields.” Washington Post 11/21/02
Outsider Art – Phenomenal or Fraudulent? “Outsider art — or, to be reductive, folk art made by the unschooled (and frequently unskilled) — is the hottest art phenomenon to sweep galleries and academies since the identity art craze of the eighties and nineties. The poor, alienated, ignorant and mentally marginal are the new ‘ethnics’; their otherness as remote and alluring to privileged art buyers as any African mask… But how innocent can art be when it is so smartly packaged?” The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11/21/02
Bridging the St. Louis Gap Visitors to St. Louis are often surprised to discover that the famous Arch, which defines the city’s downtown skyline, really isn’t all that accessible, at least on foot. Now, the city is considering several plans to establish a downtown connection to the Arch for pedestrians and tourists. Standing in the way are an interstate highway and a major city boulevard. The plans are all architecturally pleasing, and the final decision will likely come down to cost vs. convenience. St. Louis Post-Dispatch 11/21/02
Much More Than A Velvet Elvis (Isn’t It?) Pat Sheil inherits a black velvet painting. So what’s the market? “The first thing we had to do was investigate the state of the black velvet art market. Initial inquiries were less than encouraging. The first valuer simply laughed, but at least he came straight to the point, without saying a word. The second fellow raised one eyebrow and assured us that there was nothing wrong with the frame.” The Age (Melbourne) 11/21/02
Wednesday, November 20
Desperately Seeking Sanders A British art historian claims that she has found records proving the existence of John Sanders, an actor and painter thought to be responsible for the only living portrait of William Shakespeare. Trouble is, the painter Tarnya Cooper has ‘found’ is not the right John Sanders, judging from his age and relative inexperience at the time the portrait in question was painted. Still, historians feel that Cooper’s John Sanders may well lead them to the John Sanders they’re all looking for. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11/20/02
The Anonymous Postcard Scramble “A host of artists, designers and musicians have put brush to paper to create potential masterpieces for the annual Secret Postcard exhibition at the Royal College of Art… But buyers bid for the postcards without knowing who the artist is because all works are displayed anonymously and are only revealed once sold. The exhibition creates a great deal of interest from the public who have the opportunity to buy cheap art which could one day net them a fortune.” BBC 11/20/02
Tuesday, November 19
Mexican Wall Art Standoff A few years ago the Mexican government hired an artist to paint a mural depicting Latin-American writers on a wall of the new San Francisco main library. The mural was finished and dedicated, but the Mexican government never paid the artist. A change in government swept out the official who commissioned the work and the new government is unwilling “to accept responsibility for decisions of the past.” San Francisco Chronicle 11/18/02
Hey – A Canaletto For Your Home? Britain’s Art Fund is celebrating its 100th anniversary, “during which it claims to have stopped nearly half a million works of art from going abroad.” The fund is arranging exhibitions all over the UK, some of them in unusual locations. None of the plans more unusual, though, than a proposal to put an Old Master painting in a private home. “Obviously there are security and conservation issues, but we seriously intend to allow an Old Master painting to be shown to an ordinary home. We are serious. I can assure you it will happen, the museums love the idea.” The Guardian (UK) 11/19/02
- Art Rescue Project Since 1903 the Art Fund has rescued “almost 500,000 treasures at risk of sale to private or foreign owners” and turned them over to public museums and galleries. The Independent (UK) 11/19/02
Indians Back Out Of Museum Deal The Pechanga Indian Tribe has backed away from a deal with the financially troubled Southwest Museum in Southern California “The proposed deal would have given the Pechangas a chance to borrow thousands of the Southwest Museum’s artifacts, 98% of which are held, unseen by visitors, in the Mount Washington facility’s storage rooms. To display the artifacts, the Pechangas proposed a museum and cultural center of their own, which would rise near the tribe’s hotel and casino on the edge of Temecula. In exchange for the loan of artifacts, the casino-wealthy tribe was to have provided $750,000 yearly to the Southwest Museum for five years, then as much as $1.3 million yearly once the items were on display at the reservation.” Los Angeles Times 11/19/02
- Previously: COURTING IN THE SOUTHWEST: Los Angeles’ Southwest Museum has an important collection of Native American artifacts. But the museum is poor and is contemplating acquiring a wealthy partner. The suitors are a movie cowboy museum or an indian casino. “But a partnership with either the Autry or the Pechanga Band raises new questions. Some Indian groups have criticized the Autry proposal as a none-too-subtle attempt by the cowboys to take over the Indians, culturally speaking, while some in the art world have expressed concern about whether a casino would really be an appropriate overseer for a major collection of Indian artifacts.” The New York Times 08/29/01
