“The economic downturn has prompted the Newseum, the sprawling attraction on Pennsylvania Avenue NW that opened in April, to reduce its staff of 250 employees by 10 percent, the institution has announced. … The museum is a private operation financed largely by the Freedom Forum, a foundation with significant stock-market investments.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Photographer Karl Bissinger Dies At 94
“Karl Bissinger, whose lustrous black and white portraits created a memorable gallery of the leading figures on the postwar American arts scene, died Wednesday at his home in Manhattan. … Mr. Bissinger created indelible images of the new generation of writers, actors, dancers and free spirits who were reshaping American culture after World War II.”
Tribeca Film Fest Adds A Branch In Qatar
“New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, founded by actor Robert De Niro after the September 11 attacks, plans to stage a new festival in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar next year. Created as a way to rejuvenate lower Manhattan after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks, Tribeca has become a showcase for international films with a political edge, and organizers said the Tribeca Film Festival Doha would do the same.”
Toyo Ito’s Berkeley Museum Would Be A Beautiful Thing
“I have no idea whether, in this dismal economic climate, the University of California will find the money to build its new art museum here. But if it fails, it will be a blow to those of us who champion provocative architecture in the United States,” Nicolai Ouroussoff writes. “Its contoured galleries, whose honeycomb pattern seems to be straining to contain an untamed world, would make it a magical place to view art.”
Young Frankenstein Folds, & Schadenfreude Strikes B’way
“The last week was one of the grimmest on Broadway. Within eight days four shows announced their closings. Yet the news about ‘The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein’ shutting its doors Jan. 4 seemed to spark an unusual guilty glee among theater people.” Its sin, in their view? Arrogance.
Museums, Beyond The ‘Boring’ Factor
“Despite any bad rap for being boring or undervalued, there are still 850 million people coming through the nation’s museums each year. Why? As Philippe de Montebello, former Metropolitan Museum of Art director, says simply, ‘A museum is the memory of mankind.'”
What Threat To Storytelling? Narrative Will Never Die.
“Telling stories is as old a game as language itself. So it’s odd – not to say alarming – to read reports that some people seem to think we’re on the verge of running out of narrative.” Exhibit A: MIT’s Center for Future Storytelling. “Changing technologies have affected the means by which stories are told,” Sam Leith argues, but they are stories nonetheless.
Bush May Not Be A Reader, But He’s Sure Sold Books
“Whether you loathed him, liked him, or merely tolerated his face in your peripheral vision, George W Bush was a success in one respect: at the American bookstore. Since the contested election of 2000, current events and political titles have helped prop up America’s sagging publishing industry, proving to be the fastest growing sellers at chain stores.” It’s a different game now for publishers and readers.
On-Screen Opera: An Art Form Unchanged
“Two years ago, Douglas McLennan wrote in the Los Angeles Times that, by broadcasting operas live to cinema screens in high definition video, the New York Metropolitan Opera had created a new art form,” Karen Fricker writes, begging to differ. “Although I share his enthusiasm – at least at the moment – it’s the delivery method that’s startlingly different, rather than the art form itself.”
Conductor Richard Hickox Dies At 60
“Leading British conductor Richard Hickox has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 60. Hickox, who was the musical director of Opera Australia as well as a regular conductor of major UK orchestras, died after a recording session in Wales.”