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The Battle For A Compelling TV War (It’s The Ratings – And The Polls)

“For those of us trying to juggle these polar mood swings while watching the war on television, there are two conflicts raging — the fight between the antagonists themselves and the pitched battle between journalism and the imperatives of show business. The conflicts are intertwined, and the second determines how we view the first. If we are to penetrate the fog of the real war, journalism must be the clear victor over the inherent need of TV to impose its surefire entertainment formulas, its proven arsenal of slick storytelling and rousing characterization, on a reality that may not be nearly so neat. In this war, American TV news has an unusually tough job. It must not only compete with other TV storytellers with fierce agendas, starting with Iraqi TV, but it must maneuver around the manipulations of an administration so television savvy it doesn’t leave a single backdrop to chance.”

Colorado Arts Council Could Be Dead This Week

The 36-year-old Colorado Council of the Arts faces elimination this week by the state legislature. “During the past few years, there have been attempts to get rid of the council, most notably a proposal to shift its funding to the creation of a state boxing commission. That crisis was resolved when the agency agreed to split its grants equally between metro area arts groups and the 57 counties in the rest of Colorado. Now the planets have aligned to make the council just one of dozens of programs facing gutting or elimination in the scramble to balance the budget.” Oh yes, and if it goes away, the Arts Council won’t be coming back anytime soon. Count on it.

Cuba’s World-Class Ballet

“Funded by the island’s communist-run government, Cuba’s classical dance program is world-class, training dancers for a company that has performed in 58 countries and received about 300 international awards. Founded by Cuban’s living ballet legend, Alicia Alonso, in 1948, the National Ballet of Cuba has managed to forge its own style out of old Russian and Western techniques.”

Difficult To Digest – Art Requiring Reaction

So now there’s evidence that modern art was used as a torture device in Spain during the Civil War. John Rockwell ponders the ability of art to provoke a strong reaction. “A subcurrent of shock and provocation has always lurked within avant-garde art, which deliberately sets out to challenge bourgeois convention and to elicit a strong response. My own experience has been that opponents of new art are much too quick to presume provocation, let alone provocation intended literally to torture. Still, there can be no doubt that outrage was and is a goal of some artists.”

Donald Byrd’s New Adventure

The dance world was surprised last year when choreographer Donald Byrd, who had had to close down his own company, took a job running a tiny Seattle dance company. “How would someone who was used to running a major company, someone whose “Harlem Nutcracker” was a worldwide draw, accustom himself to a small troupe of dancers of varied backgrounds and a shoestring budget?”

Looted Art On Display In Moscow

An exhibition of paintings taken from a German castle by Soviet troops after World War II went on display in Moscow this weekend. “A campaign by mainly Communist members of Russia’s parliament has kept the 364 works in the country, though many Liberals back the idea of returning them to Germany. Returning war booty has long been a sensitive issue in Russia, where memories remain keen of more than 20 million Soviet war dead during a four-year campaign against the Nazis. The Moscow Museum of Architecture has held the 362 drawings and two paintings – which include works by Rubens, Degas, Delacroix and Goya – in safekeeping for 43 years.”

Two Van Gogh Paintings Stolen

Two Van Gogh paintings have been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. “The stolen paintings are well known to art lovers: ‘View of the Sea at Scheveningen’ and ‘Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen.’ Both from the artist’s early period, they were executed in 1882 and 1884, respectively. Police have not yet put a value on them. But Van Gogh’s later works have sold at auction in recent years for tens of millions of dollars.”