The recording industry is acknowledging that, despite its costly and protracted legal crusade to rid the world of audio and video piracy, there will always be music available illegally somewhere online. And in what appears to be a bit of a policy shift, the RIAA’s president is saying that “Our aim is not to completely eliminate music piracy or illegal peer-to-peer services altogether.” But none of this means that file-sharing sites will see any short-term relief from the legal beating they’ve been taking.
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Art For Art’s Sake
So much of the impetus for artmaking is motivated by a desire to be better and better, a need to excel. But what about the craft of art, the practice of art as discipline rather than accomplishment? Maybe this kind of art practice can counter “a market-driven society in which people assign value to each other (and themselves) according to socioeconomic status. It also can be a bulwark against the excesses of America’s SAT-calibrated meritocracy. ‘There’s so much emphasis on potential. Not on what people do, but on what they might do. … The judgment of people’s potential is devastating to people who lose out on that judgment. It deprives people of hope.”
The Best Arts Charities In America
Which are the best arts charities in the US? Worth Magazine ranks the top 24 in its annual list. Mind you, these are “best” in terms of how they run their non-profit status, not necessarily “best” for the art they produce…
Did Worth List Have Eastern Bias?
Only four of the organizations on Worth’s list reside west of Chicago, and the list of 24 is heavily populated with New York area institutions. “Did Worth’s conclusions reflect an East Coast-centric view of the arts world?”
The Fringe – Where Adventure Lives
The West End is fine for what it is. But the real risks, the real experiments, are to be found in the fringe. “Freedom, spontaneity, risk, imaginative challenge: all these things were central to the experience of the fringe. They are all notably elusive in the other available theatrical environments, where those considerations drearily familiar from Arts Council feasibility studies – audience expectation of spectacle, long-term planning, product recognisability – reign.”
Painter Of Light
Lighting for one of every eight shows that have opened on Broadway in the past two years has been the work of one man – Brian MacDevitt. Why is he so special?
Another Scottish Theatre Bites The Dust – (What, Is This Government Policy?)
Scotland’s Cutting Edge Theatre, which pioneered giving outdoor performances of classic plays in some of Scotland’s most historic castles and palaces, has had to cancel plans for a new season because of lack of funding. “In the wake of a series of complaints at the end of last year over the level of Scottish Executive support for theatre in Scotland, Cutting Edge’s fate will seem almost predictable to critics of arts funding.”
Dancing In Baghdad – A Ballet School Struggles On
Founded in 1969, the Baghdad School for Music and Fine Arts has had a struggle. Once its students were the country’s middle class. Now, only a few handfuls of young girls attend ballet classes. “Dancing these days has become a kind of escape from the grim realities of everyday life. In our situation ballet is a luxury … The girls dream of a better life and a better Iraq.”
Broadway’s Mid-Season Report Card
“At the midpoint of the 2002-03 season, it looks to be in many respects lively, productive and financially healthy. Halfway through the season – which begins and ends in early May – there’s a certain comfort level. And if this spring starts to heat up, as it traditionally does, then it could mean a record-breaking season.”
We Went To The Fights And An Opera Broke Out…
Patrons of the Vienna State Opera are getting increasingly unruly. “Police have had to step in after arguments over stolen seats exploded into fisticuffs. Other causes of conflict include bouffant hair styles that block people’s views and ringing mobile phones. A police spokesman told the Kurier newspaper: ‘It is becoming increasingly brutal. In the past few months we have had to intervene more and more. Before Christmas it was particularly bad’.”