— make deals with NAACP to increase minority hiring on their programming. – Boston Globe 02/04/00
Author: Douglas McLennan
YOUR TV ON ANTI-DRUGS (PART III)
A US Senate subcommittee hears that not only did the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy gave back to TV networks ad time worth millions of dollars for anti-drug messages in sitcoms and dramas, but also for shows about drugs: to music-channel VH1 for bios of drug-addled rock stars, for Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” and ESPN’s coverage of baseball player Darryl Strawberry’s cocaine woes. – Washington Post 02/04/00
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
New Chicago series mounts old Broadway musicals that haven’t been produced in years. The classic shows are resurrected and produced in concert version. – Chicago Sun-Times
CULTURAL REBUILD
Under Apartheid, artists were suppressed and mistreated and their art quashed. Now the enormous task of rebuilding a culture. Nobel Prize-winning author Nadine Gordimer was part of the cultural resistance, and tells of her vision for a cultural rebirth. – Media Channel
SCIENCE OF ART
The scientific community has discovered the arts world, investing in arts projects. The artists bring outside-the-box thinking with their projects. – New York Times
THE CODE
US Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) took their plea for an entertainment industry “code of conduct” to New York Monday before a group of about 200 members of the entertainment industry. – Los Angeles Times
HIGH RENT DISTRICT
Seattle rents are forcing out many of the city’s artists. A new set of evictions points up a much more complicated problem than the traditional greedy-old-developer-against-helpless-artists scenario. – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
BLOCKBUSTERING
- It was another great year for the museum blockbuster show. Record crowds everywhere, and the number of big-time shows increased. The numbers may be great, say some, but the challenge is to broaden interest beyond the wildly popular Impressionists and antiquities shows. – New York Times
THEFT-TO-ORDER
- Police believe that the theft of a Cezanne from Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum over New Year’s was a theft-for-hire job. Such art thefts aren’t unusual. Art is easily transported and convertible to cash, and the steal-to-order trade is flourishing. – New York Times
ARTFUL ESTATE
You’re an artist and you’ve worked all your life for fame, honor and sales. And you’ve had some success, selling a few important pieces to museums and collectors. But the vast majority of your works sit in storage racks in your studio, unsold and unloved, except by you. But if you die tomorrow, the IRS could assess devastating taxes against your estate, based on the proven market value of the few pieces you’ve sold. What’s an artist to do? In Cleveland, a plan. – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)