Canada’s popular culture minister has quietly let it be known she might want to leave her job and that has Canadian artists worried. “It’s not that nobody else can do the job. It’s just that it’s a rare combination, somebody who has got a really deep-seated commitment and belief in the cultural product, and political savvy and clout all at once. There are a lot of politicians who say they have both, but actually having it is something else.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada) 12/14/00
Author: Douglas McLennan
COME TO GEELONG
The remote city of Geelong, Australia has not given up the idea of trying to lure the Guggenheim to locate a branch of its museum there. The city is proposing to finance a $1.5 million feasibility study for the project. – The Age (Melbourne)
NO SALE
A small Quebec auction house thought it had scored a coup when it got a Renoir to sell and touted it as potentially “one of the most important art sales in Canada.” But the painting “went as high as $1.45-million, but stalled before the auctioneer pulled the painting off the block because it did not meet the minimum price set by the owner. It had been estimated at $1.5-million to $2-million.” – The Globe & Mail (Canada)
NEW BOSTON MUSEUM
Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art chooses architect finalists to design a new $50 million museum. “The new ICA will be the first art museum built in Boston in almost 100 years.” – Boston Herald
RECORD REMBRANDT
A Rembrandt “Portrait of a Lady” sold for a record $28.7 million at auction Wednesday at Christie’s in London. – CNN
ACTORS IN POVERTY
The Equity actors’ union takes a poll of 408 of its members and finds that the majority of actors (72 percent) earn less than £10,000 a year from their profession. “Performers felt they were seen either as glamorous, arrogant, overpaid slackers or laughable luvvies and that acting is not a proper job”. – BBC
BETTER BLACK?
The Guardian’s theatre critic wrote that Stephen Jeffreys’s new play would have been better if he was black. The playwright disagrees: “One of the basic requirements for being a playwright is to be able to inhabit other people’s skins. But why, when no one has ever questioned my right to create roles for women, old people and gays, am I supposed to baulk at the barrier of race?” – The Guardian
VERDI CELEBRATIONS
“It will be 100 years ago next month that Giuseppe Verdi died, and Italy has been yearning ever since for his unifying genius. But while Italy is playing up the Verdi year for all it is worth in tourist dollars and Rome-promoted national cohesion, the uncomfortable questions are not being asked. Verdi represents an end, not a renewal.” – The Telegraph (UK)
COMMITMENT TO CLASSICAL?
Chicago’s mom-and-pop classical music station WNIB was a labor of love – a low-budget affair that survived decades of buy-out offers on the strength of its owners’ commitment. But $165 million is too much money to turn down… Also too much money for the new owners to continue the classical format. – Chicago Tribune
CERVANTES WINNER
Spanish writer Francisco Umbral has won the Cervantes Prize – the Spanish-speaking world’s highest literary honor. – Nando Times