The sixth installment of the Harry Potter franchise has sold more than 11 million copies. “Published nine weeks ago, the American edition of the book sold 6.9 million copies in its first 24 hours.”
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Needed: Rules For Child Actors
New laws are needed in the UK to limit the hours that child actors work. “The old law stipulated a maximum of 80 days’ paid work a year for performers under the age of 17, 40 days if they were under 13. Since 2000, however, the limit has been abolished, leaving the period to the discretion of each child’s local educational authority.”
Shakespeare, The Modern Subversive
“Subversive theatre in the Arab world? Try Shakespeare. “Hidden within everything that is sometimes construed as tame, inoffensive and establishment about the Bard to the modern western sensibility lies – to the Arab theatre practitioner – a heaving underworld of illicit meanings, transgressive actions and contentious critique.”
Americans For The Arts’ New Relief Fund
Americans for the Arts has set up a new emergency relief fund. The organization “describes its new creation as a permanent fund developed to provide timely financial assistance to victims of a major disaster for the purpose of helping them rebuild the arts in their community. Americans for the Arts kicked off the fund with $100,000 and is overseeing donations. Robert L. Lynch, the organization’s president and CEO, said on Monday that outside donors had so far contributed close to $50,000 more.”
Won’t You Please Take This Book?
Ian McEwan goes for a stroll in London trying to give away books. “We moved through the lunchtime office crowds picnicking on the grass. In less than five minutes we gave away 30 novels. Every young woman we approached – in central London practically everyone seems young – was eager and grateful to take a book. Some riffled through the pile murmuring, ‘Read that, read that, read that …’ before making a choice. Others asked for two, or even three. The guys were a different proposition. They frowned in suspicion, or distaste. When they were assured they would not have to part with their money, they still could not be persuaded. ‘Nah, nah. Not for me. Thanks mate, but no.’ Only one sensitive male soul was tempted.”
Monk Competition Wraps Up In D.C.
Washington, D.C.’s annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition might be the genre’s most prestigious contest, and this week, the 2005 edition was won by a Norwegian-born strummer now living in New York. Unlike many classical competitions, the students hoping for first prize weren’t the only ones to take the stage – all the judges, whose names read like a roster of America’s finest living jazz musicians – performed in addition to their jury duty.
CBC’s Collateral Damage
The effect of the six-week old CBC lockout on Canadian culture as a whole is broadening, and with some broadcast facilities shut down as a result of the work stoppage, a long-planned festival of art and culture created by disabled Canadians is on the verge of being canceled. In addition, Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize for literature is coming up, and if CBC isn’t back up and running, the ceremony could go un-broadcast for the first time in memory.
Eliot Letters Net Thousands
“A collection of letters written by poet T.S. Eliot to a beloved godson sold at auction Tuesday for $82,300, auctioneer Bonhams said. The series of 50 letters to Thomas Faber, a member of the Faber and Faber publishing family, includes poems and illustrations that formed the basis of Eliot’s 1939 children’s book, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, which was dedicated to Faber.” The amount of the sale was nearly double the estimated value of the collection.
Prioritizing History
You can hardly turn around in America these days without bumping into a “house museum” or some such similar bit of preserved history, and some have begun to speculate that we are cheapening history by drawing attention to so much of it. This week, a gathering of public historians takes place in Pittsburgh, with participants set to tackle some of the more difficult questions of access, overexposure, and creative control. “How and why should history museums interpret the recent past? How can corporate historians balance thorough analysis with the pressures of maintaining a positive corporate image? And who should determine what history is: curators or the community?”
Jennings Memorial Draws Music’s Brightest Stars
It isn’t every network news anchor who could inspire a collection of America’s finest musicians to take to the stage of Carnegie Hall in celebration of his memory, but as has been abudantly clear since his death from lung cancer, Peter Jennings wasn’t just any anchor. A memorial to the Canadian-born journalist held at the famous venue yesterday drew 2,000 spectators. “Reflecting Jennings’ eclectic and wide-ranging taste, performers included cellist Yo-Yo Ma, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, violinist Natalie MacMaster, and the Gates of Praise choir.”