“Facing charges of political bias and a threat to its funding from Congress, the Public Broadcasting Service yesterday adopted an updated set of editorial standards and announced that it would add an ombudsman who will report directly to PBS President Pat Mitchell. The action comes in the wake of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s hiring of two ombudsmen in April,” a move which has been widely criticized as being politically motivated.
Blog
Should Music Have A Place In Museums?
When the Los Angeles County Museum of Art unceremoniously dumped a long-running music series it had hosted for nearly two decades this spring, museum officials explained that the move was part of a decision to focus on LACMA’s core mission of bringing art to the public. Mark Swed is skeptical of this line of thinking: “Money doesn’t seem to be the overriding concern. The museum’s music programming has always been done on the cheap. Many of the series have underwriting… Never have the arts been more suited to interaction than they are now. And never before have art museums been better equipped to be laboratories for such chemical combustion.
Opera To Symphony: Thanks, But No Thanks
Negotiations have broken off between the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Grand Opera, talks which would have returned the HSO to the HGO pit for the first time in four years. The symphony had sought to once again become the official pit orchestra of the opera as part of an effort to right its financial ship, which has been listing badly in recent years. But after hearing the HSO’s proposal, the opera chose instead to sign a new 6-year contract with its in-house orchestra.
If You Build It, Will We Come?
The city of Roanoke, Virginia, is attempting to raise $46 million to build a museum designed by Randall Stout, and the project has the town buzzing. But are high art and small cities in the Blue Ridge Mountains really meant for each other? “The danger is that outsiders will embrace it, but we – the natives – won’t.” In fact, it all sounds suspiciously like this one episode of The Simpsons…
Edinburgh Theatre Auctions Fringe Spot On eBay
An Edinburgh theatre is turning to eBay to try to find a sponsor for this summer’s Fringe Festival. “The Bedlam Theatre, in the city centre, needs £1,600 to pay for the cost of printing 8,000 programmes after an increase in pages due to an extended list of shows. The eBay entry was started at 99p yesterday, with ten days until the close of auction.”
Doing The Ballroom Vegas
We’re in the midst of a ballroom dancing craze. “Ballroom dancing in its pure form, as enjoyable social dance between two people, is still practiced in the school classes and, maybe, at health clubs. People of all ages and shapes like to move their bodies, and to do so in supportive, friendly, nonjudgmental contexts. The present-day ballroom mania, however, is far from such innocence. Most of these contests and films and television shows emphasize competition based on the flashiest moves and glitziest costumes: Las Vegas meets ice dancing. “
Clear Channel On The Splits
A few years ago Clear Channel was buying up thousands of American radio stations, becoming the giant of the business. But now it’s splitting off some of its enterprises as the aggressive growth backfired. “In the past year alone, its stock is off 25%, to about $29, even after the company bought back about 10% of outstanding shares starting in April, 2004. That’s a steep drop from about $80 a share at its buying peak in 2000. The formerly cocksure Clear Channel is a humbled enterprise.”
Radio Turns To High Def
Traditional radio is facing challenges. Perhaps a solution to some of them might be high definition broadcasting. “More than 370 radio stations are now broadcasting in high definition, a digital format that boosts audio quality and limits static. A handful have begun experimenting with digital “multicasting,” which allows broadcasters to spawn inexpensive sister stations and could give traditional radio a fighting chance against the pumped-up variety of satellite and internet competitors.”
Opera In English – Bring On The Surtitles…
So English National Opera is going to use English supertitles for its productions in English. This is a great thing, writes Anthony Holden. “The fundamentalist objection is that you can’t do two things at once: read the words while listening to them properly. But the problem is that, half the time, you simply cannot make out the words – in English or any other language.”
Venice – A Confusing Feast
Adrian Searle find much to like at this year’s Venice Biennale, but there’s too much to get your head around. “The Venice Biennale is filled with nullities and profundities, the silly and the serious. Always, there is too much to see, things to forget and things that surprise and confuse. Confusion is good, but there’s too much of it, even though this is a smaller, better biennale than the previous two editions.”