Sex Sells – One Museum That Turns A Profit The Museum of Sex in New York has been open six weeks, and at $17, its admission price is high. But already the museum has attracted 15,000 visitors, many more than needed to “make a profit.” The New York Times 11/19/02
Anger Over Street Art In Argentina About 60 artists placed dozens of human-like dolls covered in fake blood and vomit on the streets of Buenos Aires. The controversial art project angered many when “ambulances were called and passers-by distressed after seeing what they believed were dead bodies on the corners of some of the city’s major streets and avenues.” Ananova 11/18/02
Monday, November 18
Guggenheim Visits Down 25 Percent: Is the Guggenheim Museum in danger of going bankrupt, as a New York Sun story suggested in late September? Not at all, say museum officials. Sure the museum is hurting – staff has been cut, and the museum’s Soho gallery was closed – and attendance is down 25 percent this year. For next year? “Staff layoffs, reduced museum hours, and changes in the exhibition programme were all suggested as possibilities, according to a spokesperson for the Guggenheim.” The Art Newspaper 11/15/02
Don’t Box Me In Why is it that some of the most critical people condemning contemporary art seem to have the strongest ideas of exactly what art is? And those ideas usually involve some sort of idea which has been done before. Beware, writes Martin Gaylord, having inflexible definitions of art is a sign of narrow minds… The Spectator 11/02
Sunday, November 17
Nazi-looted Art Seized in Vienna For the first time, Austrian authorities, acting under a court order, have seized a painting thought to have been stolen by occupying Nazi forces during World War II. The seizure was sought by a Vienna-based Jewish advocacy group, and hailed by art experts worldwide as a crucial step in the movement to repatriate the thousands of artworks looted by the Nazis. The New York Times 11/16/02
Theatre: November 2002
Friday, November 29, 2002
Director Quits Over Scottish Arts Policy Hamish Glen, artistic director of Scotland’s award-winning Dundee Rep and one of Britain’s most highly-acclaimed theatre directors, has angrily quit the theatre and says he is joining “the drain of talent to the south”. He accused the government of not supporting the arts and predicted “a bleak few years of theatre-making in Scotland. ‘It becomes very dispiriting if somehow the culture doesn’t feel itself able to invest in its own success. It is a very energy sapping battle with no light at the end of the tunnel’.” The Scotsman 11/28/02
- What About Scottish National Theatre? There are increasing doubts about the Scottish executive’s commitment to a plan for a national Scottish theatre. There are “mutterings in the theatrical world that it is using the alleged commitment to a national theatre to hide its other shortcomings in arts policy.” The Scotsman 11/28/02
German Theatres Downsizing Financially struggling German theatres have eliminated 6,000 jobs out of 45,000 in an effort to cut expenses and survive. But theatre leaders say “eliminating more would be impossible without damages to the substance.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 11/29/02
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Israel To Cut Theatre Budgets In a cost-cutting move, the Israeli government proposes to cut the budgets of the country’s national theatres by 25 percent. “Theater executives say the cumulative 25 percent cut in their budgets threatens to topple the entire industry.” Ha’aretz (Israel) 11/27/02
Mendes Wins Director Award Sam Mendes, finishing up his last season as director of London’s Donmar Theatre, has been named Best Director at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for his farewell productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya. The Scotsman 11/26/02
- Director Attacks His Hosts Mark Rylance, artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, was accepting the rarely given Special Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards this week when he suddenly made a sharp political turn. After saying he was proud to receive the award, he “suddenly made a passionate outburst against the money Britain spends on the arms trade. He held up a copy of yesterday’s Evening Standard Just The Job supplement on the Territorial Army and said: ‘This appalling trade is being promoted on these islands and is a reason I am ashamed to be here’.” The Independent (UK) 11/26/02
Bombay Dreaming Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams has become a hit in London, partly by “tapping into London’s thriving Indian community (population: more than 500,000).” Now the show is moving to Broadway, and observers are wondering if it will find an audience. Critics haven’t been enthusiastic about the show, and while there are 200,000 Indians in the New York area, Bollywood style is not familiar to most New Yorkers. “If you don’t know much about Bollywood (and the majority of the audience will not), it can often seem ridiculous.” New York Post 11/27/02
