The American Dance Festival is 73 years old. It’s had the same director for 38 years. “It remains one of the two premier summer dance festivals in the United States, the other being Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires. And it has long since broadened its scope to embrace modern — or contemporary, or nonballetic — dance from around the world.”
Blog
Investing In Broadway As Advertising Opportunity
The Broadway show “Hot Feet” is closing and its investors will lose their entire $8 million. The show’s backer, Transamerica didn’t get into the show to make money. “Transamerica’s motives were more along the lines of corporate sponsors like Visa, Fidelity Investments and Mercedes-Benz, which make deals with shows so their names can be seen.”
Emmy Staff Defends New Nomination System
This year’s Emmy nominations process changed, and many critics were perplexed by some of the nominations. But Emmy spokemen say the experiment was a success. “Historically, the biggest criticism of Emmy nominations has been that they’re a popularity contest because they’re chosen by a popular ballot. Lower-rated networks like FX and the WB weren’t getting a fair shake, so we gave them their day in court.”
Out Of The Mediocre Mass
“It may feel as you walk past the multiplex and into the chain bookshop where Katie Price’s bestseller is stacked up, and then home to pick up the television schedules dominated by reality shows, that we live in an age when there is little room for anything but the blockbuster, the bestseller, the audience-chaser, the top celebrity. But if you listen to some of the voices out there, it turns out that this isn’t what is going on at all…”
Study: Canadian Film Industry Shrinks
“In 2004, 688 films were made in Canada, down from 728 in 2001 and production revenue over the three years fell 10.6 per cent to $1.49 billion, the agency reported on Tuesday. However, total revenue for film and video production rose 10.9 per cent to $2.9 billion because of growth in non-production activities such as broadcasting and film distribution.”
Why Computers Beat Humans
Here’s “something researchers have known for decades: that mathematical models generally make more accurate predictions than humans do. Studies have shown that models can better predict, for example, the success or failure of a business start-up, the likelihood of recidivism and parole violation, and future performance in graduate school. They also trump humans at making various medical diagnoses, picking the winning dogs at the racetrack and competing in online auctions. Computer-based decision-making has also grown increasingly popular in credit scoring, the insurance industry and some corners of Wall Street.”
Conductor And Miami Symphony Founder Manuel Ochoa, 80
“Against all odds, or more vividly as it’s said in Spanish, contra viento y marea (against the wind and the tide), Ochoa kept a professional symphony orchestra going in our area when other, more ambitious ensembles had failed. And he did it, not out of personal ambition, but, as Miami Symphony board of directors chairman Rafael Díaz-Balart says, ‘because he wanted to give something back to the community that had given him so much’.”
Bad Writing After Good
English, once thought to be the heart of humanities, is in a bad way. It has been “theorised” to destruction, writes John Sutherland.
NJ Symphony Struggles To Pay For Instruments, Taps Endowment
The New Jersey Symphony is dipping significantly into its endowment to pay off a deficit. “Paying off the debt for the instruments, which stands at about $12 million, has prevented the orchestra from dealing with an accumulated operating deficit of $4.2 million. The endowment draw and some intricate financial restructuring will reduce the debt payments to $1.1 million a year, from $1.8 million, the orchestra said.”
Neue Gallerie Drops $50 Charge To See Klimts
New York’s Neue Galerie has scrapped plans to charge $50 to view its newly purchased Klimt portrait on a day its doors are normally shut. The Gallerie says the offer was “misread by the public.”