“In a move likely to resurrect the row over the BBC’s refusal in January to broadcast the appeal to help the people of Gaza, Radio 4 rejected an unsolicited manuscript of [Caryl Churchill’s] play, Seven Jewish Children, which recently finished a short run at the Royal Court theatre.” The deciding factors, sources say: the controversial nature of the play “and the fact that the BBC has only recently survived the onslaught of criticism for its refusal to broadcast the Gaza appeal.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
In Bad Economy, Is Ethos Of Art Institute School At Risk?
“When ‘Duke’ Wellington Reiter rode into town last August, to take the reins at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, some of the locals got a little nervous. … The scent of change was in the air.” Now Reiter has called a school-wide meeting, and some wonder “whether the projected financial crunch will become an excuse for altering the distinctive character of the school, which is known for its broad curriculum and its proud aversion to anything as restrictive and reductive as majors and grades.”
Tweet By Tweet, A Crime Novel Only Slightly Abridged
“Faber author R.N. Morris is serialising a slightly abridged version of his 2007 crime novel A Gentle Axe in bite-sized chunks via regular updates on Twitter. … Morris updates his Twitter account ‘a few times a day’ and followers can send him questions about the book, which he then responds to.”
For A Refreshing Read, Dip Into Another Language
“Ever get tired of reading in English? There’s something limiting — imprisoning almost — in being stuck with your native tongue all the time. … If you can read in another language, doing so gives you a break from the idioms and constructions that swirl through your head all day long.”
To Memory Nothing Is Ever Really Lost (Except When It Is)
“For researchers who study memory, the ease with which people forget jokes is one of those quirks, those little skids on the neuronal banana peel, that end up revealing a surprising amount about the underlying architecture of memory. And there are plenty of other similarly illuminating examples of memory’s whimsy and bad taste — like why you may forget your spouse’s birthday but will go to your deathbed remembering every word of the ‘Gilligan’s Island’ theme song.”
Anne Brown, Gershwin’s Original Bess, Dies At 96
“Anne Brown, a penetratingly pure soprano who literally put the Bess in ‘Porgy and Bess’ by inspiring George Gershwin to expand that character’s part in a folk opera that originally was to be called ‘Porgy,’ died Friday in Oslo. … Even after winning the Margaret McGill prize as the best singer at Juilliard, she had no hope in those days of reaching the top tiers of opera,” due to racial discrimination. So the Baltimore-born singer moved to Norway, where she became a citizen.
Danish Museum Resists Italy’s Bid For Artifacts’ Return
“The Italian government has successfully brokered deals with American museums and private collectors for the return of what it says are looted antiquities. But it is finding the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen, harder to crack. … At the core of the dispute are Etruscan and Greco-Roman objects that the Glyptotek bought from Robert Hecht, an American antiquities dealer now on trial in Rome….”
NJ Governor Plans To Fund Arts Below Legal Minimums
“Several years ago, the Legislature decided the arts, history and good beaches were so essential to New Jersey that it passed laws setting a guaranteed level of funding for those entities and others. As it looks for ways to save money in a recession budget, the Corzine administration has formulated a new approach to those laws: ignore them. Since taking office, Corzine has never fully funded the cultural offices, but this week he proposed cutting their budgets below the minimum limits required by law.”
A Leaner Season, With An Installment Plan For Subscribers
“There are slightly fewer concerts on the Washington Performing Arts Society’s calendar for the 2009-10 season. There will be less jazz, less world music, and — as yet — no dance at all. Some of this is due, of course, to the recession.” There are also fewer orchestras slated, which means subscribers will pay 20 percent less. “And a new WPAS policy allows subscribers to pay for their subscriptions in monthly installments.”
Churchill’s Gaza Play Goes To Washington
“The four-day run of a 10-minute play later this month in Washington has raised a very large philosophical question: Where does the art stop and the politics begin? … ‘My druthers would be to critique this play dramaturgically, not politically,'” says Ari Roth, artistic director of the Jewish Community Center’s Theater J. But that’s not a realistic option right now for Caryl Churchill’s “Seven Jewish Children.”