The Smithsonian Institution says it “made an error in allowing the Federation for American Immigration Reform to hold an event Tuesday night at the National Postal Museum.” FAIR advocates “a temporary moratorium on all immigration”; Smithsonian policy bars rentals to “groups which are partisan, political or religious in nature.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
HuffPo Pairs With NY Review Of Books For New Section
“The site’s newly minted editor, Amy Hertz, a Penguin editor at large under their Dutton division, will have to balance the fortnightly magazine’s 5,000-word essays and thoughtful articles based on multiple publications with book reviews written by HuffPo readers….”
Trinity Church Music Director Says He Was Fired
Owen Burdick, who “built up Trinity Church into a major force on the New York classical music scene,” says his sudden “resignation” a couple of years ago was instead a firing. Burdick “said he wanted to set the record straight because, in his view, Trinity … has sought to push him to the sidelines of its history.”
Blockbuster To Shutter Hundreds Of Stores
Blockbuster plans to close from 810 to 960 of its stores by the end of 2010 and “might convert an additional 250 to 300 locations to outlets that focus on used DVDs. … There are 4,356 Blockbuster locations throughout the country, meaning 24% to 29% could be closed or altered within 16 months.”
Artists Brave Bombs, Bloodshed In Pakistan’s Culture Wars
In Pakistan, “even as violence spurs self-censorship and spreads fear, it’s also prompting some artists to push back, sometimes at great personal risk.”
For Charlotte Symphony, A Funding Cut Of At Least $1M
Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council will decide today whether the Charlotte Symphony “gets $900,000 or $150,000. For an orchestra struggling against deficits, the $750,000 difference is momentous. Even the larger amount would be a cut of roughly $1million from what the orchestra got last season.”
A Vote Of Confidence In A Reforming Arts Council
“It’s very easy to complain about the Arts Council – particularly after the apparently scattershot cuts proposed in December 2007.” But things are changing for the better. “Shouldn’t everyone in the arts want us to have the best Arts Council imaginable – rather than a convenient whipping post?”
The Lost Symbol Priced At Less Than 5 Pounds
Faced with ferocious discounting by supermarkets, online retailer the Book Depository is slashing its price for Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” “to £4.99, almost 75% off its recommended retail price of £18.99.”
Persepolis Is Philadelphia’s One Book Pick
“Philadelphians will have the chance to think, discuss, and argue all things Iranian, thanks to Iranian-French author Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, The Complete Persepolis, which will be announced today as the selection for the 2010 One Book, One Philadelphia.”
Staring Into The Mirror, Murakami Considers His Legacy
At 47, Takashi Murakami “is already turning fatalistic. The art world wunderkind,” now embracing self-portraiture, “believes that the real battleground for artists lies not in the time when they are alive, but in the future after they are dead.”