The New York City Department of Education has reached an agreement with Harlem Boys’ Choir founder Walter J. Turnbull, under which Turnbull will be allowed to continue as artistic director with the ensemble, despite charges that he covered up an incident of child molestation by an employee. Turnbull will resign as the choir’s chief executive, but his presence at the helm of the choir’s artistic operations “was deemed essential for the survival of the world-renowned singing group.”
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Wings, Rails, and Light: Ground Zero’s Train Station
“Where there was darkness on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the architect Santiago Calatrava would bring a flood of light in the form of a winged railway station, draped in glass, suffused with natural illumination and, on occasion, open to the clear skies above. Mr. Calatrava’s design for the permanent World Trade Center PATH terminal, which was unveiled yesterday, is a soaring, sculptural, steel-and-glass shell covering a cathedral-like concourse.”
PATH to Recovery
The new plan unveiled for the PATH station at Ground Zero seems to have dazzled the New Yorkers who saw it to the point that many are wondering why the design for the skyscraper and memorial at the same site could not have been as grand. “In place of a wedge (in reality, an inglorious traffic intersection), there will arise what Mr. Calatrava envisions as a bird, most likely a dove, released from the hands of a child. No more second-hand Statues of Liberty here, in other words. Rather, a prayer for peace.”
Writers’ Guild Nominees Announced
“Five movies about culture clashes and strangers in strange lands collected nominations on Thursday for best original movie script from the Writers Guild of America. Among the contenders for best original screenplay were Bend It Like Beckham, about the daughter of a traditionalist Indian Sikh family in Britain who dreams of playing soccer; Lost in Translation, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson as lonely Americans in a Tokyo hotel; and Dirty Pretty Things, about a Nigerian immigrant who uncovers grim dealings in the underbelly of London. The other nominees were The Station Agent, about a dwarf who makes friends despite trying to isolate himself, and In America, the director Jim Sheridan’s semiautobiographical tale of an Irish family struggling to survive in New York.”
Daniel Barenboim & The German Sound
The Berlin Staatskapelle is not the best orchestra in Germany, but it may be the definitive German orchestra. Under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, the Staatskapelle has again become an international force in the music world, and its distinctly German sound is an immediately recognizable beacon, in an era when many orchestras are beginning to sound alike. But what is a “German sound,” and are German orchestras really any more equipped to play German music than orchestras based in the UK or the US? Barenboim believes in the sound, and can explain it right down to the special German method of attacking a note.
The New Breed of Chelsea Galleries
A new era is blossoming in New York’s venerable Chelsea neighborhood, as personified by a slew of new galleries owned and run by “a group of enterprising young dealers who are shaking up a corner of the New York art scene.” The youngsters have a name for themselves – the New Art Dealers Alliance – and they have a mission, as well: to provide a stage for emerging artists who wouldn’t have a prayer of being exhibited at Chelsea’s more established galleries, and to make money doing it. NADA is also a sign of the growing trend towards the reemergence of the artists’ collectives which dominated the 1960s and ’70s.
Taking A Stand Against Funding Cuts
“The artistic director for one of Scotland’s leading theatre companies has resigned only a month into her post, claiming cuts by the Scottish Arts Council has made her job ‘unsustainable’. Emily Gray is to leave TAG, the premiere theatre company for children in Scotland, in April after the SAC cut its grant by more than 40%.”
Is French Film In Denial?
French filmmakers seem to have an obsession with the French Resistance which is all out of proportion to the effect the movement actually had against the invading Germans during World War II. Worse yet, France’s film industry seems decidedly unwilling to confront the ugly truth about the country’s collaboration with the Nazis. It’s not that movies portraying the truth of the situation don’t get made – they simply don’t get screened with much frequency.
Taking The Fight To The Dorm Rooms. In Norway.
Several U.S. film studios and the Motion Picture Association of America have taken their anti-piracy crusade to Nordic lands, informing officials at Oslo University that Hollywood expects the school to bar certain specific students from its IT program as a result of the MPAA’s suspicion that the students have been illegally trading copyrighted films online. The university has suspended the students’ internet privileges temporarily, but Norwegian privacy advocates are incensed at the tactics.
Small Town, Big Plans
Butler, Pennsylvania is a former farm town about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, which in recent years has grown to be a distant suburb of the Steel City, with the result that Butler’s residents are now desirous of something more of a civic identity than grain elevators can provide. “In response, the local arts council has designed a five-year plan to develop Butler Cultural Village, a one-block area in downtown Butler” which will bring together the town theater, orchestra, and a new museum in one complex.