The Maryland Institute College of Art has a new building-size sculpture for a home. “Designed by Ziger/Snead and Charles Brickbauer to put MICA on the map as a center for digital art and design, Brown Center is that rare work of architecture that lives up to its billing. It is, quite simply, the first great Baltimore building of the new millennium – a world-class home for art in the Mount Royal cultural district.”
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New Mexico, American Movie Capital?
“A growing number of states offer tax credits as a way to lure Hollywood dollars. But New Mexico actually is investing in movies – the state has established a fund of $85 million for the purpose. The money comes in the form of no-interest loans, repayable in two to five years. The state will invest as much as $7.5 million in any movie that passes muster with the New Mexico State Investment Council, as long as filmmakers agree to spend most of their shooting schedule in the state and hire a crew made up of at least 60 percent New Mexico residents. On top of that, New Mexico offers any film, whether financed by the state or not, a 15 percent tax rebate for every dollar spent locally.”
Burrows – A Hit In Europe, At Home Just A Name
Choreographer Jonathan Burrows is a big hit in Europe. So whay not at home in Britain? “Why Burrows is so little seen in Britain – only glimpsed in London or Nottingham’s adventurous NottDance festival – baffles and troubles me. He has been based in Belgium for three years, which he believes gives him a better view of the waves of innovation that constantly break in European dance and art. London, with its ‘island mentality’, is ‘resolutely isolated’. Britain, he says forcefully, is addicted to hype, which is intensely discouraging to choreographers not keen to replay old familiarities.”
Forsythe: Off To The Slums Of Rio
William Forsythe is “winding up probably the most controversial, certainly the most innovative, ballet company of our era with a triumphal world tour to rub the Frankfurters’ noses in their parochialism: New York, Paris and, next week, London.” So what’s next? It’s off to the slums of Rio for inspiration…
Complacency – Enemy Of Art?
Leaders of Hartford’s arts institutions get together to talk about the challenges their organizations face. “I think I see a widening complacency on the part of a big chunk of our audience. Not the best of our audience, which remains smart, risk-taking and just as ambitious in their own way as we try to be as the leaders of arts agencies. But I see a creeping complacency. Maybe it’s a taking for granted of the uniqueness of so many wonderful institutions in this town. Increasingly I fear that our audiences don’t know how good they have it, living in a place like this. I don’t think [the public] gets it the way they used to in the 1930s [up until the] early ’80s. That’s what I’m worried about because that will affect all of us.”
Things Are So Great In Denmark, There Is No Great Theatre
Things are alomst Utopian for the theatre in Denmark. “Here, the preference is overwhelmingly for word-bound, well-made plays. These are supported by per-capita funding levels significantly higher than Britain’s and a peerless children’s theatre network, totalling 50 companies, which grooms audiences early. A lavishly funded playwriting course in the city of Aarhus supplies a steady stream of playwrights. And because of strict union rules, actors enjoy astonishing luxuries, including a minimum term of employment of 75 days. The Danes have created something that other countries don’t dare dream about: an all-encompassing cradle-to-grave theatrical welfare state.” So where are the great Danish plays and theatre companies?
The Coming Movie House Revolution
A new report presdicts that movie houses will be revolutionized by digital equipment. “Screenings of things other than normal films will account for one third of cinemas’ profits by 2008, it said. Rock concerts, Broadway musicals, football and wrestling are among the events that have already been screened. Content rights owners are only just starting to grasp the potential that this represents. The digital changes would turn cinemas into ‘entertainment complexes’ – not just movie houses – the report said.”
Pixar: All Hits, All The Time
Pixar, the digital animation studio, once again has another hit on its hands. Finding Nemo has grossed more than #335 million so far this year. “Pixar have the enviable reputation of having a hit with every film they have made – Toy Story, A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc (2001) and Finding Nemo. It is a situation few other Hollywood studios can ever have related to,” and one that has changed the business of animation.
Making Movies, Co-op Style
A group of some of the best and brightest film stars in Canada have come together to form a movie co-op production company. “In lieu of their (on average) $250,000-to-$1-million-per-picture salaries, these Canadian actors are going to work free of charge on the upcoming comedy, Mozart Loves Me, written and directed by George Bloomfield. And in exchange, they and the other stakeholders in the Movie Co-op will own a share of the production and any potential payout. Why, you may ask, would these successful people stick their necks out in a decidedly high-risk venture? Because they say they believe feature filmmaking – at least in English Canada – is broken and urgently in need of fixing.”
Academia, Politically Speaking (Oh Really?)
Is Academia liberal? Is there a liberal bias in higher education? “The state of the job market these days makes things especially hard to pin down. Ayn Randian, liberal, Marxist, conservative: In most fields, there aren’t jobs for anyone.”