“[S]ince being put up in Pioneer Plaza for display last December, God Bless America has become, by most estimates, one of the top public-art attractions in a city that believes, even with a tight budget, in buying and displaying art and boasts several superstars of the genre.” What does that say about public art?
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
In Wake Of Baltimore Opera, A Wave Of Operatic Activity
“One-off performances and shoestring productions may not replace what a permanent opera company has to offer.” And yet: “One wonders if so many people would have realized they cared so much had the Baltimore Opera Company managed to stay above water.”
Disney Targets Kids With Online Storybooks
“In what it bills as an industry-defining moment — though rivals are sure to be skeptical about that — Disney Publishing plans to introduce a new subscription-based Web site. For $79.95 a year, families can access electronic replicas of hundreds of Disney books, from ‘Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too’ to ‘Hannah Montana: Crush-tastic!'”
Donmar’s Starry Strategy Pays Off With 98% Capacity
“London’s Donmar Warehouse has revealed that its West End season at the Wyndham’s Theatre recorded average attendances of 98%, including 13.5% of first-time theatre bookers. … According to Donmar artistic director Michael Grandage, the season needed to play to 85% capacity to break even.”
Britain’s Latest Foothold: American TV
“British actors seem to have invaded American television. … Depending on who you ask, it’s either a monstrous conspiracy to reclaim some shred of George III’s lost colonial empire, or the tanking entertainment economies in Britain and Hollywood, or it’s simply all Hugh Laurie’s fault.”
From An Outreach Program, Boston Ballet Gets A Dancer
Twenty-year-old Isaac Akiba, who was “promoted to Boston Ballet’s company last month,” is “the first Boston kid to rise to its ranks through Citydance, a program that has introduced dance to more than 85,000 children in the Boston public schools since its inception in 1991.”
Harvard Dorm Puts Books Behind Bars
“The students who have long cherished the small library inside Dunster House, Harvard’s oldest dormitory, discovered a new feature there this week: two brass bars stretching across nearly every shelf, making the books impossible to peruse,” and “in effect making the library into a kind of museum of hardbacks.”
When A Dead Author Has A New Book On The Way
“A new wave of posthumous books by iconic authors is stirring debate over how publishers should handle fragmentary literary remains. … Many are incomplete or appear in multiple drafts, raising thorny questions about author intent,” and about why clear intent sometimes has been ignored.
Get Small: The Art Of Nano-Sculpture
“Craftsmen in India, China and elsewhere have been carving or writing on grains of rice and sand for years. But now a handful of artists are going smaller still, often applying the tools of nanotechnology to control matter at a molecular level.”
With Doctorow, Harvard Book Store Unveils Book Machine
“Author E.L. Doctorow — who is doing a reading later in the evening — will be on hand to celebrate the machine’s debut, and to give it a new name. Sadly, he won’t be cracking a bottle of Champagne over the Espresso’s bow….”