As state governments in America find their budgets squeezed, money for education is being cut. And educators, looking for places to cut, are choosing to kill arts education. In California, “music enrollment statewide is at a 20-year low, according to the latest statistics. From a high of 1.1 million students in the 1999-2000 school year, music participation plummeted to 624,516 students last year. The trend is disturbing to music teachers and others now that more is known about how the arts benefit academics.”
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SF Museum Garage Construction Halted By Judge
A San Francisco judge has halted construction of a parking garage in front of the de Young Museum, saying that the way the garage is being financed is not allowed. Delay in construction will cost the museum millions. “The de Young museum’s summer 2005 reopening will be delayed until the garage is built, because a big hole will be created in front of the museum as the garage is being constructed. Museum officials now expect to open the facility next September — three months late — which means $3.8 million in lost revenue and added expenses,
How The Arts Convinced Florida To Give It Money
A year after Florida chopped its arts funding, how did Florida arts lovers get its legislature to approve 115-2 to restore $21 million a year in new funding? The old fashioned way – lobbying. “Before the first committee meeting of this legislative year, arts groups began flooding legislative offices with 200,000 multicolored protest cards, just one of the strategies dreamed up in weekly conference calls that organizers held with arts groups in each of the state’s 67 counties.”
Sydney Opera House Being Retrofitted With Bomb Protection
The Sydney Opera House is getting bomb blast barriers for its entryways. “Police and security agencies fear a truck or car bomb could be driven into one of Sydney’s most recognisable landmarks. The building has been identified by ASIO as one of Australia’s top terrorist targets along with the rail network and government buildings in Sydney.”
Sued To Fame And Fortune
No one likes to be sued, right? Usually. But some publishers find that being sued over a book is a big boost for sales. “Paradoxically, a lawsuit, especially a flimsy one, can be a boon to a book’s fortunes. And increasingly, some writers and publishers admit to hoping they’ll attract one.”
The Greening Of A Freeway
The route along the freeway in Boston that has been relocated underground (the Big Dig) is to become a greenbelt. As the old freeway is dismantled, Robert Campbell is taken with how big the space is. “It’s just possible that the greenway site is more stunning today than it will ever be again. That’s because of the way the remaining fragments of the old artery stand around in it, like mysterious wreckage from an earlier civilization. They may be junk, but — as artists long ago discovered — junk can be visually rich.”
MTT, American Conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas has been music director of the San Francisco Symphony for ten years. “The conductor was a man with a mission from the beginning, and he is still focused on bringing forward new music, American music, and neglected repertory as well as refreshing the standard classics. But his explorations have taken on a special urgency in recent years.”
Virtually Yours – Musicians Battle The Box
The musicians union in New York, battling use of the “virtual orchestra” on Broadway, says the electronic box “is all part of an interconnected scheme to ultimately replace live music on Broadway and elsewhere with a machine.”
The Music Biz – New Beginning
The end of the music business? Not hardly, says Mark Cuban. “If you’re a music consumer, this is the glory days. It’s a golden age if you’re not trying to protect your arcane business practices. Instead of listening to music lovers who want to take the path of least resistance to hear their tunes, the labels are trying to get you to do it their way. There are a lot of untapped opportunities that are not being utilized.”
The Power Of The Da Vinci Code
“In Paris, throughout the U.S. and elsewhere, insatiable fans are exploring the controversial themes in “The Da Vinci Code,” even pulling members of the intelligentsia into the novel’s energy field. The book’s grip on the popular imagination is so fierce that academics and theologians are putting aside their ancient Greek and Latin texts and boning up on Brown’s characters, including a self-mutilating, white-haired albino villain.”