How do you promote your movie’s Oscar prospects? Ads are good. TV promotions too. But the classy approach is to hold an event to talk about the movie. And if a few of the stars stop by to make a contribution…
Blog
Reinventing American Radio
American radio has been stagnant for a few years. So how to revive? “The nation’s biggest radio companies are responding to a grousing and mercurial audience by cutting the number of commercials per hour, expanding the range of music played on the air and experimenting with new formats.”
What The Arts Mean To Students
“Students with high levels of arts participation outperform “arts-poor” students in virtually every important measure. We only recently have begun to document the impact of the arts on teaching and learning. But re search has linked arts-based education to the development of basic cognitive skills, skills used to master other subjects such as reading, writing and mathematics.”
The Classical Savion
Savion Glover could do anything next in his career. So what has he chosen? Classical music. “I’ve been listening to classical music since my mom introduced us to it. So it’s nothing new, rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, rat-a-rat-a-tat-tat.”
The US – Failing At School
“Nearly six in 10 high school graduates in 2005 will start college in the fall, but half of them — and more than two-thirds of the African American and Latino students who enroll — will fail to earn either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. So why do U.S. media, policymakers and university administrators continue to worry more about who gets into elite colleges and how much they pay for that privilege? Why don’t they focus on how few students make it through this nation’s higher education system with the tools to help keep the society we all share on track?”
The End Of Epic The History Picture?
A number of big splashy epic historical dramas have done poorly at the box office. That’s causing Hollywood’s interest in the genre to wane…
Conflicting Faith – Religion Vs Free Speech
“Religion as faith and as an explanation of the world – why God exists, what happens after we die, who gets to heaven (or hell): most of us would run a mile from such a conversation. We know that argument was won a long time ago and there is no point discussing it. Real believers (as opposed to the soppy “there-must-be-something else” brigade) are infrequently encountered and are not in any case amenable to what we believe is reason. They have their private beliefs; let them get on with them.”
A TV Network For Everyone
“As the parade of special-interest TV networks marches on, the trick for programmers is to be both broad enough and narrow enough to stay afloat. Too general and they lose the benefit of selling a targeted audience to advertisers. Too narrow and there isn’t the interest level to support their product. If you can pinpoint an audience of 10-15 million households who do not have enough programming choices, you can pitch a network for them.”
Chicago’s Millennium Cultural Gamble
Chicago’s new Millennium Park is a hit with critics and the public. “In many minds, the vibrant new downtown park represents a spectacular and vital transformation of a city’s core, and a populist tide that, especially given all the rhapsodic national press that has flowed its way, cannot help but raise all local cultural boats. But there’s a downside. The construction of Millennium Park ate up a whopping $200 million in local arts philanthropic dollars. And it’s seeking still more donated money in 2005 to fully establish its ongoing conservancy. Some are starting to suggest that the local moneybags are in danger of being tapped out.”
TV For The Good Of Humanity
TV is bad for you, right? Or is it? “Critics ceaselessly point out television’s alleged faults. The growing girth of the nation is blamed on it; increased violence; higher levels of teen sexual activity; and finally, we are assured, the idiot box is generally dumbing us all down. But we have plenty of reasons to doubt that bill of indictment on television.”