New York State lawamakers have cut the state’s arts council grants budget by 15%, or $6.6 million. “Legislators also cut NYSCA’s administration budget by $196,000. The funding was contained in the education portion of the budget bill. Gov. George Pataki is expected to approve the cuts because he had recommended them in his proposed state budget introduced in January.”
Blog
Reimagining Lincoln Center (On A Budget)
All that wrangling about how Lincoln Center would get a $1.5 billion makeover seems so far awaay now. “Now the City Opera has decided to move downtown. Avery Fisher Hall is likely to be renovated rather than rebuilt. New York City, in perilous fiscal straits, appears unlikely to be able to fulfill the $240 million pledge that Rudolph W. Giuliani made for the project when he was mayor. The private sector is feeling the economic pinch before fund-raising has even begun. What’s left of the redevelopment project? What part of it can Lincoln Center hope to accomplish? With the economic downturn, all the grand plans now seem like pipe dreams. The 11 private and public groups involved in the redevelopment have been forced to reassess.”
Hensons Buy Back Miss Piggy
In a surprise move, heirs of Jim Henson have bought back the Muppet creator’s company for the discount price of $78 million. “The Henson family decided only two weeks ago to bid for The Jim Henson Co., which they will buy for a fraction of what Munich-based EM.TV paid for it, according to Brian Henson, the son of the company’s late founder. Munich-based EM.TV bought the company, and the rights to characters such as Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, in February 2000 for $680 million in cash and stock.”
Korea: Giving Up On The Humanities?
A professor at Seoul National Universityt laments that the humanities are not being studied in Korea. Humanities and literature have turned to ‘cultural studies’ that emphasize the interrelationship of ethnic identities, gender studies, postcolonial studies, and film studies. This means that the humanities and literature are now almost always explored and discussed in relation to their cultural and social implications, hegemony, ideology, and history. In many countries this cultural approach seems to succeed, at least partially, in bringing students’ interest back to the humanities and literature. But alas! Not in Korea, where highbrow culture and traditional values are esteemed more than any other country on earth.
Musicians Alarmed Over Media Consolidation
“Musicians of all stripes are starting to recognize that the galloping consolidation of American media – especially in radio, where most Americans were first introduced to their favorite songs – has reduced the ability of recording artists to take the risks that reshape our consciousness, to explore new ideas and new sounds and, ultimately, to be heard.” And musicians are alarmed by proposeals for even more deregulation They’ve sent a letter to the FCC to protest. The “letter from some of the best-known musicians in the U.S. is the latest sign of the broad opposition that rule changes being considered by the FCC – which would allow one company to own newspapers, television and radio in the same town, and which would allow more consolidation of media ownership on the local and national levels.”
Study: Philly Dancers Should Wait Before Building New Home
Philadelphia is home to nearly 2,000 professional dancers who use about 20 rehearsal spaces and 45 different performing venues. Those dancers and the small companies they work with want to build a home where they can work. Wait for it, warns a new study. “The primary issue, the study said, is that most of the city’s dance groups are tiny and do not have the business side of their operations in order.” It advises waiting three to five years to get better established.
Geoffrey Bardon, 62
“Geoffrey Bardon, the artist credited with teaching Australian Aborigines to paint commercially, creating a multimillion-dollar Aboriginal fine art industry, has died aged 62.”
San Francisco Symphony’s Golden Glow
The San Francisco Symphony is visiting London, and Geoffrey Norris says thaat the orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas is vibrant in the way that the City of Birmingham Orchestra was under Simon Rattle. Says Tilson Thomas: “What I felt was important was to give the audience a wider view of what contemporary music could be. I introduced contemporary music that was much more tonal, established some of the minimalist composers and figures from neo-classicism and neo-romanticism, and, now that we’re turning to Ligeti, Boulez, Murail, Scelsi and Berio, people are excited, amused, outraged by what they are hearing, but they have something to talk about.”
A Tale Of Two Men With £1 Million
One takes £1 million in banknotes and burns them in an existential statement – an act of art. The other invests in trying to save the beleaguered English National Opera. “Why does Bill Drummond get cult status for burning a million and Martin Smith villain status for giving a million? The answer is simple. Drummond, as a rock hero, appeals to our instinct for anarchy. Martin Smith, and many of his friends, are bankers – or stockbrokers, financial consultants, and the like. They deal in money. To some sections of the arts world, the persona of ‘banker’ is villainous.”
Scottish National Orchestra Chief: Our Critics Are Wrong
Critics are blasting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, saying the organization is in deep trouble. But Simon Crookall, the orchestra’s executive director deflects all worries. “His robust attitude permeates every aspect of his analysis of the orchestra: denying players are deserting the RSNO; defending his choice of programmes in the new season; resisting the accusation that he is sacrificing any need for freshness, challenge, or innovation in the RSNO’s repertoire at the altar of the box office; and that the orchestra is being led inexorably down the road of commercialism.”