Public broadcasting in America gets a big funding boost from a major new initiative from the Ford Foundation. “The initiative will funnel $50 million over five years to a baker’s dozen of public television, radio and other media organizations. A major focus of the effort will be to spur the creation and distribution of public affairs programming, particularly programs dealing with international affairs. The Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio will receive the largest grants, $10 million and $7.5 million respectively.”
Blog
The Lexicographer’s Columbus
“This year marks the two hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of Samuel Johnson’s magnificent Dictionary of the English Language, the most ambitious and idiosyncratic single-person etymological effort ever attempted. Accolades have accumulated over its reigning period of influence. Unabashedly entertaining it is, indeed. The current generation of professional lexicographers is taught to dissect words in a vacuum, to trace their etymological history with Protestant precision. Doctor Johnson is their Columbus. He is also an anti-model.”
Why Iranian Art Is So Interesting Today
“As the borders closed and new boundaries were established by the government, artists had no choice but to look inward to their imagination, to transform this isolation into an artistic resolution. Consequently, we have seen an outpouring of artistic production in literature, film, theatre, visual arts and music. We find bold attempts by artists who have not only challenged the authority, but have pioneered an authentically Iranian, non-Western aesthetic; which, while remaining mindful of the crippling social, political and religious realities of their country, aims at transcending national boundaries, to become universally significant.”
Encyclopedias – “Second-Class Literature’
“Encyclopedia entries are among the lowest form of secondary literature. It might be okay to “look something up” in an encyclopedia or some other reference volume. But read them? For pleasure? The implication that you spend much time doing so would be close to an insult — a kind of academic lese majesty.”
What Does Your Cell Phone Ring Tone Say About You?
“Ringtones, the catchy electronic snippets of popular songs that echo from sleek wireless phones, have become ubiquitous among teenagers to thirty-somethings. They were the first to adopt the wireless technology that not only announces incoming calls but also chimes out a little something about the owner’s personality. But while hits by Usher and Missy Elliott may be all the rage on campus, they probably won’t get the same reaction in the workplace.”
Met Museum Injures Its Credibility With Uncritical Costume Show
“Every year, in one way or another, museums test the public’s faith in their integrity. Now comes the Met with its current Chanel-sponsored Chanel show, a fawning trifle that resembles a fancy showroom. Sparsely outfitted with white cube display boxes and a bare minimum of meaningful text, this absurdly uncritical exhibition puts Coco’s designs alongside work by the current monarch of the House of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld.”
Met Museum Shills For Chanel?
“Substantially financed by the fashion house, “Chanel” is tainted by the same sort of self-interested sponsorship that brought notoriety to “Armani” at the Guggenheim Museum in 2000 and “Sensation,” the 1999 Brooklyn Museum showcase for Charles Saatchi’s collection. We expect better from the Met, an institution always admired as a guardian of professional standards.”
Montreal Musicians Picket Symphony
Musicians of the Montreal Symphony were out walking a picket line Monday as the orchestra went on strike. “The union said orchestra management has demanded that musicians work more consecutive days than the labour law permits, for example, and has made insulting salary offers. Management at the symphony, which has a $3.4-million deficit, said in a statement Monday it regrets the strike and blamed the union for not allowing non-monetary changes to the contract that would have allowed for a resumption in recording and touring.”
Cleveland Orchestra Signs Up With Miami
It’s official – the Cleveland Orchestra has signed a ten year deal to play annual three-week residencies in the new Miami Performing Arts Center. “The visiting orchestra will be strengthening its existing relationship with the New World Symphony, based in Miami Beach, as well as establishing one with the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, putting students at both institutions together with world-class musicians. The Florida Philharmonic was likely to have been the resident orchestra at the PAC, until the Philharmonic went bankrupt.”
Cleveland In Miami – Why?
“As part of the overall strategy for the Cleveland Orchestra, it will make us an even more international institution. Alongside New York, Miami is probably the most international city in America today.”