The ever-expanding menu of entertainment options in America has made it very difficult for arts organizations to market their offerings with any degree of certainty that their efforts will lead to “butts in the seats.” So some groups are trying a technique known as the “marketing task force” – think of it as word of mouth on steroids – under which volunteers “use their inner circles of e-mail lists – their social, professional and organizational contacts – to create buzz.”
Author: sbergman
Delfs To The Islands
German-born conductor Andreas Delfs has been named the next music director of the Honolulu Symphony, beginning in the fall. Delfs is soon to leave his decade-long music directorship with the Milwaukee Symphony, and in Hawaii, he will inherit a financially strapped ensemble in need of strong leadership.
NRO To Cut Ties With Longtime Director
The executive director of the Colorado-based National Repertory Orchestra (a prominent training program for young musicians) has been told that her contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of this season. Terese Kaptur took over the NRO program in 2002 after serving for three years as the orchestra’s artistic director.
Portrait Of The Artist As A Prizewinner
“Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize has been awarded to John Beard for his painting of a fellow artist. Beard, a Welsh-born artist, painted Janet Laurence in oil and wax on linen. The monochrome portrait of Ms Laurence’s head and shoulders, measuring about one square metre, today took out the $35,000 Archibald Prize.”
Pope Warned To Beware Of Dennis Kucinich
“An arch-conservative cardinal chosen by the Pope to deliver this year’s Lenten meditations to the Vatican hierarchy has caused consternation by giving warning of an Antichrist who is “a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist”… The choice of Cardinal Biffi raised eyebrows in the Vatican, given his sometimes eccentric views. The cardinal gave a warning of the coming of the Antichrist during his two decades as the Archbishop of Bologna, and said that an ‘invasion’ of Muslim immigrants was undermining Europe’s Christian values.”
The Complexity Of Expectation
Thomas Adès is frequently championed as the “savior” of British music, a label he is not the least bit comfortable with. “It’s clear the weight of expectation on him has been a mixed blessing… He has an uneasy relationship with the media. His publisher Sally Cavendish explains that an early interview implied unfairly that he was comparing himself to Mozart, while another opened by asking him if he was the new Britten.”
Growing Up On Stage
“Daniel Radcliffe’s powerful stage debut in ‘Equus’ suggests he’s heading for a career beyond the ‘Harry Potter’ films.” But for many child actors, the road to adult success proves to be a harsh dead end. So why can some make the transition while others falter?
Pinter’s Moment At Last
Harold Pinter is hot again in the UK, and after a relatively quiet 75th birthday year for the playwright, it seems that everyone in theatre wants to make up for lost time. “One sign of any genuine creative artist is that he or she is always ahead of the game: they see or hear something that the rest of us don’t. Both artistically and politically, Pinter has persistently been ahead of the pack; and now the public and critics are at last catching up with him.”
Can Opera Help Rehabilitate Criminals?
Music education – specifically, a full-scale opera program – is having a profound impact on the lives of prisoners in the UK, according to some observers in the prison system. But some guards and wardens believe that the program is just an undeserved reward for evil men. “This schism between the punitive versus the rehabilitative runs deep within the penal system; prisoner access to creative projects depends on the attitude of individual governors.”
When Torture Becomes Just A Part Of Life
Fox’s hit terrorism drama 24 has kept viewers around the world on the edge of their seats for years now. But recently, many voices have been raised regarding the irresponsibility of the large number of torture scenes in the show. Critics point out that torture, while rarely effective in real life, always seems to be the magic bullet for defeating the bad guys on the show. The larger effect on viewers is feared to be “‘normalisation’ — the process whereby unspeakable acts become acceptable routine.”