Recent events in Chicago exemplify a trend in historic preservation: “the far past gets saved; the recent past gets trashed.” Even as officials were announcing millions in city funds to restore some Louis Sullivan-designed ornamental ironwork on State Street, “wrecking crews were tearing into a little-noticed modernist gem in Pilsen: the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church … designed by the late architect Edward Dart.” Of course, when Sullivan belonged to the more recent past, his work was demolished, too….
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
An Ensemble Makes Music, And A Political Point
“An ensemble of musicians separated by oceans and thousands of miles will perform together later this month for the first time, having composed music layer-by-layer with sound files exchanged over the Internet. Their goal: Show how the arts can bridge diverse cultures — even among people who have never met in person before coming together on stage.” The musicians, from Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Morocco and the United States, are slated to perform in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Casablanca.
Seattle’s Foolproof Performing Arts Closes
“Steep programming costs, problems with the Internal Revenue Service, debts of more than $400,000 and even a dearth of community support are being blamed for the demise of Foolproof Performing Arts, the Seattle non-profit that brought former President Bill Clinton and controversial filmmaker Michael Moore to local venues in 2003. … Foolproof initially produced a comedy series, as well as separate shows by such comics as Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld, but later held high-profile talks by politicians and authors.”
Tip: Saluting Your Arts Commission? Buy Real Art.
In Enumclaw, Wash., “Mayor John Wise has canceled the official unveiling of a public art sculpture while city officials investigate whether the piece is a fake.” The $5,700 bronze, which the city bought sight unseen two years ago on wishihadthat.com to mark the 25th anniversary of its arts commission, “is signed by Jim Davidson, a name linked to accusations of art fraud.”
At Alsop’s Santa Cruz Fest, The Contemporary Rules
At the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where Marin Alsop is in her 16th year as music director, “(p)art of the happiness for the participants clearly comes from being in an environment so different from the regular classical world. Here, contemporary music is the norm, and audiences pour out to hear it. ‘In a regular season, orchestras have to be so careful to dole it out and sandwich it between works by the masters,’ [concertmaster Yumi] Hwang-Williams says. ‘Cabrillo is an oasis, a haven. And that’s why we keep coming back for more.'”
In Museums’ Popularity Contest, The Collections Lose
“Resolving the inherent tension between the museum’s traditional role – collecting, conserving and exhibiting top-quality aesthetic objects – and the need to show museum-goers a good time has become the most difficult aspect of contemporary museumship.” Directors “do whatever seems reasonable to make museums less intimidating and more visitor-friendly. Yet for the most part, this attempt to be all things to most people hasn’t succeeded: Permanent collections continue to be starved for attention.”
‘Til Death Do You Part: A Theatre Ticket Good For Life
“How about a lifetime ticket? In what may be a first for a theater company, the Boulevard Ensemble is offering just that. For $1,000, you can see every individual performance the company presents until you die or the troupe dies, whichever comes first. And you get free intermission refreshments at every one of those performances. In true Boulevard fashion, founder and artistic director Mark Bucher warns you not to be a pig about the coffee and cookies.”
Officials: More £££ Or Edinburgh Goes Down The Tubes
John Leighton, director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, cautions that “Edinburgh risks losing its supremacy as the UK’s major festival city unless funding for the August events is boosted.” Meanwhile, “Jonathan Mills, the director of the international festival, warned this week that the festival could shrink if funding was not increased. Salzburg festival receives £10m in subsidy, whereas Edinburgh international festival gets £4m.”
Santa Fe Opera Director To Retire
“The general director of the Santa Fe Opera plans to retire but will not do so until his successor is in place, he said Wednesday. Richard Gaddes, only the second director of the 51-year-old company, estimated the search would take 12 to 18 months. He will ‘most definitely’ remain with the company through the 2008 season, he said.”
Kahlo’s Letters, Sealed By Rivera, Reveal Her Anguish
“She was always one of the most painfully personal of artists…. But finally the one part of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s life that has remained secret – at the orders of her former husband, fellow painter Diego Rivera – has been revealed in a new book published in Mexico. It tells the contents of a series of letters that Kahlo exchanged with her physician, and confidant, after she suffered a miscarriage in 1932, describing the devastation she felt when she realised that she could never have Rivera’s child.”