Pamela Rosenberg is stepping down as director of San Francisco Opera. “Rosenberg has spent more time and energy than she had expected in efforts to rectify the company’s financial problems. In the face of steep budget deficits, she has had to scale back the scope of the company’s activities by almost 25 percent, cancel some new productions and make across-the-board staff cuts.”
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Hollywood Actors – The Summer Of Their Discontent
Two things are making Hollywood actors cranky this summer: “reality TV and DVDs – too new to have been fully absorbed into business as usual. The former is putting actors and writers out of work, and the latter is filling the coffers of the studios, to the consternation of the talent.”
Rating The Rosenberg Regime
And what will be the legacy of Pamela Rosenberg’s three-year reign at San Francisco Opera? “Rosenbergism — the complex blend of unusual repertoire, edgy musical values and concept-driven, psychologically fine-tuned dramaturgy that has defined her tenure so far — hasn’t been a complete success, but it hasn’t been tried and found wanting, either. The truth is that it was never completely tried at all.”
Study: Theatre Productions, Attendance Up, Money Down
“Attendance is up and the number of productions has risen by 15 percent at nonprofit theaters nationwide over the past three years. At the same time, more than half of the country’s noncommercial theater companies have been operating in the red, according to a Theatre Communications Group study.”
US Senate Asks NJ Symphony For Violin Deal Records
A US Senate committee has asked the New Jersey Symphony to turn over all records concerning a sale of 30 rare instruments for $17 million. The seller – Herb Axelrod – has been arrested for tax fraud, and the Senate is investigating abuse of charitable deductions. Meanwhile Axelrod’s lawyer is denying any wrongdoing. “Herb Axelrod didn’t cheat anybody. The fact is, he hasn’t taken a dime in charitable deductions with respect to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. All the good he has done with respect to these violins has been denigrated unfairly.”
Seattle Arts Group Recruits Audience For Reviews
Seattle contemporary performance presenter On the Boards signs up audience members to blog reviews of its performances. Powered by ArtsJournal, the blogs stimulate interaction with OtB’s audience. Sure there have been negative reviews mixed in with the good, but OtB figured that “we want to offer a place for our audience to exchange ideas, and that’s what it’s turning out to be.”
Dance – Gone To The Men?
“American modern dance was created by women, who brought men into the fold as performers. The men began to make dances and now, some female choreographers say, have taken over the field. Even fewer women choreograph ballet. This is history simplified, of course, but questions linger.”
NY’s Indian Invasion
Broadway’s Bombay Dreams is only the latest piece of Indian culture to hit New York. “Jazz musicians have been absorbing ideas and collaborating with Indian musicians at least since the 1960’s. Hip-hop has latched on to Indian rhythms. In New York’s clubs, the sounds of Bollywood and other South Asian fusions have been drawing crowds for years: some to dance, some to listen, some to mingle and network.”
Advertising – Losing The Message
Businesses spend $1 trillion a year on advertising. But “the advertising industry is passing through one of the most disorienting periods in its history. This is due to a combination of long-term changes, such as the growing diversity of media, and the arrival of new technologies, notably the internet. Consumers have become better informed than ever before, with the result that some of the traditional methods of advertising and marketing simply no longer work.”
Will Non-Profits Be Reclassified As “Political Committees”?
“The Federal Election Commission is examining whether to classify 501(c)(3) organizations, a category covering arts groups, as “political committees.” “Calling nonprofits ‘political committees’ would require them “to register and report on activities that are currently legal but require no registration or reporting.”