Riccardo Muti, who walked out on the La Scala orchestra this week, saying that he could not work with the current management team any longer, may be right that the world’s most famous opera house is being run into the ground by arrogant men. But being right may not be enough to win this battle. “If there’s one thing that doesn’t bode well for Muti, it’s that perception is defying facts. Whether or not Muti knows what’s good for La Scala, a vocal sector of the public doesn’t want to believe him… [T]he issue behind this gulf between perception and fact is that Muti’s brand of operatic integrity is good for the art, but probably not what a large public wants. “
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Ultimatum In Salt Lake
A former board Utah Symphony & Opera board chair has pulled his annual donation and canceled a major bequest to the struggling organization, offering to reinstate the pledges only if embattled CEO Anne Ewers and music director Keith Lockhart are ousted. The already-tense situation at US&O is growing more volatile by the day, with “supporters [wanting] to know why news of US&O’s falling attendance, negative cash flow and declining annual donations since the merger was not made public. They want accountability from the volunteer board that governs US&O.”
Funding Guarantee For Welsh Chamber Orchestra Pulled
The Welsh Chamber Orchestra is accusing the Arts Council for Wales of reneging on a pledge to extend the ensemble’s support funding through 2006. Instead of the WCO receiving its £52,500 with no questions asked, the group will now have to compete with six other ensembles for the money, potentially putting its 2005-06 season in jeopardy. For its part, the government says that no guarantees were ever given about the ’05 funding, even though the Culture Minister called a press conference last year to announce that the WCO funding would continue through 2006.
Aussie Arts Leaders Blame The Government
If Australia’s museums, galleries, and theatre groups are thinking that the crisis currently threatening to envelop the nation’s symphony orchestras could never happen to them, they’d better think again, according to some arts leaders. The orchestral crisis came about because of “a lack of urgent government action in updating the way major arts companies are funded,” an issue which could potentially affect the entire arts industry.
Bollywood Actor Caught In Sex-For-Career Sting
“Indian film makers called on Tuesday for a ban on actor Shakti Kapoor after he was filmed offering a woman help with her acting career in exchange for sex and later implying the practice was common.”
State Of The Movie Biz
Movie industry officials say the US movie industry is healthy. “2004’s U.S. and Canadian ticket sales reached $9.54 billion, marking the third straight year they topped $9 billion. Admissions in the United States and Canada, or the number of people purchasing tickets, dipped slightly to 1.54 billion, but 2004 was the third consecutive year admissions topped 1.5 billion — a number unseen since 1959. ‘The bottom line is the industry is healthy. It’s not radical growth, but the trends are positive’.”
Wanted: A Better Case For the Arts
England’s arts advocates need to do a better job of selling themselves to the government. “Politicians seem embarrassed to be associated with the arts. The ‘arm’s-length’ separating grants from government control has become very short indeed – ‘almost Venus de Milo length’, according to the new chairman of Arts Council England, Sir Christopher Frayling.”
Sydney Dance Company On the Edge
The Sydney Dance Company is on the verge of insolvency, and the company is fighting to save the jobs of half its dancers. The current deficit is more than $600,000 on an annual budget of only $1.56 million. “Unless new funding arrangements are secured in the next two weeks, its board will have to decide whether the company can continue.”
American Censorship And An Insidious Chill
US Representative Bernie Sanders writes that the recently passed Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 is a threat to free expression and Americans’ First Amendment rights. “I am increasingly alarmed by the culture of censorship that is developing in this country. This censorship is being conducted by the corporations that own our increasingly consolidated, less diverse media. And it is being done by the government. The result is an insidious chill on free expression on our airwaves.”
Seattle’s Theatre Scene Wilting
While Seattle’s ACT Theatre has had well-publicized financial problems, “Intiman, Seattle’s other midsize theater, has been fighting for its life in private. It has an accumulated deficit of $800,000 and expects to add $150,000 to that this year. This midlevel crunch is the most dire sign of contraction in a theater scene once hailed among the nation’s most promising. The bedrock formed decades ago is showing serious cracks beneath the top layer. ‘We’re not seeing this as a mecca of theater anymore. We’re losing our ability to keep master artists in the community. I see very few actors coming’.”