“Her passing represented the loss of the only connection that Anne had to the present world, and that her fans, in turn, had to her. As years passed, and the Holocaust became something that happened a generation ago, then two, then three, Gies alone was our tie.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
UK Charity: Arts Spending Will Be Down For 2 More Years
“Arts & Business Chief Executive Colin Tweedy made the prediction as the charity published a survey showing that spending by U.K.-based companies in the year ended March 31, 2009, fell 6 percent to 157.3 million pounds ($254 million).”
PBS CEO Vows To Increase Arts Programming
“PBS’s cultural programming — which is expensive to produce and doesn’t necessarily draw the largest viewership — has gradually become marginalized.” But in a talk Tuesday in Los Angeles, the network’s president and CEO “recommitted PBS to arts programming, both on television and online. She described an ambitious arts initiative with three components….”
American Publishing’s Translation Deficit
“Why is it so hard for foreign authors to get published in the US? … There are a number of explanations for this phenomenon, very few of which have to do with stereotypes of American readers as being culturally insulated or lacking curiosity about the outside world.”
Philanthropist, BSO Chairman Edward H. Linde Dies At 68
“Mr. Linde was chairman of the board of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was a major benefactor to the Museum of Fine Arts, which named its west wing after him, his wife, and the Linde family in recognition of the more than $25 million they donated to the museum.”
Shakespeare’s Language Is Getting In Our Way
“[F]roufrou words and syntax, and the artificiality of meter, are not in themselves what makes Shakespeare such an approximate experience for most of us. The problem with Shakespeare for modern audiences is that English since Shakespeare’s time has changed not only in terms of a few exotic vocabulary items, but in the very meaning of thousands of basic words….”
A Venerable Generation Of British Stage Talent Recedes
Albert Finney, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, Michael Gambon — all have been mainstays of theatre in England. “Whereas there was a time not very long ago when a single season might well have brought stage sightings of all these talents, this venerable array is itself disappearing from sight, for reasons having to do with health, temperament and personal predilection.”
Why UK Artists Must Agitate For Better Funding
“We need to be vocal now, rather than waiting until the election campaign is properly under way. Whichever party is in power this time next year, it will need to understand that arts cuts may result in short-term gain but long-term damage – not just to the arts economy, but to a range of wider economies, social as well as financial.”
Britain’s Dance Boom
Dance has skyrocketed in popularity among participants and spectators, males and females, children and adults — and they come from a wide swath of backgrounds. One significant indicator: “The ratio of boys to girls applying to the Royal Ballet School used to be 20:80,” but “now it is 50:50.”
Eric Rohmer, Misunderstood To The End
Among Eric Rohmer’s most famous critics “was a fictional character: detective Harry Moseby in the 1975 Arthur Penn thriller ‘Night Moves,’ played by Gene Hackman in one of his best roles. Invited to see ‘Maud,’ Moseby demurs, saying, ‘I saw an Eric Rohmer movie once. It was like watching paint dry.’ Moseby could have watched more carefully.”