Blog

Bad News? Really? Quick, Hide It!

It was nearly three years ago that the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera merged their operations, supposedly in order to pool their resources and make both groups more financially secure. But last summer, during contract negotiations, the merged organization’s musicians became suspicious about ballooning deficits, and requested an independent audit of the Symphony/Opera’s finances. The results of that audit are now in, but the company is refusing to share the information with its full board, despite indications that the audit placed the organization near bankruptcy.

The Awards Shows – Does Anybody Care?

Awards shows are becoming big TV ratings losers. “The Grammys, broadcast this month on CBS, attracted roughly 19 million viewers, a 28 percent decline from last year. Even the Oscars have been steadily dropping in viewership. The 1998 telecast, when “Titanic” won 11 awards, was the last big success, with more than 87 million viewers in the United States. Last year about 43.5 million watched.”

A Pol Pot Story. In Dance.

Good art can illuminate the human condition. But can dance do justice to the killings fields of Pol Pot’s horrible regime? “There were 300 musicians and dancers in the royal palace and only 30 came back. They survived by hiding their identities – they told Pol Pot’s cadres that they were seamstresses or pedicab drivers.”

Scratch This – A “Safe” Place For New Work?

BAC’s Scratch nights offer new experimental productions. Jerry Spring the Opera went the Scratch route. But “the defining cliche of Scratch culture is that, in it, artists are offered “a safe space to fail”. But a safe space isn’t the kind of “risk-taking” environment that Scratch proponents espouse, of course: it’s the reverse, a neutralised zone in which (necessarily) risk-averse organisations can release beta-versions of new products without exposing themselves commercially.”

Maxamir From Miramax?

What will the Weinstein’s’ new production company look like after they leave Miramax? “Some things seem evident about the Weinsteins’ future company: It will be an independent production company that will more than likely have a distribution arm. Many industry insiders believe that another partnership with a large studio for distribution is unlikely, considering their tumultuous relationship with Disney. Their financing—which will probably come from a Wall Street backer, or several—will be big enough so they can continue to finance pictures like Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain and The Aviator, while acquiring foreign and small independent movies. It may not be Miramax, but it will be close enough to be Maxamir.”

Will Broadcast Indecency Bill Be Fixed Before It Becomes Law?

The broadcast decency bill overwhelmingly passed by Congress last week contains hefty fines for individual performers judged to engage in indecency. But this provision might go away when the Senate and the House reconcile their bills. Performers’ unions are strongly opposed to the bill: “These fines are for any American, not just creative artists and broadcasters. Radio callers, politicians, virtually any individual is potentially subject to these outsized fines. While most speak about this subject as it relates to ‘Hollywood,’ John Q. Public has as much at risk as do our members.”

Canada’s Arts Spending Plan

How did the arts fare in this week’s proposed Canadian budget? There is one arts initiative, but it’s big. “Ottawa announced it would spend $688 million on its Tomorrow Starts Today program – $172 million a year for five years. Tomorrow Starts Today is a Canadian Heritage Ministry scheme to help develop the arts in Canada. It supports a variety of other arts groups, including the Canada Council, which receives $25 million annually from the program.”