The Catholic Church is launching a new website to dispute The Da Vinci Code. “The Catholic Church’s website includes biographies of the saint and contains numerous links to sites disputing The Da Vinci Code’s assertions.”
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LACMA Keeps Eyes Peeled For Ice Age
“Much of the public discussion surrounding an upcoming expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s mid-Wilshire campus has been about money. So far, not much has been said about fossils. In March, the museum announced it had raised $156 million, enough for a first phase of construction — a turning point for LACMA, which had to abandon an earlier, more sweeping plan as too expensive. But now, as the campus readies for new construction, the issue is pre-history: The 23-acre Hancock Park property, which includes LACMA and the county-owned Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits, contains one of the richest Ice Age fossil sites in North America.”
Expanded Huntington Feels Newly Vibrant Yet Familiar
Things are both changing and staying (mostly) the same at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, where several new spaces are transforming visitors’ experience of the institution. “I am extremely keen that people shouldn’t think the Huntington has only two paintings, (Lawrence’s) ‘Pinkie’ and (Gainsborough’s) ‘The Blue Boy,'” said John Murdoch, director of art collections at the Huntington. “There is a terrible danger if you’ve got world-famous paintings that people will say, ‘I’ve seen that. I don’t need to go there again.'”
Domingo As Neruda In ‘Postino’
“Tenor Plácido Domingo will create the role of Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda in a new opera, ‘Il Postino,’ by Mexican composer Daniel Catán, Los Angeles Opera company artistic director Edgar Baitzel said Friday.” Inspired by the novel that became the Oscar-nominated 1995 movie “Il Postino,” the opera will premiere in Los Angeles in 2009.
Repairing James Brown
A new biography of James Brown seeks to repair the singer’s damaged reputation, earned over a tough decade. “The true fan will say, “Skip the books and listen to the music.” Good advice, since no amount of description can capture the essence of James Brown. But given the state of popular music these days, listening is not a simple proposition. To a large degree, what one hears will depend on one’s background, age, and cultural outlook.”
You Get Part Of The Painting This Year, Part Next year…
Since the American federal tax law changed in 1969, arts institutions can benefit enormously from fractional giving. “And donors like it because they can spread their tax write-offs over a longer period of time while also continuing to enjoy the artwork. The museum and donor sign an agreement called a deed of gift.” The donor reaps write-offs while gradually giving small percentages of paintings and other art objects to a museum, which eventually takes ownership of the artwork.”
Non-Equity Tour May Prompt Leafleting In LA
The formula is simple: Budget woes demand cheaper shows. But when theaters cut costs by hosting nonunion touring productions, Actors’ Equity feels compelled to object — as it threatens to do if the debt-saddled Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities presents a non-Equity tour of “42nd Street.”
Quick! Which Font Is This?
Those who see design subtleties where the rest of us see only letters and numbers headed to New York this week to luxuriate in the company of their own kind. “These pilgrims were among about 500 people, some from as far away as Brazil and Finland, who have converged on the city for TypeCon, a yearly gathering of typographers, printers, designers, calligraphers and assorted, self-described font freaks and type nerds who can argue about kerning into the wee hours.”
Kantor Leaves NYT Arts & Leisure Job
New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure editor Jodi Kantor is leaving the job after 2 1/2 years to be a reporter at the paper. “After a couple of years in the building, I’m dying to actually get out and report some stories myself.”
A Star In The Making In Western Mass.
“Every summer, a theater world routinely awakens, Brigadoon-like, in the Berkshires. But the past few summers have brought a genuine surprise: Julianne Boyd’s nonprofit Barrington Stage Company, which has emerged as a serious challenge to the dominance of the region’s most established venues.” A little show that premiered there, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” won two Tony Awards this year.