IBM has started a program to financially back any of its employees who want to go into teaching. “The goal is to help fill shortfalls in the nation’s teaching ranks, a problem expected to grow with the retirement of today’s educators. Math and science are of particular concern to companies in many U.S. industries that expect to need technical workers but see low test scores in those subjects and waning interest in science careers.”
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Another 25 Geniuses
Among this year’s 25 MacArthur Genius awardees is conjductor Marin Alsop. “The 11 women and 14 men selected for their creativity and originality range in age from 33 to 66 and also include a violinmaker, a molecular biologist, a sculptor and a laser physicist. All the winners, known as fellows, receive annual checks for $100,000 for the next five years, no strings attached.”
The Da Vinci Code’s Real Detective
Maurizio Seracini is what Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown calls an “art diagnostician”, which is “not a bad description for someone who probes paintings with state-of-the-art-technology, often to advise museums, dealers and collectors on their restoration. One question raised by Mr Seracini’s painstaking investigation is why Da Vinci wanted to include such a bloody scene in a nativity painting, and why he – or someone else – thought better of it. But another question, and the one that will fascinate the Dan Brown fans, is what Da Vinci was up to on the other side of the painting in the last area of the panel to be fully rendered by Mr Seracini’s technicians.
Springer Gets Backing To Tour
Jerry Springer, The Opera, will make its UK tour after all. “The show seemed doomed when 30% of theatres pulled out after Christian Voice said it would picket venues. The Arts Council of Britain then refused a request to fund the tour. But the theatres have agreed to pool marketing costs and producers Avalon will put £650,000 into the tour.”
Wilkins To Lead Orlando Phil
Chris Wilkins has been named music director of the Orlando Philharmonic. “For 10 seasons, Wilkins served as music director of the San Antonio Symphony. For the past five years, he has guest-conducted orchestras around the country — including two stints at the Orlando Philharmonic. Wilkins, 48, will replace much-lauded maestro Hal France, who is leaving the orchestra after this season to pursue other interests.”
Mr. Big: The Man Who Buys For Waterstone’s
Scott Pack buys books for Waterstone’s, which means he has a lot of power over what people in the UK will read. He is “keen to suggest, of course, that he does not have anything like the power that publishers and authors ascribe to him, that he is simply one more filter for the ridiculous volume of books that are published. All he does really, he says, is decide which books Waterstone’s will promote, which ones will make it on to the coveted tables that greet customers as they walk into the shops. He thinks it fair enough that publishers should fork out to have their books included in these promotions and, stubbornly, does not see how this policy might favour the big corporate publishers who can afford to pay over the odds.”
How The Internet Is Revitalizing The Music Business
“The indie-rock surge has been ushered in by an Internet community of music connoisseurs who trade MP3 files and gather to talk music and champion favored bands on blogs and Web sites such as Myspace.com, and write for e-zines such as Pitchforkmedia.com. ‘The Internet’s role is important because there aren’t as many gatekeepers. You can put the music on a Web Site, or on Myspace or the blogosphere and let the fans find it, talk about it and analyze it before radio or MTV even knows it exists. The fans get it first, and that gives them a sense of ownership’.”
The National’s New Artist-In-Residence
London’s National Gallery has a new artist-in-residence – Chris Ofili. “It is a surprising step for the National Gallery, an unshakable bastion of traditional high culture, to be employing the services of an artist who symbolises, perhaps more than any other, Britart cool. ‘Some people will no doubt regard it as a sell-out. But it’s about engaging with contemporary culture rather than adopting an aloof view’.”
Phillips Powers Into Bigger, Better
Washington DC’s Phillips Collection is heading into expansion in the fast lane. “The Phillips has raised $29 million in its first-ever capital campaign — $2 million more than the goal and two years ahead of schedule. In December, the museum receives the keys to its new building, next door to its intimate Dupont Circle home, which will add 3,000 square feet of gallery space and an auditorium.”
New Orleans Museum – An Oasis Of Calm
The New Orleans Museum survived Katrina intact. It “opened in 1911 and is one of the central cultural institutions of New Orleans, and is an oasis of calm and beauty in a city of despair and ruin. But it is an empty oasis. Wind and water have driven away its 150,000 annual visitors, its 10,000 members, and many members of its staff and board of trustees. ‘My first priority to the staff and trustees is to ensure that the museum opens up as soon as possible. I wouldn’t want to have our best pictures leave the museum right now’.”