A survey of Chicago foundations reveals that their giving will decline this year. “The survey indicates an average decline in grantmakers’ assets of 15 percent in the most recent fiscal year. But requests for money from non-profits showed no letup. According to the survey, donors are responding by awarding fewer grants, but of somewhat larger amounts. They also are giving more toward general operating expenses, rather than specific programs of non-profits, allowing the groups more flexibility in the use of the funds.”
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Arise, Sir Iggy!
Last week the French government made rocker Iggy Pop an Officer of Arts and Letters. Really? Iggy’s cool, but is he really a high-cultural luminary worthy of honors from the French Ministry of Culture? “Iggy’s kudos appear to be utterly serious, as part of an attempt to seem as cool as possible. The further out of style a ministry is, the more it must stretch to ‘get game,’ and incongruous results are almost guaranteed. The problem is not uniquely French…”
The One-Performance Syndrome
“As American orchestras perform an increasing number of premieres each season, it is all the more difficult to obtain that elusive second performance. A major roadblock toward that goal is the frequent inability of composers-and their publishers and agents-to secure recordings of concert performances for use in promoting new works.”
Hipper Than Thou
“Bang on a Can is a loose association of self-consciously edgy composers and performers whose stated aim is to write music “too funky for the academy and too structured for the club scene.” They speak of their formative years this way: “We had the simplicity, energy and drive of pop music in our ears-we’d heard it from the cradle. But we also had the idea from our classical music training that composing was exalted.” This too-neat division of labor-funky fun on one side, serious structure on the other-threatens to repeat the mistake of Paris in the twenties. It undersells both the wildness of composition and the wiliness of pop. Try telling James Brown that his music isn’t structured.”
Indian Government Nixes Taj Mahal Mall
The Taj Mahal glows with light at dawn and twilight. But “before the Indian government stepped in at the weekend, the 17th century marble monument’s source of illumination was in danger of being cut off by a tourist complex of shopping malls, restaurants, multiplex cinemas and other entertainment facilities. Construction on the project, less than 300 metres from the Taj Mahal, began in November but was halted by the Indian government, which said the new structure could divert the river during monsoon rains and damage the base of the monument.”
Hiro’s Light
Hiro Yamagata is one of the most commercially successful artists alive today. “His work, much of which is sold at shopping malls, generates an estimated $4 billion in sales a year.” Now he’s covered two building-size cubes on the Yokohama waterfront with mylar, shooting light into them to make them shimmer and pulse with color.
British Art Sales Down Since 9/11
Sales by the 400 leading British art and antiques dealers declined by almost 10 per cent in 2001-02. Dealers blame the downturn on the aftereffects of 9/11.
Dutch Government Returns Art
The Dutch government has finally begun returning art that hed been stolen by Nazis. “For a long period, between the end of that war and 1997, a veil of secrecy had been drawn over the so-called “NK collection”, works of art that had been recuperated but had remained unclaimed when the date for submitting an application for restitution passed.”
Stolen Schiele Painting Sold
A rare Egon Schiele painting that had been stolen by the Nazis has been sold at auction in London. “An anonymous telephone bidder who made the highest offer for the Schiele will pay more than £12.66 million once the buyer’s premium is included – a record auction sale for the artist and the most expensive restituted impressionist work ever sold at an auction.”
Baryshnikov: Still Dancing After All These Years
“At 55, Mikhail Baryshnikov plies his trade with wonder, grace and more than a touch of genius. He is not so much fighting the effect of time as he is miraculously making time his ally: The man looks almost as beautiful now as he did a generation ago, and his charisma grows with the passing decades. No one holds the stage with as much ease and command.”