“The award, created in 2001 in honour of scientist Lou Siminovitch and his late wife Elinore, a playwright, is worth $100,000. The winner gets $75,000 and gives the other $25,000 to a protégé or organization of his or her choice.” This year’s prize recognizes accomplishment in Canadian stage design.
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
To Enliven Empty Storefronts, Landlords Welcome Artists
“As the recession drags on and storefronts across New York remain empty, commercial landlords are turning to an unlikely new class of tenants: artists, who in flusher times tend to get pushed out rather than lured in. And the price of entry is not deep pockets, but vivid imaginations and splashy exhibits….”
Video Games Are Health Food For The Brain! (Maybe.)
“[S]tudies are revealing that a wide variety of games can boost mental function, improving everything from vision to memory. Still unclear is whether these gains are long-lasting and can be applied to non-game tasks. But video games, it seems, might actually be good for the brain.”
Is Your Song Hit Material? Algorithms Render A Verdict.
Sales suggest The Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” is a good song. “David Meredith, CEO of Music Intelligence Solutions, says there’s no magic in that; it’s math. His software, called Hit Song Science, gave the song a hit score of 8.9 out [of] 10.”
Beyond Laramie‘s Original Take On Matthew Shepard
“Now there’s an epilogue to The Laramie Project, and tonight more than a hundred theaters around the country will perform readings of the new play. Together with the first one, it constitutes a powerful version of Matthew Shepard’s story. But it’s not the only version — and that’s a big part of why the epilogue exists.”
Randy Newman Songs To Be Knitted Into A New Musical
“Harps and Angels,” which is to premiere in November 2010 at the Mark Taper Forum, “will feature songs previously written by Newman arranged in a way to tell a story about the American experience, according to Center Theatre Group.”
To Survive, LA’s Cultural Institutions Must Engage Latinos
“L.A.’s cultural elite shouldn’t mistake the Dudamel phenomenon for a solid strategy to reverse its historic negligence toward the city’s Latinos. … Historically, foreign-born elites generally escape the social prejudice that burdens even their relatively well-to-do native-born co-ethnics.”
Librarians, Guardians Of The Non-Blockbuster Book
There’s only one consolation for an author who hears that her book has been remaindered: the knowledge that it’s secure at the library. “Were it not for libraries, there would be no safe harbor for characters and stories, nowhere for them to wait out disasters and economic storms.”
Sony Pictures Puts Its Wallet Away (Mostly)
“Sony has told in-house producers and the movie community that it will largely hold off on buying new scripts and other source material, such as books, to turn into movies until its new fiscal year begins in April. It also won’t be paying writers to start work on many projects recently set up at the studio.”
Royal Opera House Initiates Major Education Effort
Popular TV shows have “helped spark renewed interest in even what would have once been considered the too highbrow subjects of opera and ballet in schools. As a result, the Royal Opera House is mounting a major new education programme which will include setting up projects in both arts in more than 120 primary and secondary schools this autumn.”