The new Lit Blog consortium is an experiment in literary sociology. “Can a group of people frustrated with prevailing trends in the publishing industry (which is constantly on the lookout for the next Da Vinci Code, as if one weren’t enough) and with mainstream media (where reviewing space shrinks constantly) win recognition for a worthy, but otherwise potentially overlooked, piece of fiction? Or, to put it another way: Do literary bloggers have any power? Considering how many novels and short story collections they now publish, university presses may well want to monitor the results.”
Blog
Claim: Australian Arts Funding Is Inefficient
A recent review of Australian orchestras was dumped on for its call for reductions. But the report also took to task some current government funding policies that work contrary to the interests of efficient arts funding. “The existing system is poor public policy because it encourages short-term, knee-jerk reactions rather than considered, long-term planning. It makes proper governance very difficult for the boards of the affected organisations, which find themselves in a constant state of siege. And it means that arts ministers are constantly put in a mendicant position in relation to their cabinet colleagues.”
Performers Warned Off Edinburgh Fringe Venue
Performers at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival are being warned not to use space in one of the Festival’s largest venues after the theatre failed to pay a third of the performers who had worked there. “As the second largest venue in the Cowgate, with a capacity to hold 36 shows, it is a big loss for the Fringe. The Underbelly, which can hold more than 60 shows, is the only larger venue in the area. City festival leaders last night said it was a great blow for the prestigious event and called on new venues to come forward to bridge the gap.”
English National Ballet On the Brink
The English National Ballet is on the verge of bankruptcy and needs emergency cash to survive. But “for the past 15 years, ENB has been the least settled of the nation’s three great ballet companies, not much loved by critics, and torn between its board’s desire for box office populism and the higher aspirations of an alarmingly brisk turnover of artistic directors.” Is giving ENB more money just throwing it away?
Hitler Film Will Show In Israel
An Israeli film distribution company has decided to show a controversial movie about Hitler after polling viewers. “The debate over whether to screen in Israel a movie, which has been criticised for its human portrayal of Hitler, led Lev Cinemas and Shani films, who had purchased the local rights, to conduct test screenings on members of the Lev Cinema subscribers’ club. The decision to poll moviegoers was taken in order not to offend Holocaust survivors and others who might find the film distasteful.”
Proving Martha Graham
There are problems with the current offering of the Martha Graham Company. But “to criticize certain aspects of its current season is not to dismiss the company’s achievement. It’s proved itself. Now we must hope that as it continues to expand its repertory—not with the specious products of Graham’s later years but with major works like Letter to the World and even Clytemnestra—it will grow even stronger and surer of itself. Major choreographers like Doris Humphrey who didn’t leave behind settled institutions can slip away from us. That mustn’t happen to Martha Graham—and it won’t, if the Martha Graham Dance Company holds its course.”
O’Neill Reinstates Cabaret Conference
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, in Waterford, Conn has decided to reinstate its annual cabaret conference this summer. “The goal of the new and expanded conference is to “keep pushing the envelope” of cabaret and performance, and that this is another way to “keep the O’Neill at the modern edge.”
Will Indecency Law Pass Congress?
Proposed indecency legislation that includes heavy fines against performers might pass in Congress. “No one wants to be in a position of being in favor of indecency. But very few [in Congress] want to risk trying to state their position in 30-second TV ads — trying to explain the First Amendment and self-censorship and that there are better ways of protecting kids with V-chips and software. It would take a lot of money to reply.”
MP3 Blogs – A Future In Court?
“MP3 bloggers, as they are known, are people who hunt down and post musical gems — usually hard-to-find or niche MP3s — for others to discuss and, for a limited time, download.” They’re getting an audience, and it’s growing. But legally are such blogs going to pass muster?
Marketing The Smithsonian – It’s Big Business
“Last year such marketing ventures grossed $156.3 million, returning $26.7 million in profit to the museums — nearly half the Smithsonian’s unrestricted funds, to be spent any way it pleases. Marketing has become so important that the Smithsonian now knows from surveys that the kids in the school groups that fly through the National Air and Space Museum each have about $5 to $10, and just about that many minutes to spend them. That’s why the gift shop at the world’s most visited museum is stocked with budget-friendly items such as military dog tags and marbles designed to look like planets. That’s why last year 200,000 packs of freeze-dried astronaut ice cream were sold.”