“Oscar-winning film director Martin Scorsese is spearheading a new body aimed at salvaging neglected films… [The World Cinema Foundation] would focus on films from developing countries. Scorsese told reporters he feared seminal foreign films could deteriorate or disappear entirely.”
Author: sbergman
Dispute Over Büchel Installation Heads To Court
“The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is pushing to display Swiss artist Christoph Büchel’s massive unfinished installation — which brings indoors an oil tanker, a smashed police car, and a two-story home –against his wishes. After failing to coax Büchel to complete ‘Training Ground for Democracy,’ Mass MoCA filed a civil suit Monday to allow the public to see the work.”
The Naxos Story
Klaus Heymann started the Naxos label almost by accident in 1987, distributing performances by obscure orchestras that failed entirely to impress either the critics or the competition. But 20 years on, Heymann’s scrappy label that could is a behemoth in the music world, and in an age when classical is getting short shrift from nearly every major label, Naxos releases 20 new CDs every month. “In the breadth, depth, ambition and prestige of its repertoire, Naxos has no serious rival anywhere in the world today, even among specialist labels.”
Spoleto Reunification Possible
It’s been nearly 15 years since the acrimonious split between Spoleto Festival USA, based in Charleston, South Caroline, and its parent festival in Spoleto, Italy. But now, there are signs that the two organizations could be ready to partner once again.
The Delicate Balance Between Serious & Accessible
Museums are constantly criticized for dumbing down their content, but there are still plenty of staid, musty old institutions out there presenting their collections in a manner that suggests that none but serious scholars are welcome. But maybe the main problem is that so few museums even try to find a middle road…
Selling £1m Of Art To Save A Castle
“A private art collection, billed as the most impressive of Scottish colourists in a generation, goes under the hammer this week to help save a historic castle estate. The Hunter Blair collection, housed at Blairquhan Castle in Ayrshire, which was used as a setting in the Oscar-winning movie The Queen, is estimated to fetch £1m.”
Polar Prizes To Rollins, Reich
“Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins and composer Steve Reich received the prestigious Polar Music Prize from the hands of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf at a ceremony on Monday at the Stockholm Concert Hall. The Polar Music Prize, often called the Nobel Prize of music, is Sweden’s biggest music award and it comes with a 1 million kronor ($147,000) prize for each winner.”
Misogyny, Or Just The Usual Critical Dust-Up?
Susannah Clapp says that the question of whether the old guard of British theatre critics are a pack of misogynist stick-in-the-muds, as National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner recently alleged, is somewhat beside the point. “This current spat won’t do the theatre, so often derided by non-theatrical columnists, any harm: there it is, discussed in pages usually given over to Lily Allen’s prom frocks. Still, it only touches on the real threats to the independence of critical opinion.”
Gulbenkian Prize Finds New Funding
“The biggest cash prize in [UK] arts, the £100,000 Gulbenkian prize for museums and galleries, is to be taken over next year by the Art Fund charity. The announcement, which will be made formally next week, will come as a great relief to the museums sector, which had been anxious for news that the prize would continue. It was established to emulate the glamour and the buzz of the Turner and Booker prizes for the beleaguered museums, but its funding was guaranteed for only five years.”
Cutty Sark Burns
“Fire today ravaged the Cutty Sark, causing extensive damage to the world’s last remaining tea clipper and one of Britain’s most important maritime treasures… Despite the apparent damage, experts overseeing the broad restoration project on the 138-year-old ship said an initial inspection indicated a section of its structure remained intact and it could perhaps be restored.” Arson is suspected to have been the cause of the fire.