How was Daniel Libeskind’s plan for the World Trade Center site chosen? The decision rested as much on politics, economics and engineering as on aethetics. “Almost immediately after the decision was announced, civic groups, downtown business leaders and others began debating the details that will be needed to put the plan into effect.”
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Learning Salesmanship In Denver
Even before he submitted his design for Ground Zero, Daniel Libeskind was uniquely prepared for the necessity of selling oneself and one’s art to American politicians and finicky citizens. It was less than three years ago that Libeskind beat out four other architects to become the winning designer of a $62.5 million addition to the Denver Art Museum. And while the media scrutiny and public interest in Denver was a fraction of that with which Libeskind would contend in New York, the architect’s skill at presenting his work as a public boon was evident in the Denver competition.
This Is What Passes For Good News In Massachusetts
That gale-force wind that just rushed up from the Northeast was the Massachusetts Cultural Council letting out its collective breath. The MCC, which saw its budget slashed 62% last year by acting governor Jane Swift, will apparently face no further cuts this fiscal year. Governor Mitt Romney’s new budget restores none of last year’s cuts to the MCC, but neither does it trim the council further. “The fact that Romney’s education adviser Peter Nessen also chairs the MCC board likely bodes well for the organization.” The MCC’s annual budget now stands at a proposed $7.3 million.
Fred Rogers, 74
“For all its reassuring familiarity, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a revolutionary idea at the outset and it remained a thing apart through all its decades on television. Others would also entertain the young or give them a leg up on their studies. But it was Fred Rogers, the composer, Protestant minister and student of behavior who ventured to deal head-on with the emotional life of children.” Fred Rogers died yesterday at his Pittsburgh home, at the age of 74.
They Still Fund Orchestras In Northern Ireland
While small North American orchestras seem to be shutting down left and right foir lack of funds, the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland has come into something of a public windfall. The ensemble, which has been struggling financially, will receive a £1.69 million grant from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to help in its efforts to secure more reliable “core funding.” The grant is a 26% increase on what the orchestra had previously received from the council.
Hollywood’s African Exploits
A successful African film director is taking Hollywood to task for the way it portrays his continent in the movies. Mahamat Saleh Haroun says he is tired of Hollywood studios coming to Africa simply to shoot nature scenes, lions, and actors “just dancing and laughing with big teeth.” Haround also singles out Star Wars director George Lucas for his use of some Saharan locales, and for misleading local film enthusiasts into thinking that they might have Hollywood careers if they did drudge work on the Star Wars films.
What Happened To Jazz?
“What happened to Wynton Marsalis? That may be like asking What happened to jazz? For twenty years the fates of Marsalis and jazz music have appeared inextricably intertwined.” But at the age of 40 Marsalis finds himself without a recording contract, and many in jazz feel that “by leading jazz into the realm of unbending classicism, by applying the Great Man template to establish an iconography and by sanctifying a canon of their own choosing Marsalis and his adherents are said to have codified the music in a stifling orthodoxy and inhibited the revolutionary impulses that have always advanced jazz.”
Les Miz To Close On Broadway
After 18 years, Les Miz is closing on Broadway. “On May 18 this blockbuster version of the Victor Hugo novel that helped define the mega-musical of the 1980’s will go dark at the Imperial Theater, taking its place in the record books as the second longest-running Broadway show of all time, after ‘Cats’.”
Buying Your Way In The Copyright Legislative Wars
Hollywood loves Democrats. “For years, Hollywood has poured money into the Democrats’ campaign coffers and been rewarded with indispensable assistance on the industry’s crusade of the moment – squelching new technologies that allow the dissemination of digital content in ways Hollywood can’t control. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, this eagerness to support Hollywood’s technophobia is easy to understand. Payback has come in the form of several bills designed to clamp down on the free exchange of copyrighted music and movies, which entertainment companies deem the greatest threat to their future well-being…”
Violently Yours – Movies Up The Gore Quotient
“Horror films have been spooking audiences since Bela Lugosi made his big-screen debut in 1917, but critics say the current roster of films takes gore to a whole new level. They point to a range of possible causes – from ever more realistic special effects to a ratings system that is more lenient on violence than sex. Also, increasingly graphic violence on network TV may be causing filmmakers to up the shock quotient in an effort to get people to buy tickets for what they can see for free at home.”