“War has haunted choreographers of all ages and artistic orientations in the past few years. Given that people’s bodies serve as the medium of dance, it is hardly surprising that a struggle involving their destruction preoccupies the art. Still, choreographers are careful about how they approach the war in Iraq.”
Blog
Harry Potter US Sales Lagging? (2.5 Million Copies Unsold)
“Even though Americans have bought 11 million copies of the latest epic adventure, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the book remains at number two in the Publishers Weekly sales chart, Scholastic’s adoption of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s most famous pupil is causing it financial grief. Stacks of unsold copies are collecting dust in bookstores and warehouses across the US, and Scholastic – the world’s largest distributor of children’s books, and best known in the UK for Clifford the Big Red Dog – is bracing itself for an avalanche of returned copies.”
The “Silent Spring” Of Global Warming?
“Following in the tradition of policy-changing books like Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed, Tim Flannery’s The Weather Makers, published in Australia four weeks ago, was cited by that country’s Environment Minister in an announcement yesterday that the government will officially recognize and address global warning as a growing threat. Now the book’s American publisher, Grove/Atlantic, hopes it will prompt U.S. policymakers to do likewise.”
A Thing For Arvo Pärt
Last month composer Arvo Pärt turned 70. Pärt “has caught on because of the luminous beauty of his sound. It seems to come from somewhere beyond our normal experience and expectations. It haunts the ear. But just about every tribute to him I’ve read lately begins defensively, explaining that musical simplicity does not necessarily equal triviality. No, we are reminded, Arvo Pärt is not New Age. He isn’t a Minimalist, as such. He’s neither this nor that. We need no such reminders. Maybe he’s not to everyone’s taste, but he’s loved and admired by a following that is wide and that breaks through categories.”
San Antonio’s Stinson: Arts Funding Is A Bottomless Pit
The city of San Antonio is boosting its cultural budget. Columnist Roddy Stinson thinks that’s a bad idea, particularly after private fundraising failed to make much headway. “The annual March of the Mendicant Arts Mavens will not disappear from the City Hall stage anytime soon. Neither will taxpayers be relieved of an ever-increasing arts-agency financial burden.”
Dresden Cathedral Reopens After 60 Years
Sixty years after Allied bombs destroyed it, the Dresden cathedral has reopened after a $215 million restoration. “For 47 years, Dresden residents had known the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, as a 43-foot-high mound of rubble flanked by two jagged walls. That was all that remained after British and U.S. planes strafed the city with firebombs on the night of Feb. 13-14, 1945.”
Looking For The Real Marion True
Embattled former Getty curator Marion True has long had a reputation as an upright, outstanding curator, held in high esteem by those who worked with her. “True isn’t speaking publicly. But friends and colleagues paint a portrait of a woman of ferocious intellect and daunting memory, a vase maven who reads Latin, Greek and Italian and bestows names from mythology on her cats. This Marion True knits expertly, took up the lute as an adult, and always seemed the very picture of prudence. Now True’s calendar reads like the script for a Greek drama.”
Cultural Bellyflop In Downtown Manhattan
Where’s all this cultural activity that was supposed to be created in Lower Manhattan after 9/11. There’s less, not more, now, and all the fancy plans and pronouncements about what was going to happen have amounted to little. Artists are becoming resigned…
How Museums Are Courting New Collectors
Museums – their acquisition budgets getting smaller – have been cultivating young collectors by offering special services. “The most important thing these groups offer: insider access, invaluable in the insular and clubby art world. Want behind-the-scenes access to museum collections and staff? Members of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Apollo Circle attend exclusive curator-led workshops on topics like developing a ‘collector’s eye’ or the importance of art conservation. A few blocks down, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Whitney Contemporaries meet regularly with curators, trustees and director Adam Weinberg…”
UK Orchestras Face Crippling Insurance Bill
Britain’s symphony orchestras have been thrown into crisis, as the government says orchestras have failed to pay their share of National Insurance assessments and now owe £33 million. The debt could force several major orchestras to fold. “Since a change in working laws in 1998, freelance singers and musicians have been classed as employees for NI purposes, but self-employed for tax purposes. The issue affects ever major orchestra and smaller orchestra in this country and would have huge effects upon how they operate.”