“From Fiji to Florida to Fresno, Calif., Andrew Carnegie built 2,509 libraries between 1881 and 1917, mostly in America, the British Isles and Canada. To this day, Carnegie’s free-to-the-people libraries remain Pittsburgh’s most significant cultural export, a gift that has shaped the minds and lives of millions.”
Blog
Why Is The Philadelphia Orchestra Missing Out On Recording?
There was a time that the Philadelphia Orchestra dominated classical recording. Not anymore. Even projects that seem like naturals for the orchestra are going elsewhere. It’s not that recording companies are going out of their way to exclude the orchestra, writes David Patrick Stearns. But maybe the orchestra hasn’t made a strong enough case for itself as a candidate to record…
Destroying Treasures Of History Is Wrong – No Matter Who’s Doing It
Two years ago the world stood apalled as the Taliban blasted the historic Bamiyan Buddhas into oblivion. Though the regime commited many atrocities, somehow the destruction of the centuries-old statues stirred fresh outrage. Now the US is planning to bomb Iraq, site of many historical/archaeological treasures. Is this not outrageous also?
What Defines A Classic – Penguin Makes A New List
Penguin Classics is “freshening its lineup. That means some authors get new attention while others get dropped. “Just as editors pretend to second-guess the market (whilst in fact trying to repeat their rivals’ success), so Penguin Classics has been led by the nose towards the current milch-cow of Victorian genre fiction. Readers brought up on the pastiche melodramas of Sarah Waters, Peter Ackroyd, Peter Carey, Charles Palliser, et al, are hungry for the real thing. Hence the popularity of Wilkie Collins, whose 1860s sensation novels were massive in their own time, but sank without trace during the 100 years after his death.”
Menaker To Head Random House
Daniel Menaker is Random House’s new editor-in-chief. He’s a “literary insider who left Random House to edit books at rival HarperCollins in 2001, has been reaching out to authors and expressing confidence he can halt an exodus of writers to Penguin Group USA.” Prominent RH writers have been leaving the imprint since Anne Godoff was fired last month.
Menaker – Good Eye, But Inexeperienced In Business Side
Menaker spent “26 years at The New Yorker, beginning as a fact-checker and concluding as a senior editor, mainly in its fiction department. His years in the magazine’s singularly influential fiction department give him outsize literary credentials, and as a book editor he is best known for his eye for sophisticated fiction.”
Media Dereg, Part II
Back in 1996, the U.S. Congress passed a Telecommunications Act which allowed large media companies to hold multiple TV and radio stations in a single market, and to consolidate and merge their businesses as never before. Predictably, the large companies which took advantage of the legislation now control a high percentage of the nation’s media outlets. Now, the FCC is considering a further loosening of restrictions on ownership, sparking a familiar debate between Big Media and, well, most everyone else.
Does Anyone Care What The Listeners Want?
While the big media companies and TV networks may be thrilled at the possibility of greater media consolidation, the public is increasingly agitated at the overwhelming of local radio and TV institutions by bland, generic national “feeds” and indistinguishable formats. “Listeners are turning off the radio in huge numbers and the media companies don’t care… because the only thing that matters to them is getting their share of whatever audience there is.”
Battling Cuts In St. Paul
1000 Minnesota artists and arts advocates descended on the state capitol in St. Paul this week to lobby legislators to amend Governor Tim Pawlenty’s plan to cut arts funding 22%. The state faces a $4.23 billion deficit for the next biennium, and the governor has pledged not to raise taxes or cut K-12 education spending, making cuts in all other areas a near-certainty. The annual arts lobbying event had never before drawn more than 400 attendees, and legislators were largely receptive, if somewhat skeptical of their ability to spare the arts from the budget knife.
No Money, No Resources, Stalled Renovation
“After nearly three years and $17 million, Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark, city-owned Hollyhock House and the adjacent Barnsdall Park [in Los Angeles] may still remain closed to the public when the first of two renovation phases is finished late this spring, city officials said Wednesday. And there are currently no plans and no money for the second phase… More than 50 supporters of Hollyhock House, community leaders and citizens who value Barnsdall Park’s neighborhood art programs, turned up for the progress report. Some could not contain their dismay at phase one’s outcome: In addition to being late and over budget, the project will leave far less space for art classes.”