“Mayor Nutter kept his promise to balance the 2010-11 budget with across-the-board cuts to police, fire, arts, education, and neighborhood cleanup Wednesday, but he relieved library lovers by breaking his vow to reduce branch operations.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Critic’s Suit Vs. Cleveland Orchestra, Paper Goes To Trial
Critic Donald Rosenberg’s lawyer said that evidence would show that three Musical Arts Association “officers who had extended conductor Franz Welser-Most’s contract through 2018 … had waged a campaign to get Rosenberg removed from the orchestra beat.” He said Plain Dealer executive editor Susan Goldberg “caved in to that pressure.”
Will UK Culture Ministers Fight For The Arts?
“Their heartfelt declaration of love of the arts prior to the election won them many friends across the sector…. They also strenuously argued that they would do everything in their power to make the cuts as painless as possible, that they would fight toe-to-toe with the Treasury to ensure the arts received a fair hearing. And it is on that promise that they will be judged by the arts world.”
West End Ticket Prices Have More Than Doubled Since ’95
The Society of London Theatre’s “Box Office Data Report for 2009 has revealed the ‘average ticket price asked’ for a theatre ticket in London last year was £43.07 – a rise of more than 100% from its 1995 level of £21.36.” In the same period, “retail prices and average earnings … have gone up by 45% and 68% respectively.”
Improv Troupe Does Star Wars Scene In Subway
“You are riding the subway, enjoying your commute by ignoring everyone else on the train. In comes a woman wearing a white robe. You probably ignore the buns on the side of her head thinking she is just wearing headphones. You may not even notice the title of her book: Galactic Rebellion for Dummies: Princess Edition.” (With video.)
William Faulkner Lectures Go Online
“Faulkner spent two years as the writer-in-residence at UVA, where he gave lectures and readings and took questions from students. The lectures,” from the late 1950s, “were recorded on reel-to-reel tapes, which have now been digitized and published online.”
As West End Thrived In ’09, Subsidized Theatre Struggled
“Commercial theatres saw revenue up by 6.8% and attendances increase by 4.8% in 2009.
However, subsidised venues in full [Society of London Theatre] membership saw their revenue fall by 6.8% and attendances down by 7.3%. London’s subsidised sector also produced considerably fewer performances than in 2008….”
Appreciation: Sir Charles Mackerras
“Singers found him particularly exacting; he had no time for hissy prima donnas or big-baby tenors, and he expected even the most timid newcomers to meet his generally brisk tempi and take criticism on the nose. To work with Sir Charles was a privilege, but it wasn’t an easy ride.”
It’s Shirley Jackson’s Moment, And She’s Still Underrated
A contemporary of the mid-20th century’s “jostling alpha males,” Jackson “was the bard of the domestic nightmare…, of people who were trapped, excluded, usurped and pushed in a corner to wither away unnoticed. If there was anything Homeric about her … it was the serene pitilessness with which she dispensed their doom.”
Hidden Away: UCLA’s Little-Known Rare-Book Library
“‘The Clark Library is the greatest unknown literary treasure in Los Angeles,’ said Kathleen Thompson, who with her husband owns Michael R. Thompson Booksellers, a rare bookshop that works closely with the institution. ‘The minute we saw it 40 years ago we fell in love with it, and our love has only grown.'”