Buenos Aries had one of the world’s great cultural scenes in the 1960s and 70s, seemingly pointing to better times ahead. “But the world did not take the turn they were all expecting for it to take. The times that followed were hard and painful. Dreams were trashed by the world’s powerful. The following decades to this cultural impasse can be described as the entering into the system’s main flow of mass production and consumption.” Now there are signs that Buenos Aries is regaining its groove.
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Columbus Dance Fears Rockettes
Columbus, Ohio’s BalletMet had a hugely successful debut in New York recently, and artistically the company seems to be on a firm upward trajectory. But the company is anxious on its home turf about a threat to its annual cash cow Nutcracker. “The Rockettes’ impending Columbus debut has the folks at BalletMet fearing that seasonal audiences will opt for novel entertainment over a familiar hometown favorite.”
Fox Appeals Record FCC Fines
Fox TV appeals record $1.18 million FCC fines for “indecency” on one of its shows. “Fox said the show was not indecent, and it argues that over-the-air broadcasters are now treated as “second-class citizens” by a Federal Communications Commission that unfairly holds them but not their rivals to decency standards.”
Powell: FCC Has To Step In On Broadcast Indecency Complaints
FCC Chairman Michael Powell says chill. Take a breath. “We are not the federal Bureau of Indecency. We do not watch or listen to programs hoping to catch purveyors of dirty broadcasts. Instead, we rely on public complaints to point out potentially indecent shows. In recent years, complaints about television and radio broadcasts have skyrocketed, and the F.C.C. has stepped up its enforcement in response.”
Leading By A $10 Million Example
The chairman of Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center has donated $10 million to the arts complex, with all the money to be earmarked for theatre programming. Stephen Schwarzman’s gift, which was intended partly to spur other contributions, is the largest the Kennedy Center has receieved 2004.
Reviving A City, The Boring Way
When Ed Rendell became mayor of Philadelphia in the early 1990s, the city was at a civic and cultural low point, having seen its national reputation plummet in the previous two decades. Over his two terms as mayor, Rendell spearheaded a relentless drive to revive his city, and championed arts initiatives and building projects which he saw as essential to Philadelphia’s future. But while the city’s comeback has been remarkable, the buildings used to accomplish the feat are somewhat disappointing from an architectural standpoint. “Given a once-in-a-generation chance to distinguish itself with design, Philadelphia instead showed a preference for the prosaic.”
The One-Man Museum
Leonard Lauder runs the Whitney Museum. No, that’s not strong enough: Leonard Lauder is the Whitney Museum. “As chairman of the Whitney for the last 14 years, he has run the museum like a family business, deploying his considerable resources and connections on its behalf, regularly scribbling suggestions to staffers on his blue personal stationery. It is a hands-on approach that makes it hard to tell where he ends and the museum begins.” But that warm-and-fuzzy one-man management is making things difficult for the Whitney at a time when other New York museums are grabbing the spotlight and the dollars that come with it. Questions abound, not the least of which is whether the Whitney can survive Lauder’s eventual departure.
History As A Selling Point
The New York Philharmonic is obsessed with its own history, to the extent that it keeps a running count of all the concerts it has ever performed in its program book. The continual focus on the ensemble’s venerable status has a purpose, though: in a city as culturally rich as the Big Apple, it takes a lot to impress the populace, and the Phil counts on its status as an American original to bolster its modern reputation as one of the country’s top orchestras.
The Lighter Side of Contract Negotiations
Lots of arts organizations negotiated new contracts with their musicians, dancers, and stagehands this year, and while the resulting documents usually make for fairly dull reading, there are a few notable contractual oddities scattered across the vast union landscape. The San Francisco Symphony notes that “the music of Ludwig van Beethoven need not be performed at Beethoven festivals.” Cleveland Orchestra musicians taller than 6’4″ are entitled to exit-row or bulkhead seating on tour flights. And dancers at the Houston Ballet Theater get a $47 bonus if they are required to simulate diving into a lake.
Finally, Some Good News From Florida
It’s been a rough few years for the arts in South Florida, but recent trends seem to be signaling that better times are ahead. The state legislature has begun “rebuilding arts appropriations stripped during last year’s cultural cleansing. Private and corporate philanthropy increased significantly this year… [and] the Miami-Dade County populace voted on Nov. 2 to spend nearly $553 million for arts and culture.”