Theatre Royal in Dumfries, Scotland is 212 years old, but badly in need of repair.
“The theatre was built in 1792, and is considered the oldest extant theatre in the country. But the cost of repairs and modernisation, and the demands of safety and disability laws, were threatening to close it down.” Now the government is stepping in with money to save the day.
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Edinburgh Fringe Takes On Politics
“On the subject of conflict between the West and the Arab world – in all its forms, from the war in Iraq, through the growing nightmare in the Middle East, to its impact on this autumn’s American presidential election – passions are running so high that the theme seems to pervade the Fringe programme like a leitmotif.”
A (Spike) Lee Grows In Brooklyn
Spike Lee is calle by some the black Woody Allen. He doesn’t like the comparison. And, he still has difficulty getting funding for projects. “Why is it so hard? For me, I’ll give you three reasons. One is I’ve never had a blockbuster. No. 2, I don’t necessarily do standard Hollywood films. And No. 3, when studios do decide to do films that are geared toward an African-American audience, their vision of who African-Americans are is different from mine — a lot of times it’s in direct conflict with how I see African-Americans.”
The Bolshoi’s Bellyflop
The Bolshoi fell off its shoes in London this week. “One began to regard the dancers with the sort of pity onlookers must have felt at the Charge of the Light Brigade, though this affair was certainly not magnificent. Now, we all cherish the concept of an artistic right to fail. But it sometimes seems astonishing how, in the development of a piece which costs a vast amount of money to stage, nobody at any point takes a look from the empty stalls and cries out: ‘Hang on, this is a disaster’!”
The Bolshoi’s Failed Promise
Much was made of the Bolshoi’s current visit to London – how the company has been rebuilt, and how artistically things haven’t been this good in years. Sad to report, but the new production of Romeo and Juliet is a stinker. “A lack of directorial and choreographic inventiveness allowed the piece to sink like a stone.”
NJ Arts Cash In On Hotel-Motel Taxes
“New Jersey, whose Legislature approved the creation of a hotel-motel occupancy tax last year to provide a dedicated stream of arts funding for the cash-strapped state, will have over $22 million available to give to not-for-profit arts groups during the next fiscal year, a $6 million jump over the current fiscal year.”
Harlem Apollo Deal Under Strutiny
“A new deal to help renovate Harlem’s Apollo Theater has come under scrutiny from federal development officials, who are concerned the financing may violate the rules of $4 million in government grants the famous venue has already received.”
Syracuse Gets In To Arts Journalism
Syracuse University launches America’s first arts journalism degree program. “Graduates of the one-year, 36-credit program will receive a master’s degree in arts journalism from SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in one of five concentrations: architecture, film, fine arts, music and theater.”
V&A: Death Spiral
It looks increasingly as though Daniel Libeskind’s Spiral addition to the Victoria & Albert Museum won’t get built after all. “In theory its striking tumbling-boxes look is not the issue. But from the moment the Spiral was chosen over seven competing designs in 1996, it has stirred passionate debate here, dividing traditionalists from those eager to see London embrace avant-garde architecture. And inevitably this controversy has shadowed the museum’s arduous search for financing.”
Why Doesn’t Elgar Travel?
“Why has Elgar failed to find favor outside England? Is his music really ‘untranslatable’? Or might the problem instead be extra-musical? Even inside England, after all, there has always been a small but vocal cadre that has objected to Elgar’s music for reasons that have little to do with its merits.”