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Mousetrap Turns 50 The London production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap celebrates its 50th anniversary onstage with a performance for Queen Elizabeth (also celebrating her 50th year in production). “Christie’s famous whodunnit is the first stage production to achieve the milestone of half a century, opened on 25 November, 1952. More than 10 million people have seen the classic since it opened and the play has been performed in more than 40 countries and been translated into over 20 languages.” BBC 11/25/02
Monday, November 25, 2002
Line, Please! Everyone forgets a line now and then. But a Philadelphia performance of a Tom Stoppard play last week spiralled out of control when one of the actors missed a line, then another and another. Finally, a script was deposited onstage and the poor actor made his way through recovery. “To anyone who has been onstage with much to do, not knowing what to do next, the experience is like the centipede stopping to think which of its many legs it should move – and becoming paralyzed. Quick recovery is possible. Or not. An actor spooked by the experience is cast out of the world of that character and into the cold, with no protection.” Philadelphia Inquirer 11/24/02
Sunday, November 24, 2002
Going One At A Time Fewer people are buying season tickets to the theatre. That’s got theatre people anxious. “But a drop in subscriptions nationwide doesn’t translate that fewer people are going to the theater. Actually, more people than ever are going. A recent survey by Theatre Communications Group showed that 22.5 million people attend nonprofit theaters, a slight rise from the previous year. But the safety net that a large subscription base affords is now becoming increasingly frayed, making theaters vulnerable to the downturns in the economy, increasing competition for the leisure dollar and fickleness of audiences.” Hartford Courant 11/24/02
Beyond Broadway Linda Winer finds herself watching great theatre by theatre people who never play on Broadway. And why aren’t these talented performers and writers there? “Broadway isn’t hip enough, doesn’t pay enough, doesn’t reach a broad enough audience to be worth eight hard performances a week. For others, however, the problem is the theater that has defined many of the brightest sensibilities out. Also, unlike England, this country has forced many of its most gifted actors to make life-altering choices between making movies on one coast and making theater on another.” Newsday 11/24/02
Top Of The Game Brian Stokes Mitchell is at the top of the acting game in New York. “No other actor can match his singing voice. No other singer can claim his acting range or experience. No other man — at least, no one who works in the theater regularly — can say, ‘I want to play Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha’ and bring it about. Mr. Mitchell has reached a rare perch in the American theater: he can make his dreams come true with other people’s money.” The New York Times 11/24/02
Sweetheart Deal On The Magnificent Mile Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre is one of country’s best. But it’s hardly wealthy. Which just makes the deal for its new $5.5 million, two-theater complex located in the middle of the city’s high-rent Magnificent Mile retail area more amazing. If the theatre were paying market rent for its new 16,000-square-foot facility, “it would be spending millions of dollars per month ($4.8 million if you do the math and ignore the discounting that can go on in real estate deals).” But “it has signed a 10-year lease with the City of Chicago, with an option to extend for a further 10 years. The rent is $1 per year.” Chicago Tribune 11/24/02
Suddenly Chicago Theatre Is Turning Heads The historic Chicago Theatre has lost money for years. It’s a cash guzzler. And yet, after its most recent failure, suddenly there are groups clamoring to take it over. What’s changed? “The Chicago Theatre has suddenly proved so attractive for one major reason. Even though the previous owners of the theater defaulted on a $21 million loan from the city of Chicago, the city has decided to write off the debt that drove the previous owners into default. Thus the new owner gets the theater free and clear, and will, in effect, be handed a $21 million gift from Chicago taxpayers.” Chicago Tribune 11/24/02
Friday, November 22, 2002
Producers Cooling Down? The Producers is showing signs of slowing ticket demand on Broadway. Blockbuster musicals usually go years before running out of steam at the box office, but Producers is only two seasons old. “Advance ticket sales going into January and February have slipped; the overall advance is under $10 million (it was once over $20 million); and, according to ticket brokers, demand for group sales tickets has declined markedly.” New York Post 11/22/02
The Union Label With all the new hybrid shows opening on Broadway, the definition of a Broadway show is changing. So which unions represent which performers? Actors? Musicians? Dancers? As usual, it’s a matter of money. Newsday 11/21/02
