Authors Guild president Roy Blount Jr. has posted a letter in support of the Google books settlement. “Blount played down concerns expressed by some over orphan works, writing, ‘I can’t see any reason to dissent from the settlement over the matter of orphan books.’ Blount wrote that he is confident many of the rightsholders of orphan works will be found. Authors, he said[,] ‘are all findable.'”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Royal Opera House’s Manchester Move Hits A Big Bump
“Plans for a £100 million outpost of the Royal Opera House in the North West suffered a potentially serious setback yesterday when one of Manchester’s leading arts complexes said a new opera house in the city would ‘destroy’ it. Rod Aldridge, chairman of the trustees at The Lowry, said that the proposed venture would be ‘bad for the city, bad for the arts and bad for the taxpayer’.”
Photo Essay: UK Theatres Trust List Of At-Risk Buildings
“The Theatres’ Trust has released its ‘at risk’ register of threatened buildings. Blackpool’s huge Winter Gardens complex tops the list, due to its poor condition and the threat of demolition.”
Responding To Economy, North American Theatres Revamp
“From major theaters such as Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival to small companies such as the Barnstormers Theatre in bucolic Tamworth, N.H., uncertain economic times have forced theaters across North America not only to re-examine what they are putting on stage this summer – and beyond – but how to sell these plays and musicals as well.”
Skylight Says Eliminating A.D. Wasn’t A Longtime Scheme
“Officials of the Skylight Opera Theatre came to the Journal Sentinel Wednesday, to comment on the company’s financial condition and the hotly controversial firing of artistic director Bill Theisen and other[s] last week. Much more to come on this,” but one thing they said was that “[n]o one dreamed, when [managing director Eric Dillner] was hired a little over a year ago, that he would take on the duties of artistic director.”
Study: Madoff’s Foundation Victims Had Too-Small Boards
“A majority of more than 100 foundations that lost 30 percent to all of their assets in the Madoff scandal had four or fewer board members, according an analysis by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a charity watchdog organization. ‘There’s one startlingly simple conclusion here: To avoid falling prey to the next Bernie Madoff who comes along, foundations would be wise to increase the size and diversity of their boards,’ said Aaron Dorfman, executive director.”
Astronaut Tries To Translate Moon Memories Onto Canvas
“It has been nearly 40 years since Alan L. Bean walked on the moon as an Apollo astronaut, but he still wrestles with the experience every day, trying to recapture what he and other astronauts saw and felt in the medium of paint. … ‘When I left NASA, I made up my mind I was not going to be an astronaut who painted, but an artist who used to be an astronaut,’ he said. ‘It takes a while to change the heart.'”
Discussion Turns To ‘Stolen’ Rather Than ‘Free’
“It’s in matching the fluidity of Wikipedia with the static fixity of a book” that Wired editor Chris Anderson — caught copying portions of his new book, “Free,” from Wikipedia — “has gotten into trouble, which says something about the digital-analog divide. … Still, the fluid media of the Internet has proven itself to be unexpectedly sticky. The news about Anderson’s book broke on a website, and the Internet is where much of the discussion about it is taking place.”
Finding, And Sustaining, A New Trajectory For City Opera
It’s up to New York City Opera’s new general manager, George Steel, to hoist the troubled company out of the ditch. “Given the extreme limitations under which City Opera is now operating, the choices Mr. Steel made in creating this tiny, last-minute season demonstrate a positive strategic spin…. It’s a more sensible course than [Gerard] Mortier’s wholesale reinvention.”
Fun With Dick And His Book
“News item: Former vice president Dick Cheney has signed a contract to write a memoir about his long career in government and industry, from his years as Gerald Ford’s chief of staff to his prominent role in shaping the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policy after Sept. 11, 2001. Your challenge: Propose the first paragraph of Cheney’s book!”