“Funding of some of the most prestigious cultural grand projects in Britain is in jeopardy because a £100m black hole has been discovered in the budgets of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Whitehall sources disclosed tonight.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘Behavior’ – What Exactly Does That Mean? (It’s Not Just ‘What Animals Do’)
“[B]iologists don’t agree with one another on what a behavior is; biologists don’t agree with themselves on what a behavior is; biologists can be as parochial as the rest of us, meaning that animal behaviorists tend to reflexively claim the behavior label for animals only, while botanists sniff that, if the well-timed unfurling of a smelly, colorful blossom for the sake of throwing your seed around isn’t the ultimate example of a behavior, then there’s no such thing as Valentine’s Day.”
Twittering Program Notes In Real Time? D.C.’s National Symphony Will Give It A Try
“Conductor Emil de Cou has prepared real-time program notes to Beethoven’s Sixth [Symphony] that will be beamed to Twitterati sitting on the lawn of Wolf Trap July 30.”
NY Musical Theater Festival Picks Up Partner In Korea
“The annual New York Musical Theater Festival, where Broadway productions such as Next to Normal and [title of show] received helpful developmental stagings, has formed a new production exchange program with the Daegu International Musical Festival in South Korea.”
What’s The Future For The NEA Under Rocco Landesman? (Maybe Something Like The Past)
“Certainly the economy, and the growing public anxiety about the deficit, may yet put a damper on arts financing. But political goodwill toward the endowment is clearly on the rise, and many in the arts world are wondering if Mr. Landesman will be able to lead it, finally, into a new era … Even if Mr. Landesman hopes to strike out on a new path … he may find himself looking to the tenures of [his predecessors Dana] Gioia and [Bill] Ivey.”
John Schlesinger’s Darling To Be Remade Shot-For-Shot
Despite the unpromising track record of such films (remember Gus van Sant’s Psycho?), the London artist duo called The Centre of Attention is planning to reproduce “John Schlesinger’s classic tale of an amoral model [played by Julie Christie] climbing the ladder of success in swinging 60s London. The cast? Members of the public.”
Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra Begins Long Process Of Rebuilding Itself
“The orchestra is fighting for its budget, only now beginning to solicit corporate sponsorship in a country where the state once controlled all (and still does, if chaotically). [INSO director Karim] Wasfi is lobbying to build an opera house in a country where electricity, clean water and garbage removal remain scarce services.”
Lawsuit In The Works Over Amazon’s Deleting Books From Kindles
“A law firm known for bringing class-action suits on behalf of consumers against Internet companies says it’s readying a case against Amazon for deleting George Orwell books on users’ Kindles. ‘This is an incredible situation,’ says Jay Edelson of the law firm KamberEdelson. ‘What Amazon did was plainly illegal’.”
National Theatre’s Screenings of Helen Mirren In Phèdre Have A Long Reach
“Judging by this spellbound Mexican audience [at the sold-out screenings in Mexico City], Hytner’s production not only reached theatre fans who couldn’t travel to the National but may also have won over converts to the theatre.”
A ‘Greatest Mistakes’ Showcase At Britain’s National Gallery
“Entitled ‘Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries,’ [the exhibition, to open next June,] charts some of the museum’s most embarrassing errors and faux pas, involving works once thought of as Old Masters but later removed from the walls of the gallery to be stashed ignominiously in the basement.”