The Work Continues – It’s The Critics Who Change Edward Albee had brilliant success early in his career, but then went through a period where he couldn’t do much right, at least as far as the critics were concerned. Then he was golden again. Albee, 74, maintains that the quality of his writing didn’t much vary during those wilderness years. The only difference was the critical reception. Similarly he was, and still is, driven by the same motives, still irked by the same social faults.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/22/02
Thursday, November 21, 2002
42nd Street Pushes West A new section of 42nd Street’s Theatre Row in New York opens. “It is a major piece in the revitalization of what is said to be the biggest Off Broadway theater redevelopment in New York history.” The New York Times 11/21/02
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Staging Area (For Departure) Some of the UK’s best stage talent is leaving the country. “While we prostrate ourselves before anyone who comes stamped with the Hollywood seal of approval, we allow much of our best directorial, design and writing talent to slip out the back door, unnoticed and virtually unlamented.” The Guardian (UK) 11/20/02
Monday, November 18, 2002
Death of Theatre: Is theatre dying in Great Britain? “The statistics bear this out. While overall theatre attendance in Britain has recovered after the dip caused by 11 September, young people today are much less likely to go to the theatre than any other age-group. According to a recent report by the Arts Council of England, only 23 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds attended a ‘play or drama’ in 2001. The figures aren’t much better for 35- to 44-year olds.” The Spectator 11/09/02
Harlem Song to Keep Singing Producers of Harlem Song said two weeks ago that the show would close early on Broadway if $300,000 wasn’t raised. Now the producers say they’ve raised the money and the show will run as planned. “Among the groups that stepped up to sustain the show is the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, which had previously denied the Harlem Song application for $1.2 million in financing that its producers had requested.” The New York Times 11/18/02
The Bard Goes Inside The London Shakespeare Workout Prison Project does pretty muchy what its name suggests. “Last year the group did 51 workshop sessions in 13 prisons involving 1,071 inmates, 147 prison officers and 602 professional actors. Well-known actors and theatre makers such as Jonathan Miller have all been involved, and keep coming back for more. At one prison, Miller got so excited about the talents of one inmate that he wanted to cast him in a production. He had to be gently reminded that the man was incarcerated and not freely available for rehearsals.” The Guardian (UK) 11/18/02
Sunday, November 17, 2002
Waiting for Maxwell: Mitchell Maxwell is as New York as a producer can get – brash, self-centered, and confrontational. He may be a genius, or he may be a con man, and the Denver theatre community is waiting nervously to find out which it is, as Maxwell prepares to take over the city’s Civic Theatre, saying, “I’m going to bring shows to Denver, and they are going to be better and more interesting than much of the work that has been brought to Denver in the past. No disrespect to Denver. It’s just a fact.” Denver Post 11/17/02
Issues: November 2002
Friday, November 29, 2002
Too Much Heavy Lifting Why must the British government try to coerce arts organizations who want funding? The arts get attached to education, to multiculturalism, to every social good of the moment. “There is a feeling across the performing arts that subsidised companies have been drained of vital energies during the Blair years – or, at the very least, have been distracted from their core function of creating art. A resentment has crept in. Many performers don’t want to be educators.” London Evening Standard 11/26/02
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Closing The Borders On Culture The US’s new visa controls are keeping many international artists from appearing in the country. “The long-term effects of the visa delays already are being felt. In addition to fewer U.S. concerts featuring artists from countries on the State Department’s terrorism watch list (which includes Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and Sudan), fewer albums from those artists will be released in the United States because record companies can’t count on performances to publicize the artists’ new songs. “The impact of this crisis will show up two to three years from now. This crisis will have a long- term impact on the music world and cultural exchange marketplace.” San Francisco Chronicle 11/26/02
New York’s Growing Arts Development A study of the arts in New York says activity is expanding rapidly, and not just in traditional arts districts. “With an astonishing 52% growth rate over the past nine years, New York’s cultural industry is responsible for more than 150,000 jobs. While analysts foresee continued slow or flat employment growth for financial services, they predict the creative economy will continue growing, almost across the board.” Backstage 11/26/02
