With the New York Philharmonic back at Lincoln Center, attention is again turned on the need to rebuild New York’s West Side cultural campus. “While Lincoln Center jump-started gentrification around Columbus Circle, this case study in superblock architecture also provided city planners with a definitive lesson in how not to design cultural institutions. Nor has the center exactly stood the test of time—with 10 million visitors annually, the place is in need of major repair, plagued as it is by pesky plumbing and crumbling floors.”
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Is Bad Theatre Ruining The West End?
A growing band of critics believe that “the increasing number of poor-quality shows in the West End are damaging its image. ‘A lot of theatres are kept open because somebody will take something in that should never be in the West End. In the past five years there have been many shows in the West End that had no right to be there. They weren’t good enough, shouldn’t have been there and didn’t stand a dog in hell’s chance. It puts people off theatre’.”
Dismissed Ballet Star Sues Bolshoi
Ballerina Anastasia Volochkova has filed suit against the Bolshoi Ballet after being fired last month for being “too heavy.” “Russia’s Labour Ministry said the dancer’s firing violated Russian labour laws and called on the Bolshoi to reinstate her. But the ministry acknowledged that the final decision rested with the theatre, and the Bolshoi has refused to budge. ‘Unfortunately, I have to do it because I am seeking justice and want to assert my rights as well as the rights of other artists’.”
British Government Puts Culture Online
The British government is launching an online culture site. “The venture, designed to for both adults and children, will sponsor 20 to 30 projects and will go live next year. One of the first projects is called Webplay and allows school children to direct a play online. Others include Scoop for would-be journalists and a virtual collection of plants curated by Kew Gardens.”
Seattle’s Bookfest On The Chopping Block?
Seattle’s Bookfest saw attendance this drop to 9000 this year – less than half its regular number, after the festival instituted a $10 ticket fee. Now organizers are pondering whether this is the end for the 13-year-old event. “Bookfest’s continuing travails may seem surprising in a city that boasts one of the country’s most active book cultures. But Seattle’s prominence as a book town has been a blessing and a curse for Bookfest.”
Music’s Do-It-Yourselfers
A new generation of musicians is producing recordings on its own. “It has never been easier to make a record than it is now. Computers and digital recording technology have put the means of production into the hands of the musician. So, if you can make a record that sounds every bit as polished as an expensive studio recording, press copies and produce an eye-catching sleeve with the aid of graphics programmes, what do you need a major record company for?”
Gross: I Can’t Believe O’Reilly Is So Thin-Skinned
Fresh Air host Terry Gross responds to NPR’s ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin’s criticisms of her interview with Bill O’Reilly: “I think some of his criticisms play into the hands of O’Reilly. O’Reilly has the attitude, I believe, that if you criticize him, or ask him anything critical, then you are therefore a part of the, quote, liberal media and therefore you are part of the, quote, cultural jihad against O’Reilly.”
Book Magazine No More
Book Magazine is going out of business. “The magazine, which was founded in 1998, has lost more than $1 million this year and needed more cash. Barnes & Noble, which invested $4.2 million in the publication in 2000 and gave the operation a loan of $2.5 million a year later, has decided to make no further investment.” The magazine once had as many as 1.4 million subscribers, but only because B&N gave free first-year subscriptions. Lately its subscriber base was only 150,000.
Orwellian… (In A Good Way?)
“Political reporters constantly employ the word ‘Orwellian.’ Though it stands for the kind of oppressive totalitarian regime he created in Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is now used chiefly to mean political manipulation of language to deceive the public. But we need to reclaim the term’s positive meaning, to suggest the bravery and idealism, the stubborn effort to be honest, in Orwell’s life and art.”
Art “Saved” By A Nation
To avoid letting important artwork be bought and shipped out of Britain, Britons have bought many artworks over the past century. The Saved! show at the Hayward Gallery in London features some 400 artworks “saved” in this manner. The show features work by Michelangelo, Velasquez, Boticelli, Picasso, Mondrian, Rodin and Titian. “It is dedicated to sculptures, paintings and treasures saved by the National Art Collections Fund over the past 100 years.”