Blog

TIFF Deals Portend Well For New Indies

“A new crop of movie entrepreneurs tested their wares at the Toronto International Film Festival over the last week, and several had cause to be pleased with the results.” More impressive, many of the films scoring distribution deals were decidedly independent, with no studio backing at all. “And if Hollywood has expressed skepticism about the affluent neophytes who have entered the business in the past few years – mainly Internet, retail and trust-fund tycoons – this, their first real crop of movies entering the marketplace, may indicate that they have a future in the industry.”

Pittsburgh On The Road Less Traveled

“The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra had a rocky prelude to the start of its new season this month. First a local newspaper suggested over the summer that the 111-year-old orchestra be downsized. Then its administrators, on the heels of a $500,000 expected deficit, were forced to pay a huge raise to its players because of an unusual contract clause. Plans for a European tour in October were abandoned for lack of a sponsor. And the accidental popping of balloons shattered the mood during its gala opening program on Sept. 10, giving a new definition to the term pops concert.” But behind the scenes, the PSO is tackling its challenges with an unconventional approach, making a concerted push to expand their subscription base and market the orchestra itself, rather than high-profile conductors and soloists.

Christians In Comedy: A World Apart

As a general rule, stand-up comics tend to be fairly liberal sorts. Maybe it’s something about the lifestyle – performing late at night in seedy bars with other comics who use the f-word as punctuation – but the right wing, which encompasses a large chunk the U.S. population, has never seen much representation at the local Laugh Factory. But just as the world of American religious conservatism has created and nurtured its own sources for music, news, and education, a new market is emerging for Christian comics, who hit all the usual stand-up targets while simultaneously taking digs at evolution, activist judges, and gays who want to get married.

The Cultural Devastation of Katrina

Katrina struck at the very heart of the Deep South’s cultural community, and while some individual organizations may have escaped relatively unscathed, the rebuilding effort for the arts will take many, many years. The head of the National Endowment for the Arts points out that “culture is the second largest industry in Louisiana,” and across the Gulf Coast, venues have been damaged or destroyed and artists themselves are scattered to the winds. And while overall relief efforts are well underway, priorities of safety and livability are necessitating a “hurry up and wait” approach for many arts organizations.

Katrina Relief, In Black And White

The cultural divisions that separate Americans – factions of race, region, and economic status – have never been more evident than in the various benefit events being mounted around the U.S. in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Musicians from classical, country, pop, and hip-hop scenes are all doing their part for the relief effort – but all on separate stages. Some experts say that “the competition that has emerged among fund-raising efforts reflects cultural lines that were already drawn,” but others insist that the factionalized effort is merely a by-product of an already compartmentalized entertainment industry.

The Strike That Wouldn’t End

The musicians of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal have now been on strike for 18 weeks, the second-longest work stoppage by a North American orchestra in 40 years, and there doesn’t appear to have been a single measure of progress towards reconciliation. So what’s taking so long? Unfortunately, the OSM strike is just the most visible battle of a continent-wide war between two mindsets in the classical music industry: that which claims that the market is saturated, and only a significant scaling back of ambitions can put things right; and that which insists that the only crisis in the orchestra world is a crisis of leadership in the boardroom, and holds fast to the notion that top orchestras can still pay top dollar and be financially viable. Both sides in Montreal are firmly dug in, and there’s no end in sight.

The List: Cultural Sites In Katrina’s Path

Keeping track of the current state of New Orleans’s cultural institutions has been a chaotic enterprise at best, but a picture is beginning to emerge of just how widespread the damage is. The New Orleans Museum of Art lost one of its more valuable works to the storm, and a new, unfinished museum in Biloxi was crushed by a casino barge that was pushed a full quarter-mile inland. Some institutions escaped damage altogether, but not many…

Far From Home And Missing It Badly

David Anderson, the principal bass player of the now-homeless Louisiana Philharmonic has a temporary gig with the Minnesota Orchestra, but all the temp hirings in the world can’t answer all the questions the LPO has about its future, nor can they replace a wholly unique orchestra in a city with a musical life unlike any other in the world. “Anderson loves the way whole families permeate the music scene [in New Orleans] — the Marsalis and Neville clans are only the most familiar. He loves that he’s in a classical orchestra but also plays a mean electric bass in New Orleans’ more raucous venues, grinding out original jazz, funk and bop with friends in his Symphony Boy Funk Ensemble.”

Rushdie On Terror, Both Personal and Global

Thanks to the fatwa issued against him by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini following the 1989 publication of his novel, The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie will never be just another writer. “Forced to go underground for several years and travel everywhere with a phalanx of bodyguards, Rushdie was given a reprieve of sorts in 1998, when a reformist Iranian government distanced itself from the previous ruling… Despite this, Rushdie has not settled into a life of hedonistic comfort. He has been active in American PEN, speaking out vigorously on issues that affect writers around the world. And in his latest novel, the critically well-received Shalimar the Clown, Rushdie has taken on terrorism in the best way he knows how: by exploring the personal nature of fanaticism and how it has made the planet a more dangerous place.”