“Paul Martin Hennessey really, really, really wants Josh Hartnett to star in his movie. Hennessey, a retired union executive who lives in a double-wide trailer on 40 acres outside the tiny Missouri town of Alton, is a budding screenwriter. He believes he has the hottest script this side of Hollywood, and he says it would be perfect for Hartnett.” So, after three years of being unable to get his script anywhere near his chosen leading man, Hennessey took a bizarre step, taking out a $990 half-page ad in City Pages, the alternative newsweekly of the Twin Cities, from whence Hartnett hails. The ad took the form of an open letter to Hartnett, explaining the reason for Hennessey’s unusual method of making contact, and begging the actor to have a look at the script.
Blog
Kurtz – Artist Or Bio-Terrorist?
Artist Steven Kurtz faces 20 years in jail, accused of charges related to bio-terrorism. “Most scientists considered the accusations nonsense. It is common practice to exchange material on a casual basis. Vials and test-tubes are carried in pockets and briefcases and swapped at conferences or in pubs. Kurtz believes he is a victim of a political persecution. ‘I have been vocal about the way the state is using research in germ warfare. That is why they want to get me’.”
The Exclusive Soprano
Most major orchestras insist on exclusivity clauses in the contracts of “superstar” soloists, so as to insure that ticket sales aren’t diluted. But such clauses rarely need to be enforced, since booking agents are well aware of the rules and make sure that their clients aren’t double-booked in a single city. But this week in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Schubert Club each announced their new seasons, both featuring appearances by soprano Deborah Voigt, despite an exclusivity clause in the orchestra’s contract with the singer. Both groups agree that the mistake belongs to Voigt’s manager, but the orchestra is enforcing its exclusivity anyway, forcing the Schubert Club to cancel Voigt’s appearance, even though most of the club’s brochures had already been printed.
Berlin’s Ambassadors of Architecture
“Little daring architecture was born of the fortune that was spent on rebuilding Berlin in the 1990’s – which was just how the city fathers wanted it.” But in the years since reunification, the challenge of embracing bold new architecture in Berlin has been enthusiastically taken up – not by the Germans, but by the architects of the foreign embassies that dot the city. “In an unusual communal experiment, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland have built a hamlet of embassies behind a glowing green copper fence in the traditional diplomatic district of Tiergarten in the former West Berlin. Across town, deep inside the former East Berlin, the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas has designed his country’s ultramodern embassy overlooking the Spree River.
A Globe Grows In Manhattan?
The National Park Service is accepting proposals for a renovation of historic Castle Williams, located on New York’s Governors’ Island between Brooklyn and Manhattan, and one of the most intriguing has come from British architect Norman Foster. “Foster has designed an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London that would fit inside the 194-year-old castle and serve as a stage for Shakespeare productions and other performing arts… The cost of the new theater is estimated at $78 million, including renovation of the castle.”
SF’s de Young Museum To Reopen With New Acquistitions
New York entrepreneur and art collector John Friede has announced that he will donate his entire 3,000-piece collection of New Guinean art to the soon-to-reopen de Young Museum in San Francisco. The collection is valued at over $100 million, and 300 pieces will be immediately exhibited in the de Young’s new building when it opens in October.
An Unexpected Ouster In Chicago
“The resignation of Eileen Mackevich as president and executive producer of the Chicago Humanities Festival, where she had worked as a founding force for 16 years, came as quite a surprise,” and not just to outsiders. Many inside the Festival’s organization were unprepared for the announcement, and Mackevich herself has admitted that she didn’t expect to be leaving at this exact moment. But conflict with the Festival’s board chair and disputes over the direction of the organization apparently sealed Mackevich’s fate, even as the Festival continues to thrive in Chicago.
How About Tying Government Spending To Orchestra Budgets?
It’s been a banner year in Minneapolis for both the Guthrie Theater, which is preparing to open a huge new riverfront home, and the Minnesota Orchestra, which has been getting rave reviews for its new Beethoven CD and recent European tour. So arts observers in the Twin Cities were stunned recently when State Representative Marty Seifert (a Republican from rural western Minnesota) proposed a bill which would cap the salaries of Guthrie director Joe Dowling and orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä at $115,000, effectively turning both organizations into non-entities on the national and international arts scene. Seifert’s bill died in committee, but he’s vowed to try again.
Strike Settled In St. Louis
The 8-week strike by the musicians of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is apparently over. One day after the SLSO management played its trump card, winning a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board that declared the strike illegal on a paperwork technicality, the two sides returned to the bargaining table and hammered out a tentative agreement. Details of the deal will be unavailable until the musicians vote to ratify it, but it is believed to be a three-and-a-half year contract.
Artistic Paneling
One year after abandoning the practice of using an expert advisory committee to select American participants for international art exhibitions, the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. State Department are reconstituting the panel. The new committee will be made up of nine diverse curators, museum directors, and artists from across the U.S., and is expected to be in place within months.