“On June 23, just before a rehearsal, the Belgian chamber orchestra Beethoven Academie was informed that its government grant was to be eliminated entirely as of 2007 — in effect, that it has six more months to live. In desperation, and figuring that you can buy and sell anything on eBay, it put itself up for auction on the web site.”
Blog
Dancing As Competitive Sport
No one actually likes ballet competitions (except, of course, the winners.) But the contests have become a way of life in the dance world, and though “they arouse heated debates about their utility and relevance to the art form,” they also serve as a useful way for dancers to hone their skills and perform under pressure.
James Levine Loses 35 Pounds
After a shoulder injury forced him off the podium, Levine worked on his health. “It allowed me to restart. Everything in the training, everything in the diet could be done without my having to save energy for rehearsals and performances. What’s very important to my work is the continuity and repetition, to be able to go deeper and to have the response of the orchestra, etc., deeper. This thing forced me — I never would have stopped — this forced me to use the time to get to a different state.”
Georgia Library Reinstates Spanish Books
A Georgia public library system that was going to stop buying Spanish-language books has decided (after public outcry) to continue buying. “We heard from people on both sides of the issue and we heard from a lot of the press. We are choosing to restore that line item. … We were not trying to send any signal, but everyone seemed to think we were.”
The Future Of The Podcast
It was a year ago that Apple launched the first version of its iTunes software to include podcasting capability, and the podcast revolution was officially on. “Apple reported 1 million downloads of podcasts in the first 48 hours of the June 28 launch and now will only say that “millions and millions” of episodes of the 60,000-plus shows listed on the site are downloaded each month. By contrast, the largest podcast directory prior to the launch, Podcast Alley, listed just 5,400 shows as of June 28.” But podcasting will only be a true business success if it manages to integrate itself into the larger media picture. The good news is, the larger media have begun to sit up and take notice.
More Red Ink In Milwaukee, But Less Of It
The Milwaukee Symphony will end its fiscal year with a $688,000 deficit, and $8 million in outstanding credit lines. But it’s not all bad news – the orchestra has hit its fundraising targets for the year, and even the red ink is within the bounds of the ensemble’s strategic plan to eventually balance the budget. “Subscriptions fell from 10,285 to 9,805 in 2005-’06, continuing a seven-year trend. But the orchestra set records for single-ticket sales, which jumped from about 14,200 in 2004-’05 to 21,000 this season.”
Why Get Excited About The High Price Of Klimts?
“The truth is that applying words such as ‘worth’ and ‘value’ to art is an abuse of language. They are terms not of art but of a science, that of economics. They describe price in a market in which supply is fixed but demand exorbitant. Nobody does Klimts any more. The picture was expensive because, unless Christie’s was pulling a fast one in a “negotiated” secret deal, there must have been another buyer prepared to pay nearly as much. Getting journalists to hype a work of art to legitimise its market price is playing with words.”
Montreal’s New Hall – So Far, It’s All In The Mind
The details surrounding the Montreal Symphony’s new concert hall have been officially announced. “But long-suffering local music lovers should not hold their breath. While the proposed facility on the neglected northeast corner of Place des Arts has an estimated price tag – $105 million – it does not yet have a builder or architect and is not expected to materialize before 2011, the last year of Kent Nagano’s contracted tenure as MSO music director. What was unveiled yesterday was less a concert hall than a hypothetical five-year plan to build one as the first cultural private-public partnership in Quebec.”
Honesty – The Eyes Have It
Researchers have discovered that merely posting photocopies of eyes in a room makes people behave more honestly. “Eyes are known to be a powerful perceptual signal for humans. People behave more cooperatively when they are being ‘watched’ by a cute image of a robot or even abstract ‘eye spots’ on a computer screen. But this is the first time anyone has observed the effect in a natural situation, with people using their own money. It could have far-reaching implications.”
New York ATtempts To Rebuild Arts Education
“Student-teacher ratios for the arts can be staggering. According to data provided by the department to the City Council this fall, there is 1 visual arts teacher for every 943 students and 1 music teacher for every 1,200. For dance and theater the numbers are even more extreme, with 1 dance teacher for every 8,088 students, and 1 theater teacher for every 8,871. Although about 40,000 teachers have been added to the New York City school system since 1975 — bringing the current total to about 84,000 — no more than 2,000 of them are arts specialists, according to the Center for Arts Education, a nonprofit group. Experts estimate it would cost $150 million to $200 million to hire arts specialists for every school, and the blueprint has no funds attached.”