A teacher in Colorado shows part of a video of Gounod’s Faust from a 33-year-old series titled “Who’s Afraid of Opera?” to about 260 first-, second- and third-graders. That set off a firestorm of controversy that has led to an investigation of the incident by school officials and a demand by some parents that the teacher be fired.
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Still Licking Oprah Wounds, Frey Cancels Dallas Appearance
After getting beat up on Oprah last week, disgraced author James Frey has begun postponing public appearances…
Louisville Symphony, Musicians Head To Arbitration
The Louisville Symphony and its musicians have decided to go to mediation over their contract . But management warns that “forestalling bankruptcy would involve ‘a complete rethinking of our relationship with the musicians, as well as the contract and the operating model for the orchestra’.”
New York Theatres Take On George Bush
A theme on New York stages, these days? Bush-bashing. “I used to get booed (in Las Vegas) two or three years ago when I made a George Bush joke. Now they laugh and nobody boos because things have changed.”
Carey: Out! Snooty Arts
“What Good Are the Arts?” is an intensely argued polemic against the intellectually supercilious, the snooty rich and the worship of high culture as a secular religion for the spiritually refined and socially heartless. Modern art,” writes James Carey, “has become synonymous with money, fashion, celebrity and sensationalism, at any rate in the mind of the man on the Clapham omnibus.” Contemporary painting, opera, ballet, most poetry and theater are all removed from the life of ordinary people, being part of a cult available largely to the wealthy and mandarin, where only the elect may worship. Meanwhile, “mass art” — daytime drama, pop music, Hollywood filmmaking — is commonly dismissed as mere entertainment for shallow and stupid proles.
“Bubble” dual DVD/Theatre Release Called Success
Steven Soderbergh’s “Bubble” played to tiny box office on its opening weekend. “While the film’s box-office performance was modest because major theater chains refused to run it, the film’s backers declared victory for their release strategy. We are very happy with the results so far of this first day-and-date release.” The film’s release was controversial because it opened in theatres as it was released n DVD.
Grants For Live Music
The American Music Center has made grants to 24 New York and New Jersey dance companies to support live music accompaniment. The Live Music for Dance program has made more than 400 grants, totaling $4.75 million, over the last two decades.
Welsh Artists – Guaranteed Rights Of Expression?
Wales’ culture minister has proposed a plan to give artists a legally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. But critics say its a bizarre suggestion: “There are all sorts of practical difficulties. How do you define an artist? Many of us may lay claim to the title. How far would the right to freedom of expression extend? Could a playwright commissioned by BBC Wales to write a TV play insist it is broadcast even when the BBC doesn’t want to show it?”
Welsh Proposal To Directly Fund Arts Draws Protests From Artists
Welsh Culture Minister Alun Pugh’s proposal to fund the country’s major arts organizations directly, cutting the Welsh Arts Council out of the process has artists screaming. “The Welsh arts world is in uproar over Mr Pugh’s proposals, fearing that by ending the ‘arm’s- length’ funding principle they would politicise culture and lead to an undesirable two-tier system.”
Why Iran Bans Beethoven
Western music was once welcomed in the Arab world. No longer. “The fact that Beethoven’s Ninth is singled out for condemnation points to the reason why Western music is so mistrusted. It speaks of freedom, and the brotherhood of all men regardless of race or creed. This can’t be music to the ears of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, who would like to see Israel wiped off the face of the map.”