Hawaii – Returning Art To The Classroom In the 1980s, Hawaii, like most American states, saw its school curriculum stripped of arts education. But recently a series of new initiatives has found the teaching of creativity returning to the classroom. Honolulu Advertiser 11/15/02
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Not To Take Offense, But… The Australia Council releases a set of guidelines for artists in “dealing with indigenous communities”. The intent of the guidelines is to “encourage greater respect and understanding among the arts industry in working with indigenous communities” But one section “asks artists to consider how their work will affect the indigenous group on which it is based, whether it ’empowers’ indigenous people or whether it reinforces negative stereotypes.” Is this a reasonable (or wise) request? “How do you judge whether a work empowers or not? And one person’s negative stereotype is another’s attempt to tackle a tough subject.” Sydney Morning Herald 11/26/02
Freedom To Create Is freedom of expression in the arts at more risk now than in the past? A conference organized by the National Arts Journalism Program debated the issue last week in New York. “Copyright is stronger than ever, which experts say will plunge us into the Dark Ages. Copyright is weaker than ever, which experts say will plunge us into the Dark Ages. The confusing thing is that both statements happen to be true.” The New York Times 11/26/02
- Do Students Have The Freedom To Express? Last year, a student in a San Jose high school showed a violent poem he had written to another student, who was so scared she reported him. He ended up being expelled and spending time in juvenile hall, though he hadn’t commited violence himself. Is student speech protected? “While there are no concrete statistics, students increasingly face a range of punishments for threats as school administrators take a closer look at conduct that could presage violence.” San Jose Mercury-News 11/25/02
Imagineering Without Imagination (Or $) Disney built its name on the imagination and investment of creative “Imagineers” who succeeded in capturing the imaginations of visitors of all ages. But as the Disney stock price sinks and revenues slip, the company is slashing at that all important R&D that made it famous. “Disney is in a bear trap right now. They’re incredibly investment-averse. But the problem is, if you don’t fund the Imagineers to constantly come up with something new, you lose a big piece of what the brand means — which is that you go to the Disney parks to see stuff you can’t see anywhere else.” Wired 11/25/02
Monday, November 25, 2002
Art Matters Does art matter? “I know there is a sneaking feeling, even among art lovers, that art is a luxury. While pictures, books, music and theatre are not quite handmade luggage or perfume, most people would not admit that art is essential. The endless rows over funding centre on an insecurity about the role of art in society. Nobody doubts that hospitals and schools must be paid for by all of us. Modern art has become a media circus; a money-driven, prize-hungry extravaganza, dependent on marketing and spin, which may leave the public with a few extra names it recognises, but that makes everyone cynical about the product.” The Guardian (UK) 11/25/02
Still Wild About Winnie After a month of debate, a BBC poll names Winston Churchill the greatest Briton of all time. “Participants in the survey voted the second World War leader top of the list of the country’s 100 most significant individuals, with 447,423 votes. He beat his nearest rival, engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, by more than 56,000 votes.” BBC 11/25/02
The Art Of Getting Elected In American elections, arts policy hardly even rates a mention. But Australia’s Victorian government is up for election, and the major parties are scrapping to differentiate their arts policies from one another. If campaign promises are to be believed, the arts are in for soime funding increases. The Age (Melbourne) 11/25/02
Artists Priced Out Boston has a redevelopment program that includes significant new space for artists. It’s just that artists complain that much of the new space is so luxe they’ll never be able to afford it. Boston Herald 11/25/02
Sunday, November 24, 2002
More Visa Woes This week the Dallas Symphony Orchestra had to find a substitute when Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden’s visa wasn’t issued in time for his scheduled performances. “Visa process that once took 45 to 60 days has more than doubled, with 4 1/2 months being the average time at present. Since applications for work visas are not accepted more than six months before the date of entry, there’s little room to deal with the problem of visas that take longer than average.” Dallas Morning News 11/24/02
In Search Of Funding Earlier this year the Nova Scotia government disbanded its arts council, looking for “administrative savings.” Now a group of arts supporters has formed its own arts support group. “The new group, Arms Length Funding for the Arts (ALFA), calls itself a ‘broad group of concerned Nova Scotians’ trying to restore funding for the arts.” CBC 11/22/02
Friday, November 22, 2002
