“The Greek prime minister, deploying the strongest language yet for the return of the Parthenon marbles, yesterday said that Britain had run out of ‘feeble excuses’ to retain the treasures. At a ceremony to mark the return to Athens of two art works Greece has long claimed from the Getty Museum – and the imminent completion of a £94m Acropolis museum – Costas Karamanlis said it was only a matter of time before the sculptures’ repatriation.”
Author: sbergman
Equality vs. History: What’s The Right Thing To Do?
Museums in London and New York have recently made headlines with serious attempts to increase the profile of female artists in their collections. “Two concerns, though, arise from attempts to increase the valuation of women in art. Does the imposition of modern equalities on museums that deal with periods with different sensibilities falsify the historical record? And is a balance best achieved by the creation of separatist institutions?”
Canada’s “Ad Hoc” Museum Policy
The shocking collapse of Alberta’s Prairie Art Gallery led to an outpouring of public support for the museum. But Canada’s Conservative government is standing by its policy that the nation’s museums need to stop expecting public money to be available whenever they need it. “More troubling for the country’s 2,500 museums is the fact that Ottawa has yet to produce a long-promised national museum policy. Instead, it all seems ad hoc.”
Paul McCartney Is Killing Rock Music
Do aging rock stars playing their 20-year-old hits at high-priced arena shows represent a threat to continuing innovation in rock music? “Nostalgia is powerful, yes, but [Rod] Stewart, [Paul] McCartney and company are taking these millions of dollars out of fans’ pockets with mediocre new material… How do new, deserving artists get wide exposure when fans are buying one floor seat at the Rolling Stones versus tickets to Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, My Chemical Romance or the Shins?”
New Miami PAC Already Facing Cash Crunch
Miami’s Carnival Center for the Performing Arts has been open for less than a year, and yet, the $473 million center, “borrowing from its future to combat cost overruns and lackluster attendance, will run out of money by mid-May and needs a $4 million cash infusion to get through the budget year.”
Buyer Wanted For Rare Violins. (Violins Not Included)
The New Jersey Symphony’s quest to sell the collection of rare instruments it bought only a few years ago from now-disgraced billionaire Herbert Axelrod will likely prove even harder than their purchase. “The NJSO wants to find one or more buyers willing to purchase the collection as a whole and lend it back to the orchestra for the musicians to play. Not impossible, but certainly not easy.”
Composer Herman Stein, 91
Well-known film score composer Herman Stein, whose music helped define the ’50s sci-fi era in Hollywood, has died of heart failure, aged 91. “Stein collaborated with Henry Mancini and others to create music for nearly 200 movies and shorts, though he didn’t get credit for all of his work because of the studio’s tendency to give solo credit to a project’s music supervisor.”
Going Out With A Whimper
Ballet Pacifica officially shut down this weekend. “The organization’s undoing is complicated. The past 3 1/2 years have been a roller coaster of promises and failures, and the instability shook it to its very foundation, which was the school. At its peak, it had 260 students; this past week there were fewer than 100… Time and again, the Ballet Pacifica board of directors spent money on administrative help rather than artistic endeavors. Ultimately, the community was left with nothing to support.”
Smithsonian Starts Filling In Leadership Gaps
“Paul G. Risser, a biologist and former chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education, was named acting director of the National Museum of Natural History yesterday by the Smithsonian Institution. Risser, a member of the museum’s advisory board, will run the facility in place of Director Cristián Samper, who was appointed acting secretary of the Smithsonian this week.”
Stand-Up Comedy: Now With Glass Ceiling!
Becoming a successful stand-up comic is hard work. Becoming a successful female stand-up comic is brutal, even now, when most of the world has moved beyond the ridiculous old notion that women aren’t funny. “One of the rules of comedy-club booking goes like this: Only one female comic can play on the bill each night. Few clubs will ever exceed that quota.”