When former Sotheby’s chairman Alfred Taubman was convicted of price-fixing in 2001, a flood of lawsuits were filed by collectors who had paid the inflated prices created by the collusion between the auction house and its main rival, Christie’s. The auction houses have already paid more than $512 million to resolve such claims in the U.S., and now, a settlement has been reached for each house to pay an additional $20 million for claims from overseas buyers. $20 million is a drop in the revenue bucket for the world’s two largest auction houses, and observers say that the settlement is great news for Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
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Vision vs. Practicality
“Will Alsop, the acclaimed British architect, stormed the gates of Toronto more than two years ago and convinced the Ontario College of Art and Design that he was their man… Today, the fireworks get shut down so that some tough decisions can be made about how to get OCAD built by next January.” The major issue to be discussed is the building’s cladding – what exactly the outher facade will be made of. Cost is an issue, as is durability, and, of course, visual appeal. Lisa Rochon says a decision needs to be made, and soon.
Detroit Expansion Comes Into Focus
A $125 million expansion of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s home in the city’s downtown is drawing to a close, and the face of the new facilities which will be available to the orchestra is coming into focus. A new 500-seat recital hall will play host to a new chamber music series, featuring members of the DSO playing alongside big-name guest soloists. The smaller hall will also feature guest ensembles which otherwise might have skipped Detroit for lack of a good chamber music hall. And the new building “offers patron comforts that… Orchestra Hall, has always lacked: elevators, a spacious four-story atrium lobby, additional rest rooms, coat checks, lounges, refreshment centers and a high-tech box office.”
Warning: Big Brother Is Watching What You Read
Library patrons in Santa Cruz, California are seeing signs warning them about the snooping powers of the US Patriot Act, which allows governments authorities to see who has checked out which books. “The signs, posted in the 10 county branches last week and on the library’s Web site, also inform the reader that the USA Patriot Act “prohibits library workers from informing you if federal agents have obtained records about you.”
The Golden Age of Animation?
Animation has come a long way in the last couple of decades. From the eye-popping (at the time) Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, through the pioneering computer work in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, to today’s cutting edge ‘toons like Pixar’s Monsters, Inc., technology is changing the way animated films are made, marketed, and viewed. A new Oscar category devoted to the genre sprang up last year, and increasingly, audiences seem to be more accepting of the idea that cartoons aren’t just for kids anymore.
More Books, But Fewer Choices
More books are being sold, thanks to a broadening of outlets and the superstores. But the personality is being wrung out of the business, and we’re increasingly buying a narrower range of book. “According to a recent Bookseller, gamely surveying the trends of 2002, the range of titles sold in the high street fell by 5 per cent last year – from about 437,000 to just over 417,000. At the same time the number of different ISBNs assigned to fiction fell by 1,000, while – perhaps the most sinister figure of all – ‘frontlist’ sales accounted for nearly 44 per cent of total revenue. We may be buying more books, but they are increasingly the same books, sold by shops that are differentiated only by the sign on the door.”
The Fund-Raising Machine
If it seems like performing arts groups are forever begging their subscribers and benefactors for money, it’s only because they are. Ticket revenue doesn’t begin to cover the cost of operations for orchestras, theatres, and dance companies, and the rest of the budget must be made up from endowment revenue (if the organization is lucky enough to have an endowment) and annual contributions. Most patrons don’t really understand how the funding mechanism works, but in an era of budget cuts and fiscal crisis in the arts, it is increasingly important for the fund-raising machine to function smoothly and efficiently.
Green Space vs. History
Dallas, Texas, is not the greenest city in America. In fact, Dallas’s downtown is almost completely lacking open space. A proposal for a new, 4.7-acre park aims to change that, but there’s a catch. The plans for the park would require the destruction of a number of old buildings described as “the best block of 1950s architecture in the city.” There is no question that the ‘greening’ proposal is well-intended, says David Dillon, “yet a park proposal that requires the demolition of historic buildings and the closing of major streets, in a downtown that is already one-third vacant land, creates as many problems as it solves– not just for historic preservation but for planning and economic development.”
The Not-So-Modern Theatre
A Boston philanthropist has agreed to purchase the dilapidated, city-owned Modern Theatre and renovate it for use as a theatre and and commercial space. The former movie house has become so run-down in recent years that the city had to shut down a portion of the street it sits on and reinforce the structure to prevent cave-ins during winter snowfalls. The rebirth of the Modern is the latest in a series of initiatives designed to revive Boston’s theatre district, and provide a wider range of performance space for local groups.
China Bans Four Stones Songs
China has forbidden the Rolling Stones from performing four of the band’s songs at concerts in China in April. “The songs were submitted to the Ministry of Culture for approval a few months ago. They simply said ‘no’ to those four songs. They didn’t give a reason.”