Is Arts Outreach Futile? The need to widen public access to the arts has become a modern political mantra. If government is to fund the arts, the argument goes, then the arts must be made available to as many people as possible. They must be made accessible to new audiences, especially to young audiences, by opening doors, by cutting or abolishing entrance costs – and by reaching out to the public through activities such as the opera workshops in East End schools. The virtue of such efforts as these is now so universally accepted that it is striking to discover that many in the arts have got their doubts about aspects of it, and that those doubts are increasing.” The Guardian (UK) 11/22/02
Is London Foundation Dumping Assets? Three years ago the British government decided to wean the Commonwealth Institute off its subsidies and privatize it. A plan was worked out for a dowry of £8 million, half of which was for repairing the roof of its prestigious London building. But even before the privatization is about to take place, the institute’s “library is closed to the public, most of the staff on short-term contracts have been sacked and the unique collection of works is being put into vans, with the institute’s art, for removal to the underfunded Museum of Empire and Commonwealth, in Bristol. The trustees and governors are accused of planning to sell off the organisation’s prestigious headquarters for millions of pounds and dump its unique 50-year-old library.” The Guardian (UK) 11/22/02
Thursday, November 21, 2002
$100 Million + $80 Million – Soon You’re Talking Serious Money A few more details about Ruth Lilly’s $100 million gift to Poetry Magazine this week. “According to local court records, Lilly also donated at least $80 million to Americans for the Arts, an advocacy and educational group based in Washington. Its president and CEO, Robert Lynch, said that his group’s annual budget is currently $8 million and that its endowment is less than $1 million.” And this: “In 1981, a court declared Lilly mentally incompetent, and the control of her estate was turned over to her brother, Josiah K. Lilly III. Since his death, her lawyer, Thomas Ewbank has served as her attorney. National City Bank in Indianapolis has managed her estate, now worth about $1.2 billion. Nonetheless, she can make her wishes, Ewbank said.” Boston Globe 11/20/02
- Previously: NO HARD FEELINGS – FAILED POET GIVES MAG $100 MILLION: Some 30 years ago, the editor of Poetry Magazine rejected a submission by one Mrs Guernsey Van Riper Jr. of Indianapolis. Over the next few decades she kept submitting poems and he kept rejecting them. It turns out she was fabulously wealthy, and, now 87 years old, has just made a gift to the influential Poetry of $100 million over the next 30 years, with “no strings attached.” Chicago Tribune 11/18/02
Continuing to Build The arts building boom continues, even though arts groups around America are struggling for money. “Despite terrorist attacks, rising costs, decreases in consumers’ discretionary spending, and myriad philanthropic challenges, the theatrical building and renovation boom is arguably as hot as it was in the 1990s – and not just in New York City.” Backstage 11/20/02
Things You’d Think You Wouldn’t Need A Law For: The New York City Council is close to passing a law which would ban the use of cell phones at public performances, concerts, etc. The definition of “use” in this case would include “allow to ring” as a violation. Violators would be subject to a $50 fine, but there is some question as to how such a measure would be enforced without creating an even greater disruption than a phone. The New York Times 11/20/02
The Death of Higher Literacy? Scholar and cultural critic George Steiner is worried about us. Specifically, he worries that while nearly all of us know how to read a computer manual, very few of us have read The Iliad or Ulysses. Is the modernity of Western life destroying our cultural history? “Every generation loses a little bit of the past, as new poems and novels jostle for attention. But Steiner (like Baudrillard, Sontag and Paglia) believes that the catastrophic forgetfulness that has overtaken the West since the Second World War is a sign that the print culture that sustained us for six centuries is actually dying.” The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11/21/02
Things You’d Think Wouldn’t Need To Be a Law The New York City Council is close to passing a law which would ban the use of cell phones at public performances, concerts, etc. The definition of “use” in this case would include “allow to ring” as a violation. Violators would be subject to a $50 fine, but there is some question as to how such a measure would be enforced without creating an even greater disruption than a phone. The New York Times 11/20/02
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Bay Area Blues Northern California’s East Bay arts groups are hurting in the economic downturn like arts groups everywhere. Ticket sales are down, government funding has been slashed, and corporate donations have slipped. Contra Costa Times 11/19/02
