New York’s New Museum of Contemporary Art is currently homeless, as it waits for its new home in the Bowery to be completed, but rather than merely vanishing from the scene for two years, the museum is hoping to renovate its image in the interim. “The museum’s curators were… acutely aware of the need to use the transition to the new building as an opportunity to think again about the definition of the museum. And so, while it has taken 7,000 square feet of space on the first floor of the Chelsea Art Museum on West 22nd Street for a year, its curators decided that the first major show would not be within walls, but outside them.”
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Taking Inventory Of An Unexpected Treasure Trove
When the Philadelphia public school district discovered earlier this month that it was in possession of an art collection potentially valued at tens of millions of dollars, it was hard to know what to do about it. What the district is doing is to mount a full-scale measure of what exactly it has, where it all came from, what it may or may not be worth, and how such a varied and amorphous collection of works could best be utilized in an educational sense. One thing is for sure – the district doesn’t intend to sell any of the works – but it will take great resolve for officials to avoid being stampeded by the various interested parties sure to come out of the woodwork.
A Cross-Country Rail Rock Extravaganza, Only 34 Years Late
It was more than a quarter-century ago when some of the brightest lights of the rock ‘n roll world – including Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, and the Grateful Dead – boarded a train in Toronto and proceeded to ride it 2,100 miles across Canada, performing festival-style shows in three cities and, more importantly, capturing the whole trip on film. “The shows for the paying customers… were terrific, but the real action took place during the impromptu jam sessions and inebriated socializing on the train.” Thirty-four years later, the sights and sounds of the Festival Express are finally getting a public viewing, after decades of legal battles over copyrights and unpaid bills.
Tibetan Art To Shine At New NYC Museum
“The Rubin Museum of Art opens on Oct. 2 with kite flying on the West Side piers, a Himalayan dog parade and some 100 fluttering prayer flags by contemporary artists. An infusion of $60 million has transformed a decommissioned temple of haute consumerism into an elegant, multihued jewel of a museum, designed by the architect Richard Blinder of Beyer Blinder Belle. Its 70,000 square feet, decked out in bright red, green, gold and blue, comprise America’s largest, boldest and most significant museum devoted entirely to Tibetan and other Himalayan art.” The whole gaudy enterprise is the brianchild of collector Donald Rubin, who bought the building that became the museum on a whim back in 1998.
The Year Of The Documentary
It’s clear now that we are in the midst of a documentary boom, says Geoff Pevere, and the more controversial, the better. So what’s driving the rush to fact-based films? Well, technology has made such films a lot easier to make than they used to be. The world is a polarized and dangerous place at the moment, which whets the appetite for information. And the Bush administration, with its constant attempts to “manage” information, has certainly made a certain sector of the populace thirst for alternative knowledge. “One more thing: When [documentaries] work, they can knock you flat on your ass.”
Is Spurned Edwards Leaving NPR?
Since being forced off the mike as host of Morning Edition several months ago, Bob Edwards has kept a relatively low profile as he travels the country promoting his latest book. But as the book tour draws to a close, Edwards admits that he has been listening to job offers from around the country, and while he declines to say if he plans to leave National Public Radio entirely, it seems a very real possibility.
West End Story
Attendance at theaters in London’s famous West End are at a record low point, and at least one British arts executive is blaming the district’s overly careful and conservative selection of shows. But the problem may have as much to do with a lack of consistency at the theaters, and with the fact that few shows are being given a chance to dig in and establish an audience base.
Pint-Sized Musicians Take On A Conductor Controversy
Proving that major symphony orchestras don’t have a lock on serious conflict between musicians and boards, the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS) are currently embroiled in an embarrassingly public conflict over the attempted firing of the organization’s chief conductor and artistic director. Dr. Jean Montes, a “charismatic, 33-year-old Haitian” who was hired last fall to lead the top GTCYS orchestra, is quite popular with his students and their parents, but apparently quite difficult for his fellow staffers to get along with. Last night, nearly 300 Montes supporters showed up at a hastily called meeting to urge the board to reconsider his dismissal.
Funding Cuts In Music City
Arts groups in Nashville were stunned this week to discover that their annual funding from the area’s Metro Arts Commission had been slashed by tens of thousands of dollars. The cuts are partly due to an overall shortage of available funds, but also to the use of “an extensive checklist of performance ratings” for each group receiving funds.
Ronstadt’s Crusade Continues
Linda Ronstadt apparently isn’t bothered by having her encore drowned out by shouting and booing audience members. A week after being booted out of a Las Vegas casino hotel for the awful crime of dedicating her last song of the evening to controversial filmmaker Michael Moore, Ronstadt is continuing to reference Moore as “a great American patriot” at the end of her performances, causing walkouts, a mix of boos and cheers, and the occasional cry of “Traitor!” wherever she goes.