“Govan, 42, is a well-known figure in the art world who rose from deputy director at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York to the top job at Dia, a leading cultural institution that collects contemporary art, supports massive outdoor projects in the American West and maintains large exhibition spaces in Manhattan and Beacon, N.Y. During his 11-year tenure, he is credited with transforming Dia from a highly specialized source of funding for individual artists’ projects into an institution that brings contemporary art to a broader audience.”
Blog
An Appassionata Boom
Pianists are recording Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata in droves. “Why the ‘Appassionata’? And why now? Have Beethoven’s notes perhaps released a deadly sonic Kool-Aid for use by record companies wanting to commit mass suicide? Might the companies be deluded by the youth angle? As a showpiece full of turbulence, Beethoven’s sonata obviously appeals to young musicians, and most of the new releases are by emerging artists using the ‘Appassionata’ as an aural calling card.”
The Music Migration
Traditional CD stores are going out of business. “These are brutal days for many traditional music retailers. Technology creates winners and losers. This has been a radical shift in distribution, consumption, discovery, all those things. Another irony: While sales are down, more music is being produced and heard than ever before in history.”
Channel Switch Irks DC Music Fans
Washington DC classical music fans are fuming about a frequency switch for WGMS, the area’s only classical music station. “Many WGMS listeners see their station’s move to a frequency that can be heard only sporadically as a step toward eliminating classics from the radio altogether. Oddly, that sense of being squeezed out by the radio gods comes in a market where classical music has done better in the ratings than almost anywhere else in the country. WGMS regularly lands in the Top 10 among Washington area stations for total audience, and it’s one of the most highly rated stations among listeners 54 and older.”
Two Ways To Teach Art
Two art schools in Adelaide, Australia illustrate competing approaches to making art. “Put at its crudest, one is identified with the painterly tradition; the other is all-inclusive, taking in everything from performance and video to glassmaking. The latter is our major art school, SA School of Art, where teaching artists to think is deemed as important as teaching technique. In contrast is the Adelaide Central School of Art, where the focus is on training and technique.”
Of Truth, Lies And Theatre
John Heilpern returns from writing a biography to writing about theatre. Biographies are about getting th facts right. But theatre? “As I see it, it’s my job as a biographer to see behind the mythomania and print the truth. But as a drama critic, give me beautiful lies every time. As I return to the theater beat, I am for those who believe feelings are real and facts are secondary. I am for all those in theater with open hearts.”
Christian Booksellers Feel The Squeeze
Christian bookstores are struggling. “Association membership peaked at around 3,000 stores in the early 1990s but now totals less than 2,300. CBA said 337 retailers closed last year. To compete, independents look beyond books to sell music, gifts, jewelry, stationery, hymnals and communion supplies. Books now account for only 40 percent of sales in Christian retail stores. Religious books, primarily Christian, generated U.S. sales of nearly $338 million in 2003.”
Austria Won’t Buy Klimts
Austria says it won’t buy five paintings by Gustav Klimt stolen by Nazis that were awarded to the family of the original owner. “Austria’s minister in charge of education and culture, said the government wanted to acquire the masterpieces but decided it could not afford the $300-million price tag. Last month, an arbitration court awarded the paintings to Maria Altmann of Los Angeles, who says they were looted from her family by the Nazis.”
Goodbye Andante.com
The ambitious website tried to be an important online magazine for the classical music world. But its business model was ultimately unsustainable…
Awards Solve The Piracy Problem
To take away the piracy threat, this year’s Oscar voters were sent special DVD players that could read specially encrypted discs. “In all, 13,000 of the DVD players manufactured by Dolby Laboratories were sent to all academy members, British Academy of Film and Television Arts members and some of the other awards-bestowing organizations, to play encrypted discs that cannot be copied and downloaded. The new machines take away the downloading option.”