“There is a natural symbiosis between long-distance truckers and the audio book business. Just about anyone who has taken a road trip knows the boredom of the long empty stretches. For truckers who have the interstate system memorized, a story well told can make miles go by faster. Truck drivers have a critical underground that passes judgment mercilessly on recorded books. They swap tapes and book advice at freight terminals and at truck stops, where taped books are often available to rent. Reviews of audio books are a feature of trucking magazines and Web sites. Drivers tend to disdain abridged versions.”
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Wales, Scotland, Striking Out On Their Own At Biennale
Scotland and Wales are jumping ship at the Vennice Biennale this year – both countries are pulling out of the British pavilion to set up their own shows. “As if to underline their secessionist tendencies, the Welsh have bagged a bigger venue – the Ex-Birreria brewery on Giudecca – and they are throwing a party for the art glitterati while sobriety will be observed in the British pavilion. The Welsh deny that they harbour historical resentments, but do point out that the British council has not honoured a Welsh artist at the biennale for 40 years.”
Collapse Of Art Investment Co. Hurts Artists, Investors
The collapse of art investment company Taylor Jardine has left a lot of artists and investors owed money. “Investors were told that once they had bought the paintings, Taylor Jardine would arrange for them to be leased to companies in London. They were assured this would generate an annual income of about 15 per cent on top of any increase in the value of the paintings. But, by the time the company folded, just 300 of the 2,000 paintings had been leased. This was a company that banked at Harrods and stored its art at Christie’s. Its brochures were glossy, its website was slick and its salesmen had public school accents. But despite the swanky exterior, investors have lost £6.4m and struggling artists have been told they may have lost the works they offered for sale.”
Money Woes? Who Ya Gonna Call?
Opera Australia has turned to a money expert to be its new chairman. “Dr Gordon Fell, 38, has strong links to the money networks of Sydney, including his business partnership with David Coe, chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art. These are vital connections for Opera Australia, whose operating deficit was $2 million last financial year. It expects a loss of $1 million this year.”
Here’s Your Trophy, Now Hit The Road
The musicians who win the top prizes at major international competitions are, of course, some of the best players in the world. You would think that such prizewinning talents would immediately find themselves with a full schedule of recital dates and solo appearances in the world’s top venues. But in fact, most prizewinners quickly find that their careers get only a minimal boost from even the most celebrated competitions. Case in point: Van Cliburn gold medalists Olga Kern and Stanislav Ioudenitch, currently touring such classical music meccas as, um, Kansas City.
The New Saatchi Museum…Er, Gallery
So is Charles Saatchi’s new gallery in competition with the big London museums? “The press has made so much of the supposed rivalry. I’m looking forward to working with the two Tates and the Hayward. Where we differ is that we will always be able to remain at the cutting edge of new art because we can buy and sell, and we’re not answerable to taxpayers or to the idea of a national collection. We’re about contemporary art – that’s to say of the past 20 or so years – not modern art. Our job is to showcase new British art, and to act as a springboard between art colleges and major museums. We’ll always be changing the collection, sometimes gradually, at others quickly. And we don’t plan ahead. Only once a show is up will we think about what the next one might be.”
Ontario Looks For Arts Funding Increase
Arts funding may be getting slashed, burned, and beaten into the ground as the U.S. struggles with a dismal economy, but in Ontario, arts advocates are expecting a jump in cultural spending as the provincial government releases its budget today. “In 1995, the council’s $42 million budget was cut dramatically by $25 million, where it has hovered since,” but the federal and provincial governments have shown a willingness in recent years to jump in and bail out struggling arts groups. An increase in arts funding would have the potential to reduce the number of struggling groups, and thus, the number of needed bailouts.
Chung To Leave Rome Orchestra
Conductor Myung-Whun Chung has decided to leave as principal conductor of Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. “News reports said Chung had a tense relationship with chairman Luciano Berio. The orchestra said in a statement that Chung’s decision not to renew his contract had been made ‘in complete harmony’ with the orchestra, adding that Berio was ‘deeply grateful to Maestro Chung for the excellent work he is carrying out’.”
Iraqi Blogger Goes Silent
The weblogger known as “Salam Pax” has a lot of readers worried for him. “For months, the mysterious Blogger of Baghdad, whose pseudonym translates as ‘peace’ in Arabic and Latin – and who is suspected by some of being a secret agent or a hacker – had chronicled the minutiae of life in a city on the edge of war… On Friday, Pax – a gay man in a repressive society, an atheist in a Muslim land, a lover of democracy but a hater of war – filed a worried dispatch as he awaited the first shock-and-awe assault on the city he cherishes.” A short time later, the blog, one of the most widely-read on the web, went dark. So far, no one seems to know if Pax is dead or alive, free or imprisoned, or if he ever really existed at all.
Musicians Avoiding America
Cancellations are coming in from European musicians and ensembles wary of performing in America in the midst of a globally unpopular invasion of Iraq. Last week, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu cancelled an appearance at the Met Opera, and this week, the Rotterdam Philharmonic called off a major U.S. tour, which would have included a stop at Carnegie Hall. Some of the performers have cited security concerns – others have merely said that they don’t wish to be in America while the war is going on.