Dallas has beat out 20 other cities for a $1 million grant to study which children in the city’s public schools have access to arts education and find ways to get it to those that don’t.
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An African Tribe Markets Culture
The African country of Mali is very poor, and the Tuareg area of Essouk is among the poorest regions. The Tuareg have a festival, “which has evolved from an annual ‘Takoubelt’, or Tuareg gathering, that they’re marketing to attract tourists. “With almost no natural resources, its culture and especially its music are among the few things it can export.”
New Florida Orchestra Irks Fans Of Old Orchestra
Last fall South Florida’s Renaissance Chamber Orchestra abruptly closed, leaving patrons and subscribers angry. Now a new group has formed led by the old orchestra’s president. “Normally a new musical organization arising from the ashes of a failed one would be a positive development greeted with enthusiasm. In this case, former Renaissance musicians and audience members are reacting to the new venture with emotions ranging from disbelief and consternation to intense anger.”
Donor Rescues Audubon Quartet Members
An anonymous donor has come forward with $200,000 to help members of the Audubon String Quartet pay a judgment against them and avoid having to sell their instruments. Former quartet member David Ehrlich won the judgment last year: “Why am I settling at this point? It’s bothersome to me. I don’t want them to lose every little thing that they had. If they can come out of this with something, then I would feel better about it too.” He has said he never wanted the other members to lose their instruments but needed the funds from the judgment to pay lawyers.
Drawing Center Lands In Fish Market
New York’s Drawing Center was to be part of the World Trade center project until controversy torpedoed the deal. Since then the center has been hunting for a home. “Scouring abandoned buildings, vacant parking lots and high-rises, they fell in love with some locations and flatly rejected others, while learning the perils of what its president calls a ‘lack of nimbleness’ by losing out to quick bidders.” Now a home has been found – in the old Fulton Fish Market.
The Rauschenberg Franchise
“Robert Rauschenberg may be the American Picasso. He is a Dionysian maverick of experimentation, openness, visual wit, and roguish nerve; an artist who cannot be diminished by others but who can only diminish himself; someone whose envelope-pushing has been inspirational for generations. As Jasper Johns generously avowed, ‘Rauschenberg was the man who in this century invented the most since Picasso’.”
The Name Problem
“Sure, we’re no longer living in the era of Haydn, Beethoven, and the gang where everything was either Piano Sonata No. 28 or Symphony No. 6, but this strangest of naming games has yet to completely disappear from our collective reflexes. For the record, I don’t intend to criticize folks who write piano sonatas or symphonies—I’ve even penned a couple of piano sonatas myself, though I’ve yet to attempt a symphony—but why must they be named as if they were volumes of the Encyclopedia Brittanica?”
The Second Book Problem
“Is there really anything to it, or is Second Novel Syndrome a myth? Reviewers who fall for the schematic over the actual will lament the ‘disappointing second novel’ just as they will damn a debut with the faint praise of ‘an author to watch in the future’. But, as with much in reviewing, this can be based on a preconceived idea rather than reality.”
Publisher: Memoir Isn’t Necessarily Fact
James Frey’s publisher says it doesn’t matter if some of the author’s work isn’t true. “Memoir is a personal history whose aim is to illuminate, by way of example, events and issues of broader social consequence. By definition, it is highly personal. In the case of Mr. Frey, we decided ‘A Million Little Pieces’ was his story, told in his own way, and he represented to us that his version of events was true to his recollections. Recent accusations against him notwithstanding, the power of the overall reading experience is such that the book remains a deeply inspiring and redemptive story for millions of readers.”
James Levine On A Roll
James Levine has turned the Metropolitan Orchestra into one of the best, and his debut season with the Boston Symphony has been acclaimed. “Even taking into account his rich career, with its long trail of megasopranos, James Levine may just now be at his absolute peak. So why won’t people in the classical-music world stop whispering, or worrying, about him?”