Every study shows that children who receive instruction in art and music are more focused, get better grades and score higher on standardized tests than children who don’t. So it was something of a small triumph for sanity when the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development earlier this month announced a $4 million pilot program to help bring arts instruction to kids living in public housing. – Baltimore Sun 11/28/00
Author: Douglas McLennan
SPACEY HELPS THEATRES
Actor Kevin Spacey has been using his financial success and fame to help out theatre companies. “I think it’s unfortunate that people use theater as a stepping stone to film and then they don’t come back. I never viewed it that way.” – New York Times
MACKINTOSH TO QUIT PRODUCING
Superstar musical theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh has announced he won’t be producing any more new musicals. “Mackintosh, one of the greatest creative and financial mainstays of musical theatre for three decades, says he is winding down and will in future produce only revivals.” – Sydney Morning Herald
KING PULLS THE PLUG
Stephen King says he’ll discontinue publishing his serialized on-line novel “The Plant.” King said when he began the book that he would add additional chapters only if 50 percent of those downloading it paid $1 per chapter. By chapter four, only 46 percent were paying.Wrote one bothered fan: “It bothers me that readers might well think twice about buying installments from any other authors who might go this route because of what King has done. To do this to loyal fans is inexcusable.” – Wired
YOUR STANDARD E-BOOK
A proposal by the Association of American Publishers to standardize e-books was released this week. The plan is intended to avoid the mess in the digital music industry. “Today, ebooks are considered to represent less than 1% of business. If the standards are accepted, the group predicts the ebook market will grow to $2.3 billion by 2005. – Variety
PARIS OPERA SLOWDOWN
Strikes by Paris Opera technicians have caused the company to pare back its offerings. The workers want better working conditions and more money. “Paris’ two opera houses, which are subsidized by the state, together put on 380 performances a year, compared to just 80 in the mid-1990s, and most are sold out.” – MSNBC (AP)
PARIS OPERA STRIKE
Technicians’ strikes at Paris’ two major opera houses threaten to disrupt the season. “At the heart of the dispute is a 1998 law reducing France’s workweek to 35 hours. The measure is particularly hard to apply in the performing arts because of the variables of rehearsals and performances. – New York Times
SQUABBLING OVER MARTHA GRAHAM
Legal wrangling over the ownership of Martha Graham’s choreography. A few weeks ago it seemed like a settlement had been made to revive the Martha Graham Company, but that may now have fallen through. The dance company’s board is also exploring whether Graham heir Ron Protas actually owns the dance works. – Village Voice
JERUSALEM’S OWN SPACE NEEDLE?
An “almost 500-foot-tall tower rising above the old city that will have a restaurant close to the top and a synagogue for only 36 at the very top” is being planned for one of the world’s most historic cities. Why is it necessary to mar the view of the city with a modern monstrosity? – The Idler
CEZANNE AS BUSINESS MODEL
“University of Chicago economist David Galenson charts the sea change from artistic tradition to reinvention, using the auction prices of paintings as his measure of value. Correlating the price of a work of art with the age of the artist at the time of the painting’s execution, Galenson mapped the patterns of success and innovation over the past century in art history. His essays describe French and American painting, but their relevance is much broader.” – Salon