Ohio has become the latest state to make severe cuts to the amount spent on the arts in an effort to balance the budget. The Ohio State Arts Board will take a 21% hit in its funding level over the next two years. The cuts don’t take effect until next year, but the board is already moving to reduce the amount of some of this year’s grants.
Blog
As Ohio Cuts, Cleveland Innovates
“Revised legislation introduced at the July 16 Cleveland City Council meeting would require 1.5 percent of the budget for each new municipal construction or improvement project to go for artwork, brightening everything from new firehouses to bridges, parks, utilities and streetscapes.” In addition, an upcoming ballot measure could result in a slight sales tax increase with all proceeds going to local arts initiatives. The moves are part of a concerted effort to bolster Cleveland’s image through the nurturing of a serious arts scene.
Sun, Sand, And More Famous Writers Than You Can Shake A Mai-Tai At
This week, a huge literary festival gets underway in, of all places, the sleepy tourist town of Parati, Brazil. The festival, which aims to promote Brazilian literature to the world, was organize by Liz Calder, a London editor who has been vacationing in Parati for a decade. Certainly, the resort atmosphere is one of the big draws for the authors and intellectuals participating in the festival, but Calder insists that the event will raise the profile of Brazilian authors worldwide. Still, not everyone in Brazil’s literary world is happy, and some are claiming that Calder is only promoting the Brazilian authors whom her employer publishes.
City Opera Cut Out of Ground Zero Plans
“The municipal corporation overseeing the redevelopment of ground zero has determined that there is no place at the site for an opera house, a decision that all but dashes the New York City Opera’s hopes of moving there from Lincoln Center.” However, there appears to be some confusion as to whether City Opera has been officially informed of this development. City officials swear they contacted the company last week, but NYCO’s director insists that, as far as he’s concerned, a move to the site is still very much on the table.
You Mean There Are Other Countries Besides America?
“Writers, publishers and cultural critics have long lamented the difficulty of interesting American readers in translated literature, and now some say the market for these books is smaller than it has been in generations.” Even small university presses which have specialized in the world literature market are cutting back or pulling out of the genre altogether, and literary experts say that such narrowing of the range of available books in the US is nothing short of a crisis. Not only does the dearth of titles in translation mean that there is less for Americans to read, it also has a profound impact on the ability of foreign authors to get their books translated into other languages.
The Golden Age of the Pipe Organ
The pipe organ is not generally thought of as a sexy instrument. After all, organs are huge, bulky, loud, impractical, and completely unportable – precisely the opposite of the 21st-century definition of alluring. The fact that most of them reside in churches probably doesn’t help the image, either. But 100 years ago, the pipe organ was the very height of musical cool, and audiences flocked to hear their awesome power. Department stores installed massive organs as a sign of prestige, and the wealthy even had organs in their homes and on their yachts. Radio, TV, and recorded music may have been the biggest enemies of the organ, but some see a comeback in the offing.
Broadway’s Haunted Theatre
Let’s face it – theatre people are probably a bit more susceptible to superstition than most. But in the heart of Manhattan’s theatre district, the Belasco Theatre has become legendary for being haunted, and the people who work there claim that there’s a lot more to this legend than simple ghost stories. Closed doors on a set are magically open when the curtain rises, a reek of cigar smoke permeates a production in which no one smokes, and actor after actor reports seeing strange apparitions with some tie to the theatre’s namesake, David Belasco. Melodramatic hogwash? Maybe. But it sure makes for a good theatre story.
When Is A Memoir Not A Memoir?
With the increased interest in personal memoirs of ordinary people, the market has become saturated with autobiographies that read like novels, astounding tales of people overcoming terrible childhoods and debilitating diseases to become happy, productive adults. But is anyone fact-checking these tales of personal heroism? A recently released memoir by James Frey has a number of reviewers questioning whether many of the events he describes could have actually occurred. Frey hasn’t bothered to defend himself too heavily, either: “I wrote what was true to me and true to the experience,” he said recently. “If people want to pick the facts apart, they can.”
And You Think It’s Hard To Run An American Museum?
For 42 years, Irina Antonova has been at the forefront of the Russian art scene. The director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts has fought battles with the old Soviet Politburo, and with today’s opportunistic Russian politicians. “Antonova, 81, has combined elite connections, political smarts, love of art, courage and boundless energy to protect and promote [the Pushkin’s] collection… But now, this and other Russian museums are reaching out to the world, and the most extensive Pushkin exhibit ever to tour the United States — a selection of 75 French masterpieces — opens today at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.”
Minnesota Fringe Can Make Or Break A Career
For ten days each summer, Minneapolis plays host to the largest Fringe Festival in the U.S. During this year’s fest, “783 performances of 162 dance, theater and spoken-word shows will take place at 20 theaters, cafes and art spaces around town.” To the festival’s devoted spectators, it’s a giant party, but to the actors, directors, and writers involved, it’s a crucial chance to catch the eye of the city’s theatre elite, and thereby ensure employment for the other 355 days of the year.