“Overture Center for the Arts officials said they’re optimistic that the facility will break even this year, despite the recession. […] The entities that own the Overture are still negotiating with three banks to stave off foreclosure, but those who operate the facility itself said they are confident the arts center will do well this upcoming season [with shows like The Lion King].”
Author: Matthew Westphal
UK’s Channel 4 Secure Despite Money Drain
“Andy Duncan, the Channel 4 chief executive, has today said that the broadcaster is not in a ‘survive or die’ situation, despite previously having warned that it could face an annual funding deficit of £150m by 2012. […] ‘We can cut our cloth to fit our means … what will suffer substantially is programming and content spend.”
At 75, Glyndebourne Spruces Up
“When the season opens later this month, there will be a new restaurant designed by architecture’s oldest enfant terrible, Nigel Coates. A scheme has been introduced to woo the under-thirties by allotting them cheaper tickets. There’s been a clean-out of the notorious 20-year waiting list for admission to the club which sustains the enterprise, and 4,000 of those in the queue have just been fast-tracked into ‘associate membership’.”
The Big Problem With The Google Books Settlement
Farhad Manjoo: “Rather than satisfy Google’s mission of organizing the world’s information, critics say, the deal gives Google and the publishing industry unrivaled power in the new market for digital books. Looking at the settlement, it’s hard to disagree.”
That Famous Bust Of Nefertiti? Fake.
“The bust of Queen Nefertiti housed in a Berlin museum and believed to be 3,400 years old in fact is a copy dating from 1912 that was made to test pigments used by the ancient Egyptians, according to Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin.”
Garsington Opera Wins £250K Tax Rebate
The company, a summer country-house opera festival along the lines of Glyndebourne (but smaller), “stands to benefit by £250,000 in its 20th anniversary season after winning a dispute with HM Revenue and Customs over its VAT liability.”
Havana’s Architectural Treasures Are Literally Crumbling Into Dust
“Chunks of this city’s rich and eclectic architectural history tumble to the ground every few days, piece by piece, forever lost in the rubble. Neo-Baroque and Art Deco treasures deteriorate at an alarming rate. Every three days, there are two partial or total building collapses in Central Havana alone, according to architectural experts.”
With New Director’s Arrival, One-Third Of Dancers Leave Orlando Ballet
The ballet mistress and 10 dancers – five dismissed by incoming artistic director Robert Hill, five who have resigned – are “exiting the Orlando company following its 35th anniversary season, which saw economic challenges, a mid-season switch of artistic directors, and first-rate performances.”
Whimsy And Innovation (Or ‘R. Crumb Meets R. Buckminster Fuller’)
An admiring look at the man behind such ideas as the Nod Office (a sleep-in cubicle), the Dashboard Toaster Oven, the Self-Shortening Sedan (makes parking in tight spaces a snap!), Automobile Abandonment Zones (for bailing out of a traffic jam and onto a train), Homes Purchased by the Room, and so on.
I’ll Donate $20 Million If You Don’t Put My Name On Your Building
After years of one naming gift after another after another (even the escalators at Walt Disney Concert Hall have donors’ names on them), anonymous giving is growing at a fast clip. This may not be an entirely good thing …