It’s not an exaggeration to say that the arts in South Florida are on life support, and in serious danger of slipping into oblivion. With the demise of the Florida Philharmonic still sending shockwaves through the arts community, and legislative funding for all arts having been slashed by nearly 80% in one year, local leaders have convened a summit with the intent of finding new, workable business models for the arts. Lobbyists are encouraging supporters to look beyond the traditional model of state funding, which they say may never return to previous levels.
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Litton Stepping Down In Dallas
Andrew Litton, who has been music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 1994, has announced that he will leave the post when his current contract expires in 2006. In his time in Texas, Litton has hired nearly 1/3 of the DSO’s musicians, and taken the ensemble to national prominence as one of the top American orchestras. Litton says he intends to devote more time to conducting opera and developing children’s television programs about music. He will also continue to hold his current conducting positions in Minneapolis and Bergen, Norway.
Klass: Classical Music Needs To Be Hipper (Maybe A Leather Jacket?)
Former pop singer Myleene Klass – now trying to make a career in classical music, says classical music has to get hipper, not dumber: “Donning a leather jacket doesn’t just suddenly make you accessible, it is the whole package. I think that’s what the classical world needs to give. Let’s get everything to the same edgy degree that the pop world’s got at, because it looks stronger on the television – none of this soft-focus classical nonsense. Let’s make it edgy, let’s make it current, let’s make it exciting.”
More Lawsuits, Just In Time For The Holidays!
The recording industry has filed another 41 lawsuits against online file-swappers accused of trading at least 1000 songs illegally, and warned an additional 90 individuals that legal action is imminent if they do not stop their file-trading activity. Since this past summer, the industry has sued more than 300 users, settled with 220, and received pledges from over 1,000 that they will delete their illegally-downloaded songs and never download again.
Here’s Betting The Industry Doesn’t Like This, Either
In Europe, final touches are being put on a next-generation portable MP3 application known as tunA, which will not only function as a playback machine, but has the potential to turn every user into a walking radio station. The application “employs Wi-Fi to locate nearby users, peek at their music playlist and wirelessly jack into their audio stream… tunA is being designed for wireless PDAs, cell phones and even its own hardware device.”
Ups And Downs At City Ballet
New York City Ballet’s 100th season is underway. “How Balanchine is performed is the central issue at City Ballet, and for years now the record has been worse than spotty. Last season, things were looking up—when they weren’t looking grim. Gala night perfectly symbolized both the ups and the downs. Some of the self-congratulation was justified—there were times when the spirit of Mr. B did come through—but there was trouble, too; Bugaku, one of Balanchine’s most singular ballets, which has been lingering on the endangered-species list, may actually now be extinct.”
Businessman/Actor Named To Head New Scottish National Theatre
Richard Findlay, a trained actor and respected businessman who runs a media empire, has been named as the Scottish National Theatre’s first director. “The Scottish Executive this year set aside £7.5 million in funding for the theatre over two years. It is to operate on an entirely untried model – with no building of its own, commissioning productions from existing theatres and companies.”
Crowe Warns Aussie Movie Industry
As Australia considers cutting off funding to its film industry, actor Russell Crowe warns that to do so would damage the industry.”I don’t think the structure that we have in place should become a social welfare system for people who can’t compete,” he said. “But he said the industry should concentrate on making improvements and becoming internationally competitive rather than consider withdrawing funding.”
Who Owns What After We’ve Bought It?
This idea that companies ought to be able to control music after we’ve bought it is a flawed one. “The issue is one of who owns, or has rights to use our common culture. That means stuff we created ourselves, and only we can decide is worth sharing. And as many of you pointed out, what we call the ‘entertainment industry’ today is merely a distributor, much like the Victorian canal owners were in the last century, in Britain. The smarter Bridgewaters bought into the upcoming railways, while the dumber canal owners didn’t, and died a natural death. Today’s pigopolists don’t “own” the culture simply by claiming that their exclusivity is based on technology – that’s a social contract we don’t buy, and history, in most cases, is on our side.”
Time Out In Chicago
“The publisher of Time Out New York and Time Out London said Tuesday it would start printing Time Out Chicago in September 2004. Aimed at the urban hipster, Time Out’s weekly magazines feature listings of concerts, club shows and other events, as well as articles on the urban arts scene.”