The Canadian government’s renewal of the arts funding program known as Tomorrow Starts Today, which had cultural organizations across the country breathing a sigh of relief, was far from a foregone conclusion. Arts advocates had spent months lobbying new Heritage Minister Liza Frulla to insure that the program, which was launched in 2001, would not fall victim to the budget knife. Now, with funding secured through mid-2006, Frulla is predicting that she may have more good news for the arts when the new national budget is released early next year.
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The Last Of The Great American Newsmen?
When journalist and cultural commentator Bill Moyers signs off the PBS airwaves for good this month, he will be leaving a news industry that he believes to be in tatters, and sorely in need of self-examination. In his career, Moyers frequently bucked the conventional TV news wisdom to craft truly impressive, if admittedly partisan, works of journalism on a network which seems forever trapped in a whirlwind of bias allegations from the right. “Moyers dabbled in commercial TV for CBS, but he’s no fool. He knew his true calling was the truly independent voice of Public Broadcasting, where he led exhaustive reporting on the things that got under the skin, and grew there, like a rash.”
Creating Kahane’s Colorado Symphony
Conductor Jeffrey Kahane will have some big shoes to fill when he takes over as musid director of the Colorado Symphony next fall. For better or for worse, the CSO has been identified for a decade as Marin Alsop’s orchestra, due in large part to Alsop’s blossoming international reputation over those years. Kahane may not be as outsized a personality as Alsop, but he has some definite ideas about where his new orchestra needs to go. “One thing is the way in which the orchestra is central to the life of a community. That the orchestra is not just there to entertain, although that’s part of what we do, but to provide a sort of spiritual core to the cultural life of the community.”
Boston’s Theatre Man Of The Year
Boston’s theatre scene is crowded, yet frequently underfunded and in desperate need of structural upgrade. This year, though, the Huntington Theatre’s Michael Maso “achieved what naysayers said would never happen. He oversaw a capital campaign that has raised nearly $20 million and managed the opening of the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts… With the new spaces, the Huntington has made a commitment to developing and presenting new plays and new playwrights. And its partnership with the BCA has made the Huntington a champion of that institution’s aim to become ‘an urban cultural village.'”
Partisan & Proud Of It
“Anybody who has paid attention to Mr. Moyers’s 54-year career in journalism would not be surprised by his jeremiad. He is a rigorous journalist, one whose documentaries and television news reports always point to the facts, but when he makes up his mind, he lands hard on his conclusions. And among other epiphanies, Mr. Moyers has decided that the current administration in the White House represents a threat to free and unfettered discourse.”
Report: NJ Symphony Should Have Known Better
A scathing internal report on the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s purchase of more than two dozen rare string instruments from now-imprisoned philanthropist Herbert Axelrod has concluded that the orchestra ignored warning signs that the collection was not worth what Axelrod claimed, fast-tracked the purchase in order to meet a deadline that did not exist, and deliberately misled the public and its own trustees throughout the process. The report singles out NJSO president Lawrence Tamburri, who has since jumped to the Pittsburgh Symphony, saying that he kept reports of Axelrod’s legal troubles to himself, and ignored serious questions of authenticity raised by experts engaged by the orchestra.
Talking ‘Bout A Content Revolution
The Federal Trade Commission brought representatives of the recording industry together with purveyors of peer-to-peer file sharing networks last week for a two-day workshop designed to find common ground between the warring factions. There doesn’t appear to be much, but at the very least, such face-to-face meetings take away both sides’ ability to posture, and force everyone involved to consider the logic of the opposing position. Still, peer-to-peer network operators insist that the recording industry isn’t interested in any partnership that doesn’t completely wipe out file sharing, and solutions appear to be a long way off.
Jabba The Art
The shortlist for the fifth annual Beck’s Futures art prize, which honors contemporary UK artists, has been released, and it includes a lifesize sculpture of Jabba the Hutt surrounded by bikini-clad women. The prize is not restricted by medium, however, and the Jabba sculptor will be competing against painters, installation artists, and filmmakers for the pretigious prize.
Now In Pop Culture – The Big Discussion (Literally)
“Discussions about body size are on the upswing, as pop culture – apparently trying to keep pace with news reports about obesity among Americans – is generating entertainment that deals with being fat. From Broadway to books, reality TV to the movies, the lives of the overweight are being mined for laughs and drama – giving a voice to those who typically don’t get heard, and testing the theory that society is becoming more tolerant of bigger bodies.”
Swiss Cut National Arts Budget Because Of Controversial Exhibit
The Swiss parliament has voted to cut the budget of the Swiss Arts Council because it supported a controversial exhibition in Paris. “Entitled “Swiss-Swiss Democracy”, the exhibition contains an attack on the justice minister and rightwing People’s Party figurehead, Christoph Blocher. It also takes aim at the country’s system of direct democracy.”