UK cultural luminaries have been bitterly complaining about a funding freeze in cultural funding proposed by the government. But Culture Minister Tessa Jowell has “strongly defended the Government’s record of increasing spending on the arts by 60 per cent in the past six years. ‘You would have to be living in a parallel universe to say that is going back to the bad old days. It’s just a denial of reality’.”
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Miami Performing Arts Center Asks For Ideas, Projects
The troubled Miami Performing Arts Center is wending itse way towards completion. But what will go in it? Well, the Cleveland Orchestra, for one. And now the MPAC has announced a program asking “local performing artists to submit ideas for development, minor funding and perhaps eventual performance in the PAC’s 2006-07 opening season. The $412 million center, with symphony hall, ballet opera house and performance theater, is set to open in October 2006.”
Novelist Infante, A Cuban Exile, Dies At 75
“Guillermo Cabrera Infante, a Cuban novelist in exile whose lavishly textured prose conjured the country he knew before the revolution he once supported, died on Monday at a hospital in London, where he had lived for 39 years. He was 75.”
Charity To ‘Jerry Springer’: Go To Hell
“A cancer charity has refused a donation from ‘Jerry Springer – The Opera’ after a religious group threatened to protest. … Christian Voice said it had warned the charity that accepting cash from a show full of ‘filth and blasphemy’ would be a public relations disaster. The show’s star, David Soul, accused the religious group of ‘strong-arm tactics’ and blackmail – adding cancer was not just a Christian problem.” The show’s cast had waived their wages for a special benefit performance Feb. 18.
Podcasting Poised To Change Radio — Quickly
Podcasting “promises a future where anyone can make radio, instead of just listen to it. The biggest podcast audiences now number in the mere tens of thousands. Yet real radio, the kind with bona fide mass audiences, is starting to use the technology to make its shows available for download. Several US public radio stations, as well as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC, are experimenting with the medium. … Given that podcasting didn’t exist nine months ago, this adoption curve is impressive. Podcasting – unregulated, low-cost, on-demand radio – is heading for a tipping point.”
Will Blog For Food
New York web designer Jason Kottke has quit his financial-services day job to devote himself full-time to blogging. Kottke’s financial plan for his blog — and thus for himself — does not include advertising, which he fears would be a barrier between his readers and himself. Instead, he is following prominent journalist and blogger Andrew Sullivan’s lead and calling on those readers to support him with donations.
Thompson’s Death May Overshadow His Life’s Work
The manner of Hunter S. Thompson’s death Sunday night could pull the focus away from his literary and journalistic merit, perhaps permanently. “Thompson’s suicide may now make it easier for the forces of reaction to dismiss his achievement. See what you get, they’ll say, for taking drugs, for mocking authority, for making yourself part of the story? It took Hemingway’s reputation years to recover from his suicide, and he’s still not all the way back. Death is only a good career move for the romantic and the obscure. For the hard-living, or the already famous, somebody’s always ready to spin suicide into a cautionary tale.”
Which Instrument Is That? Whisper In My Ear.
“Every concertgoer has wished at one time or another for a little guidance while listening to an unfamiliar piece of music — an experienced voice that could subtly whisper, ‘Here comes the second theme again,’ or, ‘That’s a bass clarinet making that rumble’ at the relevant moment. Now, thanks to wireless technology, that voice is available. Sotto voce, of course.” The hand-held Concert Companion was inspired by art-museum audio guides and operatic supertitles.
Kramer: Gates Are A “Defacement” Of Central Park
Hilton Kramer hates the Christo Gates. “My own view is that the gates are nothing less than an unforgivable defacement of a public treasure, and everyone responsible for promoting it—including our publicity-seeking Mayor—should be held accountable, not only for supporting bad taste but for violating public trust. What has to be understood about this whole affair is that it’s not only an assault on nature, but also the wanton desecration of a precious work of art.”
Random House To Offer Mobile Phone Content
Random House has invested in a company that distributes content to wireless phones. So will books be offered? “This is the first step, and we will probably see a lot of other content from Random House and Bertelsmann being offered to mobile users. One hurdle, however, is the confining nature of the mobile interface, which does not lend itself to reading books, for example. But this will probably be a lot more compelling when they start offering content from the Bertelsmann channels.”