The Minnesota Legislature has voted to put a constitutional amendment dedicating millions of dollars to the arts and outdoors conservation before the state’s voters. But the hunters, anglers, boaters and cultural advocates who’ve been pushing for the amendment haven’t been getting along terribly well, and still to be decided is the prickly issue of how the new funding would be divided up.
Author: sbergman
Will LoTR Find New Life In London?
“It’s taken 10 years to produce, and at £12.5m, it’s the costliest musical ever to hit [London,] so The Lord of the Rings had better be good. And, oddly enough, it just might be,” despite universally horrible reviews and public indifference during the show’s aborted Toronto run last summer.
Report: Europe’s Top Colleges Need To Get Better
European universities and the governments that fund them are being warned that they will be overtaken by rapidly improving Asian schools if they don’t move swiftly to modernize and improve. The consequences of a dip in prestige could be dire, not only for the schools but for European businesses as well.
UK Going Book Crazy
“Literary festivals used to be humble gatherings of authors and fans. But now they are undergoing a boom, with new events opening and everyone from politicians to pop stars getting in on the act… While thousands will flock to the 450 music festivals in Britain this summer, contributing an estimated £500m to the economy, it seems there is a similar thirst for dub poets and multimedia memorials to literary greats.”
Is Art The New Politics?
Madeleine Bunting says that artists have begun taking on the roles that increasingly cautious politicians are afraid to play. “As professional politics becomes ever more remote, the most fraught controversies of our time are migrating into art… Art can never do the messy business of politics – the negotiation and compromise. But politicians are now grappling with a new politics about how to change the way people behave in their private lives: how they eat, travel, shop, exercise, drink. And art can open minds and change hearts in a way that our politics is singularly failing to do.”
Is DIY Culture Devaluing Art?
With the internet making it ever easier to showcase yourself to a waiting public, culture and art are undeniably undergoing a transformation. “Years of paying your dues and trusting in the system are so yesterday… Everything seems to be a lot more democratic these days, and that’s good, right?” Well, no, not necessarily. Pricking the “expert” balloon might feel good, but the fact is that audiences aren’t qualified to pick Broadway leads, most self-produced rock songs are crap, and many performing arts just can’t even be attempted without years of training.
Cannes Still Loves Moore; Canada, Not So Much
Michael Moore is once again the toast of Cannes, where the European audiences have always enjoyed his blistering attacks on American government and corporations. Farah Nayeri says that Moore’s latest film, on America’s floundering health care system, has less ranting and more legitimate documentation than some of his past efforts. But Moore was confronted after his Cannes screening by Canadian journalists who say that his glowing portrayal of their country’s national health care system is flatly inaccurate.
London’s Festival Hall Nears Completion (Again)
London’s Royal Festival Hall reopens next month after a major renovation designed to bring “a restored clarity” to the original 1951 design. In fact, in the hall’s relatively brief history, it has been renovated, rethought, and redesigned repeatedly, always in the hope of finally bringing a truly great concert venue to the South Bank.
Extreme Leadership Makeover Coming To Salt Lake
As Anne Ewers prepares to take over as chief of Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Utah Symphony & Opera will be scrambling to replace her as CEO even as they begin to organize a search for a new music director as well. The dual challenge will likely stretch the organization’s resources.
Charleston Turns It Around
The president of South Carolina’s Charleston Symphony Orchestra, which nearly had to shut down mid-season because of financial problems, says that the ensemble should end the year in the black without needing to tap into its credit line. The turnaround is “largely because of the efforts of the Symphony Orchestra League, a fundraising committee.”