- And Minnesota Minnesota has traditionally funded the arts at a higher level than the rest of the country. But a new report says that foundation giving to the arts has been scaled back, and that small arts groups are hardest hit by the financial squeeze. Dance is the poorest-funded of all the arts. The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) 11/19/02
Monday, November 18, 2002
The Man who Saved UNESCO: Unesco is the United Nations’ cultural wing. But it’s been disorganized and ineffective for much of its 30 years of existence. But under a sharp new director, “today Unesco not only displays more dynamism, efficiency and financial transparency—’accountable to all State holders’—than has been seen since its foundation in 1945, but it has also persuaded the US to return to membership.” The Art Newspaper 11/15/02
An Arts Mayor Has Difficulty Delivering When Atlanta’s new mayor was elected last year, hopes were high in the cultural community. “She not only understood the arts, she consumed them, championed them and lived with them long before she reached the top job at City Hall. The business of running Atlanta, however, has stifled the artistic muse. The city’s financial mess and archaic sewer system have prevented her from making arts and culture more of an official priority.” Atlanta Journa-Constitution 11/17/02
Peel Back The Screen It’s the art of worrying over the study or explanation of something. Suddenly ” ‘Meta” is a liminal term these days; it’s creeping more and more into everyday conversations, even if it’s not nearly as widespread as, say, ‘irony’. Some people talk about meta all the time… New York Times Magazine 11/17/02
Sunday, November 17, 2002
How to Liven Up your Textbook: “Looking for fresh ways to engage overloaded students, a growing number of professors at big universities and small colleges are supplementing traditionally sober textbooks with a curious genre: the textbook-novel. Written specifically with the college classroom in mind, these works are often by professors who have created characters ranging from a free trade-spouting angel to a short, bald professor (take a bow, Milton Friedman) who likes to solve mysteries. And while pedagogical novels are not new, their growing popularity is.” The New York Times 11/16/02
Do the Arts Ignore the Poor? For all the lip service paid by arts organizations to the concepts of education and diverse audience access, most orchestras, galleries, and theatres are still shockingly devoid of low-income patrons. The causes are myriad, from societal pressures to overbearing formality to high ticket prices, but solutions seem to be nearly nonexistant. The Star Tribune (Minneapolis) 11/17/02
People: November 2002
Friday, November 29, 2002
Beyond Prodigy Midori has spent her adult life trying to live beyond being a child prodigy. “In many ways, she says, she has spent her adult life pushing to create the normalcy she missed as an international child star. Her image as a prodigy was carefully cultivated by those around her. ‘They would tell me things like, ‘You have to say you like classical music, you never listen to anything else’.” Christian Science Monitor 11/29/02
Dumas To Be Moved To Pantheon Alexandre Dumas is one of the most popular French novelists of all time. But he’s not been officially honored. That changes this week when his remains are moved to the Pantheon in Paris. “He will then be laid to rest alongside other French literary greats such as Victor Hugo and Emile Zola.” BBC 11/28/02
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Watts Will Make Full Recovery Pianist Andre Watts has been released from the hospital after suffering a subdural hematoma just before a Nov. 14 concert in California. He’s expected to recover fully and resume performing. “Hemorrhages like these are fatal in 50-60 percent of people. He was in the very fortunate 40 percent of people who make it through the event. The bleeding was on the anterior part of the brain, away from the fine motor area.” Doctors describe Watts as “personable” and “Zen-like” during his hospital stay. Orange County Register 11/27/02
Spano Bows Out In Brooklyn Saying that “the energy and time the Brooklyn Philharmonic deserves are beyond my capacities anymore,” conductor Robert Spano steps down as music director of the orchestra after seven years. Spano has recently renewed his contract leading the Atlanta Symphony and becomes director of the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood next year. “As a highly regarded interpreter of new music in particular, he has been mentioned as a candidate for the podiums of leading world orchestras.” The New York Times 11/27/02
Monday, November 25, 2002
The Best Job In British Art “Norman Rosenthal is the master of the big production. He occupies a unique and enviable role in British art. While other gallery directors find themselves bogged down in bureaucracy, in running an institution, Rosenthal can devote his time to conjuring up the dreamiest exhibitions. His track record is amazing. When he arrived at the Royal Academy 25 years ago, it was a fusty and largely irrelevant institution. Today, it is one of the world’s great exhibition spaces.” The Guardian (UK) 11/25/02
Sunday, November 24, 2002
