“With the premature death of Jennifer Atkinson at age 45, the Boston arts community – and especially its crafts wing – lost a vibrant, vivacious leader. Atkinson had gone from being an assistant in a suburban gallery to director of a chronically troubled museum – and then transformed that institution’s very identity.”
Blog
Where That $100 Textbook Is Half The Price
Why do American textbooks often cost as little as half the price outside the US as they do at home? Publishers say prices are cheaper abroad because students in other countries can’t afford American prices. But some American students are catching on and buying their textbooks outside the US for deeply discounted prices. “To the despair of the textbook publishers who are still trying to block such sales, the reimporting of American texts from overseas has become far easier in recent years, thanks both to Internet sites that offer instant access to foreign book prices.”
Saving Paris Review
The Paris Review was always a struggling literary magazine – low subscriber base and shoestring budget. But “last week’s George Plimpton tribute, a celebrity-studded gala at Cipriani on 42nd Street, raised $500,000 for the Paris Review Foundation, bringing the foundation’s endowment to about $1 million. Now literary insiders are buzzing about how what used to be a for-profit magazine that lost money every year has turned into a bustling nonprofit with a shot at long-term profitability. Meanwhile, the search for a new editor has begun.”
Hermitage To Go Dutch
The Hermitage Museum plans to open a branch in Amsterdam next year. “Located in a 17th-century canal-side building, the Hermitage Amsterdam will be much more than a boutique satellite operation; once finished, it will be larger than the city’s Stedelijk Museum.”
A Tax To Pay Artists For Music Copying?
Harvard professor William Fisher has a proposal for a tax on digital playback devices. Music could be downloaded and copied freely and artists would be paid from the tax fees. “He predicts that his plan, debated at a recent copyright conference, eventually would boost music revenues. Since online distribution is cheaper than printing CDs, overhead should shrink. Promotion costs could drop, too, as fans spread the word themselves about talented artists. Legal costs should vanish along with copyright lawsuits.”
Thieves Who Appreciate Good Contemporary Art
Thieves have stolen nine works from Sergei Bugayev’s house outside St. Petersburg. “The missing works, valued at $250,000 by experts at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg, include works by Bugayev himself, who is also known as ‘Africa’, and by other leading local artists, such as Timur Novikov. The thieves destroyed about 140 other works of art, as well as rare antique furniture and books, the charred remains of which were found in the house’s back yard. ‘The mastermind behind this crime knows contemporary art, Bugayev told The Art Newspaper, “They took the best works’.”
Film Critics Cancel Awards Over DVD Ban
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has voted to cancel its annual movie awards this year in protest of the Motion Picture Association’s decision not to send DVDs of nominated movies to critics this year. “The ban has prompted widespread criticism in the United States movie community, including protests by many independent producers who feel that screeners are the most effective way of getting critics to see their films, which are often released commercially in only a few smaller movie theaters.”
Killing For An “R” Rating
Even if a movie is ultra-violent, it can’t afford to get an NC-17 rating. “An R rating means a child cannot be admitted to a movie without an adult or guardian. An NC-17 rating means no children are admitted. With such a rating, most mainstream newspapers will not run ads. But more important, video stores like Blockbuster will not offer the DVD’s on store shelves. And mass-market retail chains like Walmart, where studios can earn as much as 50 percent of a movie’s revenue, will not sell them, either.”
A New Dance Company For San Jose
sjDANCEco is a new Bay Area modern dance company featuring work by area choreographers. The company – whose focus incorporates other kinds of dance besides modern – was formed in 2002 to organize San Jose’s Dancin’ Downtown festival, which in May showcased dozens of South Bay companies on an outdoor stage. The group has been evolving ever since and now is preparing applications for non-profit status.”
Study: Brain Forms Maps To Make Sense Of Music
New studies of the brain show that mental “maps” to make sense of what you hear in music begin to form within minutes of studying an instrument. “In professional musicians at least, recent brain imaging studies have shown that the different ways they respond to sound and finger movements seem paradoxical: when they hear a sound it activates areas of the brain that process movement, but when they silently tap out musical phrases it evokes brain activity in areas involved in hearing.”