The music program at the Detroit High School for the Performing Arts is one of the best in the nation, and has been widely praised for its work in bringing the arts to an inner-city population which might otherwise have been economically frozen out of such opportunities. But the program has apparently also become a favorite target of area vandals, with more than $200,000 of damage caused to instruments and equipment in the most recent break-in. Desiree Cooper is dismayed by the vandalism, but wonders if such rebellions without cause are actually further evidence that Detroit’s youth desperately need a chance to experience the arts.
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Best of Both Worlds
When orchestras go looking for a new chief executive, the first question that must be answered is whether the ensemble wants to hire someone with intimate knowledge of the music world, or a numbers expert with proven experience balancing budgets. The Fort Worth (Texas) Symphony, however, has decided to go with some of each talent in hiring Katherine Akos as its new CEO. Akos is a violinist, daughter of a Chicago Symphony musician, and also an experienced fund-raiser in the non-profit world. She joins an orchestra which is in comparatively good financial shape, but is struggling to avoid a deficit for the current season.
MTV Picks A Fight With European Record Companies
MTV is fighting with independent music labels in Europe, demanding more music for less money. “MTV Networks Europe has warned independent labels, which produce 22% of the European music market, that their stars’ videos might not be shown unless they sign a deal that halves their payments for the music. MTV owns VH1 and its own branded channels and has been accused of ‘bully boy tactics’ over the dispute.”
To Boldly Go Where The BBC Has Gone Before…
The UK’s National Theatre is leaping into the increasingly dangerous fray surrounding the country’s role in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. “The NT’s new season will culminate in September with a play by one of the war’s fiercest critics, Sir David Hare.” The play focuses on several “neoconservatives” within the Bush Administration, and argues that they intended to remove Saddam Hussein from power years before the 9/11 attacks which supposedly precipitated the American action. The title of the work, which is taken from a statement by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, is “Stuff Happens.”
File-Swapping: Who’s Responsible?
“A federal appeals judge on Tuesday questioned whether distributors of online file-sharing software should be held responsible for copyright infringement just because some people use the programs to swap copyright music and movies.” The entertainment industry estimates that 90% of the content flowing through file-swapping sites is illegal, and argues that the company’s that make the software count on pirates for most of their business revenue. “The case’s outcome could determine whether music and film companies can hold distributors of file-sharing software liable for illegally swapped music and movies online.”
No Place For Pirates
The Academy Awards voter who was recently charged with having passed advance copies of films on to a friend who subsequently distributed copies illegally has been expelled from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. It’s the first time that the Academy has expelled a member in its history.
Painting Depicting Bush and Howard Draws Flack
A painting in the National Gallery of Victoria that lampoons Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s friendship with George W. Bush is drawing outraged critics. “The three-piece work fills almost half of one wall at the National Gallery of Victoria’s indigenous section. The vibrant colours belie a dark commentary on global politics, with satires of popular culture and Australia depicted as the 51st state of the US.”
WTC – Compromised To Death
The design process for the World Trade Center is a big mess of compromises and hodgepodge ideas that really won’t satisfy anyone. “The design as it now stands bears scant resemblance either to Daniel Libeskind’s compelling sketches or to David Childs’s original concept. It is an unnatural hybrid made up of the work of two architects, each of whom believed he had the right to design the building himself.”
Museums – What To Do With The Excess?
Museums generally have many more objects than they can exhibit. So there have been proposals to “use it or lose it” whereby museums could divest themselves of objects they may no longer want, or might profitably sell. But “the fate of artefacts should be kept away from the demands of the purse or politics. That way they are free from being manipulated by politicians or by threats to a collection in a funding crisis. Museums are not shops or businesses. They were founded in order to ensure the survival of and research into artefacts, manuscripts and works of art. Short-term financial gain would be achieved at the expense of the fundamental purpose of the institution. It is not always predictable in the present what will be regarded as interesting in the future.”
A New Dance Building That Dances
Three years ago, a man looking for a dance school for his daughter, offered the University of Arizona in Tucson funds to build a new home for its dance program. “This story sounds like something out of an old Fred Astaire movie, and why not? Just looking at the Eller Theatre, designed by Gould Evans Associates in Phoenix, makes you want to tap your feet. The finely proportioned rectangular glass volume that hosts the dance studios seems to pirouette above a lush green lawn.”