“The Fleisher Art Memorial, home of free and low-cost art classes for its South Philadelphia community for more than a century, has been buffeted by criticism in recent months as it modifies both programs and focus.” Students fear the school will be “refashioned from something unique into ‘a traditional art school.'”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Going To The Library, Toronto-Style
“Bring your own drink – no problem – and find a seat. There are some comfortable chairs over there by the fireplace. If you prefer more light, try something closer to the window. Kids might want to check out the play area….”
Did A New York Times Ad Deal Doom Neil Simon Plays?
“The Times offered the producers of ‘Brighton Beach’ several weeks worth of splashy ads in the paper and on its Web site at steep discounts, production sources say.” But there was a catch. “‘Brighton Beach’ couldn’t advertise anywhere else until after opening night.”
Foundation Giving To Fall More Than 10%, Farther In 2010
“Despite the reduced resources however, more than three-quarters of the survey respondents said the field of philanthropy would become stronger and more strategic as a result of having weathered the financial crisis.”
First-Run Films In Your Living Room? Hollywood Says Yes.
In a move that “sets up an immediate conflict” with film exhibitors, “[t]he Motion Picture Assn. of America is seeking government approval of technology that would allow Hollywood studios to deliver firstrun movies directly into American households on their televisions, perhaps even while a film is still in theaters.”
In An Exhibition, Proof Of The Rose Museum’s Importance
An “astounding new show” at Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum “makes it indisputable: Nowhere in the Boston area is it possible to get, in one gulp, a comparable sense of the excitement engendered by European and especially American modernism.” If that had been better known, might the Rose’s troubles have been avoided?
White House Kids’ Event Signals Shift For Classical Music
“For administrations past, classical music was the logical, even the only, form of entertainment: socially acceptable, properly high-church.” Yesterday’s White House classical music event for kids suggested instead “that classical music no longer automatically holds a position of predominance among today’s power elite.”
And What If People Don’t Give E-Readers For The Holidays?
“This holiday season will be a crucial test of whether e-books can cross over from geeky novelty to mass-market must-have. Major retailers are pushing the format — and, of course, the gadgets they’ve developed to display it.”
UK Culture Secretary Warns Of Tory Threat To The Arts
Britain’s culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, “said Tory culture policy was totally aligned with the commercial interests of Rupert Murdoch’s News International and predicted the central tenet of British cultural policy – the arm’s length relationship between the arts and government – is about to be swept away.”
The Nine Best Novels (And One Play) Of Sexual Jealousy
“There is a strange affiliation between literature and jealousy. Jealousy is wordy; it gorges on language. It is hyperbolic, growing fatter on every expression of itself. This is delicious for any writer who is not an understater of emotion.”