AGO’s fundraising triumph represents a considerable turnaround from the museum’s misfortunes of a year ago. For a while, it seemed that AGO couldn’t stumble out of a crisis without bumping headlong into another one. But Toronto’s cultural elite rallied behind the beleaguered museum, and this week’s announcement that AGO is within striking distance of having money in the bank sufficient to stabilize itself and pay for a glamorous new building goes a long way towards rehabilitating its bruised image.
Blog
Previn At 75
Andre Previn is now pulling back from the 90-plus concerts he performs a year to concentrate on composing. Why is the self-confessed “conductor who composes” now putting composition at the heart of his musical life? “I am so peripatetic,” he says. “I run around so much that I finally reasoned that composing is the one musical endeavour which you can do anywhere, anytime. I like writing, but it’s only in the past 10 years that I’ve written a lot. Now, happily, I’ve got a whole file full of commissions.”
The DaVinci Trailer
How big a pop cultural phenomenon is The DaVinci Code? Well, here’s one indication: filming on the movie version of Dan Brown’s runaway bestseller hasn’t even begun (and Westminster Abbey has declined requests for parts of the film to be shot there,) and yet a preview for it is running in front of George Lucas’s latest Star Wars installment. The book has generated considerable controversy amongst Catholics, but the quibbling doesn’t appear to have hurt the book’s popularity, and Hollywood is salivating over the prospect of carving out a chunk of the franchise.
Big Thrills, Little Exposure
Authors of suspense novels don’t get a whole heck of a lot of respect from the rest of the publishing world, and even getting their books displayed can be a challenge. But the second-class status may be changing, at least if the authors themselves have anything to say about it. “Thriller writers across the country have formed a national organization to burnish their image, honor excellence in suspense writing, and create new ways for readers to discover their books.”
Bringing A Bit Of Retailing Wisdom To The Arts
How is it that American art museums are flourishing, even as orchestras, theatres, and so many other arts institutions find themselves desperate for cash and running annual deficits? The answer may be as simple as an increased focus on the customer. “Art museums have learned the lessons of successful retailers in that they allow people to visit at all times of day, including evenings and weekends, not at a prearranged time. And a visitor can go at his or her own pace in a museum, looking, reading, thinking and enjoying. Plus, a concert, dance, performance or film is often included in the price of admission.”
BookExpo America, La Scena
“The consensus on the annual three-day publishing and booksellers’ convention, which alternates cities like a traveling circus, was that there was no consensus—no standout theme, Bill Clinton memoir or looming election. The whole affair was a blur of cheap wine, mini empanadas and free books, punctuated by the odd wannabe author cruising the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center with a toilet seat around his neck. The fact that the expo took place in New York, as opposed to Chicago or Los Angeles, only lent a certain world-weariness to the proceedings.”
Shelley Letters Sell For £45,600
Letters written by poet Percy Bysshe Shelley have sold at auction for £45,600. “The letters, which provide an insight into Shelley’s views on atheism, were destined for a car boot sale until the owner contacted the auction house. They were found in a trunk at a house in south-west London alongside four written by Shelley’s best friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg.”
Investor: Art Prices Are “Fantasy”
A major investor in art says that art prices for contemporary art “are in fantasy land — they’re near lunacy.” “Prices for works by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock have trebled since 1996, according to index-maker Art Market Research, and New York’s $300 million of contemporary art auctions in May set more than 30 records. While some hedge funds may be putting investors at risk, buyers of contemporary art have more chance of losing money on their purchases.”
Odd Couple Has Bonanza First Day Box Office
In its first day on sale, the Matthew Broderick/Nathan Lane production of The Odd Couple sells $7 million woth of tickets. “At this astounding pace, it is thought that the production could potentially sell out its limited run before the first preview, set for Oct. 4. It is also conceivable that the Joe Mantello-directed revival could recoup well in advance of opening.”
America’s Preoccupation With Class
“There is an un-American secret at the heart of American culture: for a long time, it was preoccupied by class. That preoccupation has diminished somewhat – or been sublimated – in recent years as we have subscribed to an all-purpose, mass-market version of the American dream, but it hasn’t entirely disappeared. The subject is a little like a ne’er-do-well relative; it’s sometimes a shameful reminder, sometimes openly acknowledged, but always there, even, or especially, when it’s never mentioned.”