A group of American publishers has sued the Treasury Department on First Amendment grounds, seeking to overturn regulations that prohibit the editing of manuscripts from countries under U.S. economic sanctions. The rules, they say, prevent them “from performing typical editing functions like reordering sentences and paragraphs, correcting grammar and adding illustrations or photographs.”
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And The 2004 “Genius” Designation Goes To …
“A barber, a high school debating coach, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, a farmer and a ragtime pianist are among the 23 recipients of $500,000 ‘genius awards’ being announced today by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This is one of the few years women and nonacademics have dominated the list since the annual awards program began in 1981.”
Non-Profit Exec Salary Growth Slows
In what may be a response to the government’s announcement that it will begin paying closer attention to such things, the rate at which the chief executives of U.S. non-profit companies rose at their slowest rate in ten years in 2003, according to a new survey. Executive pay rose 3.66%, with a median salary of $291,356. That rate of increase was still nearly double the national inflation rate of 1.9%, however.
SoCal’s Little Big-Time Theater
The list of cities that can count themselves as “springboards to Broadway” is brutally short: Chicago, Boston, maybe Atlanta. And yet, a string of small playhouses in Southern California has somehow become a favorite of the New York crowd over the years, and claimed its place as one of the top regional theaters in America. 40 years after its birth in a hardware store, South Coast Repertory has given birth to “Pulitzer Prize winners like Margaret Edson’s ‘Wit,’ Nilo Cruz’s ‘Anna in the Tropics,’ and [South Coast co-founder Donald] Margulies’s “Dinner With Friends.”
Separate Art From Its Owner’s Reputation? Not Likely.
The controversial Flick collection currently on view in Germany has, temporarily, at least, “put Berlin on the map with cities like London and New York. But it has also come at a steep cost. There is no promise of a gift to Germany from Mr. Flick, who can take back the art when his loan expires in seven years, and is free to sell work while the exhibition naturally inflates the value of his collection.” According to Michael Kimmelman, the Germans have made a major mistake in assuming that the art could ever be viewed by the world without being sullied the taint of its ownership.
Looking For The Underappreciated, Finding The Overrated
The Place Prize awards were meant to do for modern dance what the Turner Prize does for modern art – namely, get an entire nation talking about it, for better or for worse. With a top prize of £100,000, “the idea of this biennial jamboree is to find, by means of an open entry, outsider judges and audience votes, neglected talent that the over-prescriptive Arts Council system misses. So how did the inaugural final manage to be so inferior to the best (or even the average) being produced in British modern dance nowadays?”
London’s Most Unassuming Impresario Bows Out
Neil Bartlett is leaving his post as artistic director of London’s Lyric Hammersmith theater after 11 years, having “put his own name to no fewer than 10 translations of plays by Racine, Marivaux, Genet and Labiche, while a new version of Don Juan will be his third Molière… He has also devised, designed and even appeared in his own shows. The one string missing from his bow is that he doesn’t seem to sell the ice creams.” Still, Bartlett has never been much of a self-promoter, and his tenure at the Lyric, while undeniably successful, was surprisingly low-profile.
If You’ve Gotta Say The Seven Words, Say ‘Em En Español
This year, the Federal Communications Commission has devoted an astonishing amount of energy to targeting and punishing radio stations which violate the commission’s “decency” standards. So why is it that Spanish language stations are free to say whatever they wish, regardless of how vulgar it may be? It’s simple: the FCC “employs only two Spanish-speaking investigators to deal with 705 Spanish radio and TV outlets in the United States.”
LA Opera Picks Conlon
“James Conlon, who stepped down in June as principal conductor of the Paris Opera, was hired Monday as music director of the Los Angeles Opera starting in July 2006.” Conlon succeeds Kent Nagano, whose contract runs through next spring. He will conduct as many as five productions per season, and intends to spend nearly half of each year in Los Angeles. The appointment has to be considered a major coup for L.A. Opera, which has been gaining prestige in recent years under the artistic leadership of Placido Domingo.
Montreal Symphony Taps Ex-Premier
Former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard has been elected the new chairman of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, succeeding Jacques Laurent. Bouchard inherits an organization in turmoil and on the verge of a musicians’ strike. The MSO has been in flux since the abrupt and angry resignation of music director Charles Dutoit nearly two years ago, although the recent appointment of Kent Nagano to succeed him had led to speculation that the orchestra was beginning to regroup.