The proposed Kansas City performing arts center has hit a number of road blocks since its conception, and the latest is a proposal to move the whole project downtown. Fundraising has not been able to keep up with the PAC’s construction costs, and last fall, voters in the metro area rejected a bi-state tax which would have partially funded the center, leaving the board overseeing the project in a bit of a pickle. The proposal to move the PAC into the city’s downtown loop would mean the renovation of the Lyric Theatre, and the construction of a new concert hall beside it, a considerably less expensive undertaking than the original plan.
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Nashville Sym Conductor Dies
Conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn, who led the Nashville Symphony for 22 years and became a local icon of the cultural scene, has died at 75 after a brief battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Schermerhorn is credited with helping to boost the orchestra out of bankruptcy years ago, and with driving it to new professional heights, including major recording contracts and an appearance at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The NSO’s new $120 million concert hall, now under construction in downtown Nashville, will be named for Schermerhorn.
The Animatronic Lincoln Experience
The new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois offers experience over history. “The blurring of history for the sake of entertainment may not be something new. After all, the village of New Salem, about a 20-minute drive from Springfield, was where Lincoln tended store and began his political career, but the town didn’t survive. So in the 1920’s and 30’s, it was “reconstructed”; it is an invented historical village. But the new museum, because of technological power alone, risks making invention seem like fact. It also enshrines a notion that the best way to know anything about politics and history is to understand personality, and even then only in a simplified fashion. Maybe it will lead to curiosity and further inquiry; maybe not.”
Hollywoods New Movie Moguls
“Hollywood has a long tradition of luring wealthy outsiders to its gleaming lair, from William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper millionaire, in the silent movie era to Paul Allen, the Microsoft billionaire, who is a principal investor in DreamWorks, the 10-year-old studio. What distinguishes the current crop of outsiders is the sheer number who have arrived in the last two years or so, many of them very young and prepared to make the movies themselves rather than relying on studio executives or other insiders.”
Tusa: BBC Has Gone Stupid
John Tusa, Barbican managing director and a former BBC executive, says the BCC has dumbed itself down to an unacceptable level. He claims that “enthusiasm has replaced knowledge, with broadcasters unable to trust their audience with challenging ideas for fear of damaging ratings.
How Michael Eisner Made Disney A Star Performer
In 20 years, Michael Eisner took disney from a faltering company to one of the richest in America. He didn’t do it with Disney cartoons. So “how did Eisner succeed in adding $65 billion in enterprise value to Disney at a time when his rivals were faltering? Having come from television, Eisner saw that Disney’s future would be in home entertainment—not in movie theaters.”
Tivo Talks To Search Companies About Partnership
Tivo is talking with major search engine companies about partnering on finding digital entertainment. “One scenario that’s been discussed would see TiVo partner with Google or Yahoo on a new service that would let consumers search for videos on the Web and then watch them on their television sets.”
When Cell Phones Become Your Entertainment Hub
Motorola is planning to sell a new phone that will act as your personal entertainment center. “The company plans to launch a service, dubbed iRadio, that allows the new phones to download songs and radio programming from an Internet- connected computer each day, then beam them to car stereos or home entertainment centers. The iRadio initiative reflects the intense interest that phone manufacturers, music companies and mobile network operators have in new music services for cellphones. Their appetites whetted by the multibillion-dollar global market for ring tones, they are eager to sink their teeth into song downloads, online jukeboxes and music videos — even though it’s not clear what, if anything, customers will buy.”
Cell Phones As An Instrument Of Art
“New public space art projects are using cellphones and other mobile devices to explore new ways of communicating while giving everyday people the chance to share some insights about real world locations. One art project, Yellow Arrow, based in New York City, has developed a system where people can place yellow stickers in the shape of arrows around the city, stating that they have something to say about that particular location. Each arrow, which is ideally placed in a location that holds significance to the person, has its own unique code that can be sent to a mobile phone via text messaging, allowing others to read the message that was left.”
Orange Prize Finalists
Six finalists have been chosen for the Orange Prize for fiction. Three Britons and three Americans will vie for the £30,000 prize, with the winner announced on 7 June in London.