A strange phenomenon in Italy has caught the attention of publishers worldwide. At least one day a week, many Italian newspapers have begun offering discounted books of poetry and prose to anyone who buys the paper, and the promotion has been a rousing success. “The sales have helped raise circulation modestly and have given an unexpected infusion of cash to newspapers.” The strategy itself – using culture to sell the mainstream media – doesn’t seem to raise too many eyebrows in Italy, but in America, where consumers frequently have to be bribed to pick up a book, it seems like a complete reversal from the usual relationship between media types and artists.
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Orchestra of the Future?
If there can be said to be a single American orchestra which has consistently been at the forefront of efforts to revitalize the classical music industry, the orchestra would have to be the San Francisco Symphony under music director Michael Tilson Thomas. From innovative recordings to fearless marketing techniques to an embrace of technological synergy, the SFS/MTT partnership may be providing a crucial example for other American ensembles to follow as the 19th-century art strives for relevance in the 21st.
Fighting The FCC
“Recording artists joined radio hosts yesterday in blasting proposed broadcast indecency legislation that could subject ‘nonlicensees’ – including hosts, artists, guests and callers – to huge fines for inappropriate utterances. Current House and Senate bills would let the FCC fine individuals up to $500,000 per violation. FCC rules now place most of the burden for violations on stations and owners, with a ceiling of $11,000 for individuals. In the past, the FCC has almost never fined individuals.”
Whitney 2004: Anxious Art For A Dangerous Age
Canadian journalist Sarah Milroy visits the Whitney Biennial looking for the state of the American soul, and finds an awful lot of anxious uncertainty: “If I had to choose a word for the show it would be ‘tremulous’ — a tremulous biennial for a time of dramatic change, trauma and anxiety. A sense of fragility and flux prevails, reflecting the United States’ sense of an uncertain future and its own unsteady place in the international arena.”
Canadians Like Their Public TV
The premier of Ontario has proposed privatizing TVOntario, the province’s public broadcaster, as well as a few other government-run companies. But so far, the public isn’t on board with the plan…
Boston’s Theater Explosion
“In the next 18 months, eight new theaters with more than 4,000 seats will open in Greater Boston, ranging from the 2,500-seat Boston Opera House, large enough for Broadway blockbusters, to intimate ‘black boxes’ designed for experimental theater and dance.” In a city long short of good performance space, the building boom will give Boston audiences a stunning array of choices for the first time.
O Queens, My Beloved Verseless Home…
The much-maligned borough of Queens, in New York City, is in need of a new poet laureate. “The winner must be someone who has lived in Queens for at least five years and has written, in English, ‘poetry inspired by the borough.'” The trouble is, in three months of searching, the borough has yet to find a single writer who fits that description.
Mountain Laurel Exec Resigns
The chief executive of the Pennsylvania-based Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts, which was seeking to be the new summer home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra before collapsing under a mountain of debt this winter, has resigned shortly before a meeting of the center’s bondholders. Blaney was hired five weeks before Mountain Laurel’s opening weekend in 2003, after the center’s first CEO, Christopher Dunworth, was unexpectedly fired.
One Hurdle Down, Two Giant Chasms Left To Clear
The Florida House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to restore $21 million in annually guaranteed arts funding to the state budget, one year after cutting the subsidy in order to balance the budget. But the restoration still faces a decidedly rocky path to victory, with key Republican legislators vowing to fight it in the State Senate, and Governor Jeb Bush threatening a veto if it ever reaches his desk.
Why Shouldn’t Science Be Pretty?
“In 1993, two computer scientists devised a Java applet (PDF) to make energy fields not only visible, but really rad-looking. Each year, John Belcher at MIT holds the ‘Weird Fields’ contest among his physics students to see who can use the program to create the most aesthetically pleasing image by writing simple formulas for electromagnetism.” The point isn’t to create the most useful or efficient formula – just to come up with the one that looks the best. So what’s the point? None, really, but Belcher believes firmly that his students benefit from a well-rounded approach to the world, and if that means using science to get them to create art, so be it.