“Two weeks before a hotly anticipated federal budget, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore is preaching sustained cultural funding, saying the CBC’s budget is safe and the Conservatives intend to deliver on their election promises despite the financial downturn.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Tom O’Horgan, Original Director Of Hair, Dies At 84
“Tom O’Horgan, a famously innovative director who brought a Downtown, countercultural sensibility to Uptown theater, most exuberantly in the 1968 hippie-celebration-cum-musical ‘Hair,’ one of four shows he had on Broadway at the same time in 1971, died Sunday at his home in Venice, Fla.”
Reorganization Begins At Christie’s; Jobs Will Be Cut
“‘We have begun to implement a companywide reorganization, which includes significant staff reductions, not renewing many consultants’ contracts and the continuation of other cost-reduction initiatives, that will ensure we remain competitive and profitable in 2009,’ Christie’s said in a statement on Monday, without saying how many positions might be cut or giving any further details.”
Amato Opera Director Explains Why He’s Closing Up Shop
“The Amato Opera is as far from the Metropolitan Opera as high school hoops are from the N.B.A., but it is a beloved part of the constellation of small performing-arts companies in the city.” Its impending closure after 60 years is a product of that smallness, as director Anthony Amato, yearning for retirement at 88, “said he had decided to shut down the company because he feared its quality would suffer without his dedication.”
A Writer In The White House: It’s Happened Before
“It’s been so long since a talented writer last occupied the White House; no wonder, then, that American writers have been among the most prominent of all the demographic groups claiming a piece of Barack Obama for themselves,” Jonathan Raban writes. So who — besides Lincoln — were the others? And what does Obama’s writing portend for his presidency?
Coosje Van Bruggen, Oldenburg’s Partner & Wife, Dies At 66
“Coosje van Bruggen — an art historian, writer and curator whose professional partnership with her husband, artist Claes Oldenburg, turned ordinary objects into startling monuments around the world — died Saturday at her Los Angeles residence. She was 66 and was battling metastatic breast cancer.”
Tom Tomorrow Takes On The Crisis In Memoirs
Oprah interviews the author, a.k.a. Sparky the penguin: “You were a meth-snorting sex addict with an insurmountable gambling debt, framed for a crime you did not commit! How did you ever manage to turn your life around?”
Press Nights At LA Theatres Just Got Even Less Crowded
“[L]ongtime Los Angeles theater and arts critic Jim Farber was let go today. Farber, whose wrote for the Daily Breeze for nearly 16 years, said the news came as a surprise to him since he reviewed and wrote nearly all features on classical music, opera and fine art, in addition to coverage of the stage.”
Gallery To Senator: Revision Coming Right Up, Sir
Are federal institutions — or museums, for that matter — supposed to move at lightning speed? Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Jan. 7 letter to the National Portrait Gallery, decrying the wording on the label accompanying the new portrait of President Bush, has already resulted in the promise of a revision.
Open-Mic Nights Suffer From Copyright Enforcement
“[G]rass-roots music events, spawning grounds for the next generation of musical talent, have come up against the demands of US copyright law, as enforced by a handful of companies who act as collection agents for songwriters and composers. The law states that no performer in a public venue can present someone else’s copyrighted music without their permission and, usually, without compensating them.”