There are signs that Black theatre has come of age in Britain. “No longer tucked away in fringe venues, or in companies that specialise in black work, it is striding confidently across the stages of major London theatres. ‘The talent has been there for a very long time,” he says. “The dominant culture has been slow to open itself up to the new voices that are blossoming in our midst. I think we’ve not been good enough at that.’ That may well be true. But the delay means that these new voices have arrived fully formed…”
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French Arts Strike Cancels Festivals
“Despite a last-ditch plea from the culture minister, French actors and backstage workers walked out as promised yesterday, forcing the country’s most renowned drama festival to abandon its opening night and threatening the Rolling Stones’ 40th anniversary Paris mega-gig. ‘It’s the future of French arts that’s at stake’.”
French Arts Strikers Disrupt Tour De France
Striking performance artists – who include actors, sound technicians and costume designers – “briefly slowed the Tour de France, tried to block a Rolling Stones concert and canceled opening day of a drama festival in Provence. In the northern town of Saint-Dizier on Tuesday, demonstrators stepped into the road to block cyclists in the Tour de France. The protesters stepped out of the path of the lead cars, but still forced the main pack of racers to slow down, with some touching their feet to the pavement to keep from falling.”
A “Whoopie-Cushion” Of A New Concert Hall
Montrealers get their first look at plans for a much awaited new concert hall. So what’s it look like? “The design selected for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra looks like a cross between an office building and a big-box store. Music is imaginative and airy, qualities that many concert halls try to evoke architecturally. But this design squats rudely on de Maisonneuve Blvd. and Jeanne Mance St. like a massive whoopie cushion.”
Steinbeck Rockets Past Clinton
In an average year, John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” sells 40,000 to 50,000 copies. This isn’t an average year. Thanks to Oprah’s Book Club, ‘East of Eden’ is currently No. 2 on the Bestseller list, behind Harry Potter and ahead of Hillary Clinton’s book. “Set in California’s Salinas Valley before World War I, Steinbeck’s tale of two brothers, an unfaithful wife, death and despair has 1.2 million books in print.” Not bad for a book that first came out in 1952. “Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men sells 400,000 copies and The Grapes of Wrath sells 150,000.”
Art, Instead Of Taxes
Rather than selling their artwork abroad to raise money for tax bills, last year Britons donated art treasures valued at £40 million to British museums rather than paying inheritance tax. “Titian’s masterpiece Venus Anadyomene, watercolours by Edward Lear and a Barbara Hepworth sculpture were among works handed over. The scheme has settled tax bills worth more than £6.5m during the past year.”
Iraq Museum Looting Count: Now 13,000 Objects?
The director of Iraq’s National Museum says that one-in-ten of the museum’s artifacts is missing since the looting of the museum two months ago. “Dr Nawalaal Mutawalli told a press conference at the British Museum in London that some 13,000 objects had gone missing from the Baghdad institution’s storage room in the days following the fall of Saddam Hussein.”
Art Of The Turnaround: Two Tokyo Museums Are Hoping
Two expensive Tokyo museums – so-called “bubble babies” – operated by the Tokyo metropolitan government – the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography – are heavily in debt. “Faced with huge losses, the directors are doing everything they can to educate staff members to the concept of profit and loss, nudging them to be more customer friendly and cost efficient. While working with their employees, the directors have also been busy trying to create more compelling exhibits to attract a larger clientele.”
Protest Over Concert At Grant’s Tomb
The Grant’s Tomb Memorial Association is protesting a televised concert last week that used the New York memorial as a backdrop last week. “Beyoncé performed in front of Grant’s final resting place for the July 4 special NBC aired Friday night. The singing siren was surrounded by a band, gyrating dancers and hundreds of screaming fans in a show that was taped days before Independence Day. “This particular memorial also happens to be the man’s tomb. … This is something I think people should take into consideration.”
Archaeologist: Kill Iraqi Looters
An American archaeologist said in London this week that the “systematic looting of major archaeological sites and the destruction of artefacts” in Iraq “may prove a greater disaster than the well publicised looting and destruction at the national museum in Baghdad, and the museum in Mosul.” She urged that looters be killed if caught. “I would like to see some helicopters flying over these sites, and some bullets fired at the looters. I think you have got to kill some people to stop this.”