UK museums warn that they need an extra £115 million a year to keep up their services. “A Manifesto for Museums, launched on Tuesday, contained a warning that large London attractions may not be able to keep going at their present levels.
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Why UK Museums Want More Funding
Some 2000 British museums say that funding of museums hasn’t kept up with costs in recent years. Museums generate £3bn for the economy and employ 40,000 people. And members of the public make 100 million museum visits per year – more than the total crowds at all the UK’s live sporting events put together.”
A Museum’s Chance In Hell (For Funding, That Is)
So what are UK museums’ chances of getting a 25 percent increase in their funding from the government? “If the words “snowball”, “chance” and “hell” were in the air, a week before budget day and a few months before a tough spending review, nobody uttered them.”
Gray: My Wrecked Life
Spalding Gray had been depressed for some time before he disappeared a few months ago: “It’s another rocky time. I’m still limping from the car accident. My skull was fractured in the car accident, my hip was broken and my sciatic nerve was almost severed. The hospital they sent me to was not very good. There was no medicine they could find that was very helpful. It’s depressing. I can’t swim. I’m not cross-country skiing. I’m not hiking the way I used to. It’s ragged time. I’m just not whole.”
Gray – It Was All About Me
Spalding Gray was an artist all about self-absorbtion. “He called himself a poetic journalist, and the rhyme scheme went something like: Me-Me-Me-Me-Me.”
The Use Of Dr. Seuss
Great to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the creator of Dr. Seuss. “But exactly which Dr. Seuss is being celebrated? Is it the literary Seuss, creator of charmingly anarchic, oddball characters whose adventures are recounted in ingenious nonsense verse? Or is it the Seuss of Hollywood and myriad product tie-ins who has been “interpreted” and marketed and theme-parked within an inch–maybe beyond–of his reputation?”
Dance Masters
“Dance Masters of America, a national organization for dance educators formed in 1884, is one of the largest promoters of dance competitions in the country. Last year more than 5,000 dancers age 7 to 25 competed in Dance Master competitions nationwide.”
Tony Kushner, Inveterate Tinkerer
Tony Kushner is so successful as a playwright that his new plays are performed as soon as he writes them. But he never stopps tinkering and rewriting them. “People think that I’m self-indulgent. I try not to be. My job is to entertain an audience. It’s not to teach them, it’s not to improve them.”
Nielsen To Track Tivo Viwers
In another sign that the viewing habbits of TV watchers is changing, the ratings company Nielsen says it will begin tracking viewers that record TV shows on digital recorders such as Tivo for later viewing. “The company will keep track of shows that are recorded and watched within seven days but will not collect information on ‘trick modes’ like fast-forwarding, rewinding or pausing.”
The UK’s DVD Addiction
Brits spend more per capita on DVDs than any other country in Europe. “Almost three billion euros (£2bn) were spent in the UK on DVDs during 2003. There are currently more than 50 million DVD players in western Europe – equivalent to one in every three homes.”