A Life In Art Since retiring New York collector/dealer Gene Thaw “has made philanthropy something of a second career. The Thaw Charitable Trust, established in 1981, is endowed largely from the sale of a van Gogh painting, The Flowering Garden, a decade ago. A founding member and past president of the Art Dealers Association of America, Mr. Thaw retired from active dealing a decade ago but remains an insider’s insider.” Says the director of the Morgan Library: “Gene’s generosity has been so great that he must be regarded as the single greatest patron of this institution since the death of its founders.” The New York Times 11/24/02
Top Of The Game Brian Stokes Mitchell is at the top of the acting game in New York. “No other actor can match his singing voice. No other singer can claim his acting range or experience. No other man — at least, no one who works in the theater regularly — can say, ‘I want to play Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha’ and bring it about. Mr. Mitchell has reached a rare perch in the American theater: he can make his dreams come true with other people’s money.” The New York Times 11/24/02
The Glenn Gould Of Collecting Last summer Canadian art collector Ken Thomson paid $117 million for a Rubens (or maybe it wasn’t a Rubens, depending on who you ask). This month he announced a gift of $300 million to the Arts Gallery of Ontario. The man’s appetite for things art is voracious. “To describe Ken Thomson as a driven collector is like describing Glenn Gould as a gifted pianist; the words cannot quite do it justice.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/23/02
Lukas Foss At 80 At 80 years old, composer Lukas Foss still commutes weekly from New York to Boston to teach. “Twenty years ago we had this club, the avant garde, and that’s no longer really very functional. Now any style is OK. There was a time when you had to be a `12-tone’ composer to be considered Now that’s not the case. Minimal, aleatoric, 12-tone, these are all just techniques.” Boston Herald 11/24/02
Friday, November 22, 2002
The Work Continues – It’s The Critics Who Change Edward Albee had brilliant success early in his career, but then went through a period where he couldn’t do much right, at least as far as the critics were concerned. Then he was golden again. Albee, 74, maintains that the quality of his writing didn’t much vary during those wilderness years. The only difference was the critical reception. Similarly he was, and still is, driven by the same motives, still irked by the same social faults.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/22/02
Thursday, November 21, 2002
The Death of Higher Literacy? Scholar and cultural critic George Steiner is worried about us. Specifically, he worries that while nearly all of us know how to read a computer manual, very few of us have read The Iliad or Ulysses. Is the modernity of Western life destroying our cultural history? “Every generation loses a little bit of the past, as new poems and novels jostle for attention. But Steiner (like Baudrillard, Sontag and Paglia) believes that the catastrophic forgetfulness that has overtaken the West since the Second World War is a sign that the print culture that sustained us for six centuries is actually dying.” The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11/21/02
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
The Re-education of Jonathan Franzen It’s been a year since Jonathan Franzen dissed Oprah and her book club. He says things have changed, but others aren’t so sure. “Franzen has the most dire case of literary status-anxiety that I have ever seen,” says Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of the New Republic. “He demeans his own seriousness with his flurries of positioning.”Others are more positive. “This is someone whose work is galvanized by his own contradictions, his own warring instincts,” says Henry Finder, editorial director of the New Yorker. Washington Post 11/19/02
Former National Ballet Dancer Dies in Motorcycle Accident William Marri, 33, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, died Saturday after being in a motorcycle accident in New York. Marri had left the National last March to join the cast of the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp show Movin Out, which recently landed on Broadway. “Marri was riding his motorcycle before an evening performance when he crashed.” Calgary Herald (CP) 11/19/02
Monday, November 18, 2002
The Real Dave Eggers – Who Knows? Dave Eggers has a way of polarizing opinions about him. Is he a brilliant writer, a lone wolf who has gone his own way and eschewed Big Publishing? Or is he a shrewd PR guy who’s figured out how to play the fame game? “Eggers can’t lose: he will either be remembered as one of the leading American writers of the twenty-first century, or as someone who discovered, nurtured and galvanised those who are.” The Observer (UK) 11/17/02
Sunday, November 17, 2002
The Next Great Ballerina: Alina Cojacaru is a genius, or so say the dance cognoscenti who are in the business of slapping such labels on 21-year-old wunderkinds. Genius or not, the Romanian pixie has taken the London ballet scene by storm, and many critics say she already possesses the maturity most great dancers achieve in their thirties, and there appears to be no limit to her potential. The Telegraph (UK) 11/16/02