Chicago’s North Side is getting a stately new theatre, as investors have purchased a classical revival-style building with plans to convert it into an arts center which will become home to the Porchlight Music Theatre troupe.”The interior of the building… will be designed by Chicago architect John Morris, whose local projects have included the Steppenwolf, Lookingglass and Raven theaters.”
Author: sbergman
Honolulu Windfall (Finally!)
After months of not being paid, musicians and staffers at the Honolulu Symphony can finally breathe again, with the announcement of a $1.175m gift from an anonymous donor. Musicians were given 7 weeks of back pay, and the symphony is expected to raise more money at this weekend’s annual fundraising ball.
Too Little, Too Late In Columbus?
Efforts are underway both inside and outside the Columbus Symphony to keep the orchestra from folding in a few weeks. “Patrons, musicians and others have hosted or plan to host concerts and other events to help the orchestra.” But the CSO’s executive director says that the money being raised is nowhere near enough to solve the organization’s problems.
Contemporary Art Record Shattered Again
“A 1976 triptych by Francis Bacon brought $86.3 million on Wednesday night at Sotheby’s, becoming the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold at auction and a retort to doomsayers who had predicted that the art market would falter seriously this season because of broad economic anxieties.”
A Post-Katrina Cultural Renaissance
The small town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has embraced the arts as part of the rebuilding process after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. “Arts mavens and tourists are returning, and homes and businesses are being rebuilt, helping to resurrect the economy and sharpen the community’s identity as a cultural hub.”
Hollywood Playing Second Fiddle At Cannes?
“Each year, headlines out of Cannes treat the event as an improbable David and Goliath showdown between art cinema and Hollywood, but increasingly the festival is bridging the gap… From the Hollywood perspective, this year’s Cannes story is somewhat light on the mainstream goods.”
Tonys Turn On Harvey
Among the notable snubs in this year’s Tony nominations (Mel Brooks, Disney, etc.) is Broadway veteran Harvey Fierstein. “The nominators appeared to go out of their way to ignore Fierstein’s A Catered Affair, about a working-class couple struggling to make ends meet while planning a fancy wedding for their daughter.”
Why Rauschenberg Matters
“Beginning in the early to mid-1950s, Mr. Rauschenberg extended the vocabulary of painting, which had been more or less fixed since the Middle Ages, by combining pigment with real objects such as stuffed birds, fabrics and household appliances, and photographs reproduced from newspapers… He’ll be remembered as a genuine trailblazer, someone who opened up several pathways beyond abstract expressionism that many artists continue to follow.”
NEA Launches Opera Honors
“Yesterday the National Endowment for the Arts announced the four winners of the first annual NEA Opera Honors, the first new program of national arts awards since the Jazz Masters awards were established in 1982. The first opera honorees are the great soprano Leontyne Price, conductor James Levine… composer Carlisle Floyd and administrator Richard Gaddes.”
A Rauschenberg Appreciation
Robert Rauschenberg was far more than just the creator of his famous Combines. “The truly great Rauschenbergs that really get me excited, and that may have the most leverage on our cutting edge, were made before the Combines came to be.”