“The newly announced chairman of the 2005 Man Booker prize has admitted that the judges are unlikely to read all 130 books in contention, while describing his fellow judges as “light on the minorities” and the process as like a “world federation wrestling match”.”
Blog
Taking Stock In San Antonio
A new study indicates that residents of San Antonio enjoy art and cultural events, but are increasingly frustrated with the lack of financial support given to the organizations that make up the city’s cultural scene. More than two-thirds of residents even support a $5-per-capita hike in the amount the city spends on the arts, which is significant when you consider how Texans normally feel about tax increases. But San Antonio’s real cultural problem has never been the public sector, but private donors and foundations who either don’t give nearly as much as their counterparts in other cities, or who give without any real understanding of where their money is going.
Artists, Teachers Protest Paid Admission At The Louvre
Some 200 artists and teachers protested outside the Louvre last weekend complaining about a decision to strip them of free admission to the museum. Since September, artists, teachers and students no longer have free entry to the Louvre. “For an artist, the Louvre is oxygen. People whose job it is to transmit art must have access to it.”
Academic To Head Booker Jury
John Sutherland has been named head of this year’s Booker Prize jury. “He is professor of modern English literature at University College London and writes a column for The Guardian. He has also written or edited 50 books ranging from critiques of classic novels to a book about alcoholism, partly based on his own experiences.”
San Diego’s Newly Cooperative Partners
The pact reached this week between the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera to share a common orchestra is significant for both organizations, and the deal appears to have been reached without much acrimony, an accomplishment for two groups which have not always played well together. Part of the success of the deal was getting away from traditional notions of a merger, which usually imply pending unemployment for some musicians and staffers. Instead, orchestra and opera officials are taking pains not to use the m-word, and are instead calling the pact a “contract for services.”
Copy-editing The Skin Mag (A Personal Reflection)
Then there was the time Daniel Asa Rose took a job as a copy editor – at a porn publication. Even here, (at least some of )the niceties of style need to be followed. Let’s see, do you hyphenate…
The Christo And Jeanne-Claude Show (Coming To A Central Park Near You)
It’s taken 26 years for Christo and Jeanne-Claude to get their Central Park Gates project approved and built. Now it’s being sintalled in the park. “The Christos make no secret that their traveling show—from the political jockeying to the public debates to events like the signing of an original drawing, such as the one they’ve given to New York—is all part of what they consider their grand work of art. Whether this process is a critique of art and bureaucracy or simply great public theater, it’s an undeniably canny way to conduct business.”
Salzburg On A Mozart Binge
The Salzburg Festival will produce all 22 of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s operas and musical theatre works next year in a marathon 250th birthday present to the Austrian musical genius…
True Genius (According to Whom?)
Attempting to make a list of American musical geniuses is an exercise doomed to fail, writes Joe Nickell. First there’s the problem of how you define genius. And it gets even more difficult from there. “Why attempt to narrow the field of geniuses when so many have clearly existed, in many different cultures and traditions and disciplines, throughout history?”
Does Classical Music Cure Petty Crime? Anything Else? (Hint: Think Finland)
So some rail stations in England are playing classical music to scare away hoodlums. Bust doesn’t music have a more profound effect? “Which country achieved the best Year 10 results in science and mathematics last year? Finland is the answer. Yes, Finland, with a population the size of Scotland’s and an impenetrable language. What are the Finns doing right? Every child in Finland is given an instrument to play from the first day at school. They learn to read notes on stave before letters on page. They spend hours at drawing and drama. The result is a society of with few tensions and profound culture. Finnish Radio broadcasts in Latin once a week. Finnish railways do not need to play Sibelius, except for pleasure.”