A week ago Kennedy Center chief Michael Kaiser wrote a piece in the Washington Post warning of the current perilous state of the arts in America. This week, Lincoln Center chief Reynold Levy responds, citing healthy signs of arts activity all over America, and concluding by urging Kaiser to “leave the predictions of Cassandra and the wailings of Jeremiah backstage.”
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Studying The Arts To Death
In the 80s and 90s, culture advocates have authored more and more studies to measure the “impact” of the arts on society. What does the money buy? How many does it employ? What kinds of social “goods” are being achieved? “There is now a mass of primary data claiming to measure the impact of cultural policy.” But “the rise of statistics has paralleled an extension of government control over the arts, and the tendency to value culture for its ‘impact’ rather than its intrinsic value.” Surely this can’t be good for the service of art…
Trio Of Hits Shakes Up Broadway
If last year was the year of the revival on Broadway, this year three shows have shaken up the cynic’s view of how business is conducted. “Chances are being taken, rules are being broken and — as a result — attention is being paid.”
Art Asking To Be Sued
A new exhibition in New York shows artists who have purposely sampled and copied other artists’ work. “All of the pieces either have run afoul of copyright owners in the past or could be expected to in the future.” It makes the point that current copyright laws are overly restrictive of artists who use other artists work in their own.
Updating The Contemporary In Adult Contemporary
Adult Contemporary radio – those endless loops of Elton and Phil Collins and Micahel Bolton and… a 2001 survey of Canadian radio revealed that 23 percent of all listening time on the radio was devoted to this format. But those familiar songs that have been played over and over again for the past decade – “just when it seemed these radio-friendly legacies would never go away – all right, 16 or 17 years after it seemed they wouldn’t go away – it seems like now they just might…”
After 20 Years – ‘Midnight’s Children’ Comes To The Stage
Some 20 years ago, Salman Rushdie’s sweeping novel “Midnight’s Children” was an international bestseller. Decades later, “after abortive adaptations by the BBC and a leading West End producer, it has taken the combined efforts of Rushdie, the Royal Shakespeare Company and two American universities to end the wait, with a stage version of ‘Midnight’s Children’ that previews in London next week.”
London’s Sick Theatre District
Who wants to go to London’s West End theatre district anymore? “Whether you travel by car or train, it is a nightmare to get there, and when you arrive the place is squalid. The streets are filthy and poorly lit, there are horribly persistent beggars everywhere, and the place is overrun by groups of marauding yoof, out on the booze and aggressive and foul-mouthed with it. Drug-dealing takes place more or less openly, and the atmosphere is deeply depressing when it isn’t downright threatening. Of a policeman on the beat there is hardly ever a sign.”
Movies By Day, Stage By Night
“The transition from theatre to film and TV is an art that stage actors in Canada, and particularly Toronto, are becoming more adept at handling. As film and TV production work increases and the economic forecast for creating theatre gets less promising, seeking work opportunities outside theatre is no longer thought of as selling out. Actors dropping out of a play to do a film is becoming the unwritten law of the Toronto theatre jungle.”
Will Denver Sports Mogul Take Over Colorado Ballet?
The dance company is out of a home after this season. The mogul – Stan Kroenke, owner of the Avalanche, Nuggets, Mammoth, and assorted sports palaces and theatres, needs attractions to fill his Paramount Theatre. “Under the proposal, Kroenke Sports Enterprises will take over the ballet and move it to the Paramount Theatre, which Kroenke has under a 25-year lease. Ballet and sports aren’t that far apart. Both require physical skills and stamina.”
US Arts Funding Declines In 2002
A study by the National Assembly of Arts Agencies reports that for the second year in a row, state arts funding across America declined in 2002. This follows ten years of funding increases. “According to the study, 62% of the decline can be blamed on two states: California and Massachusetts. The study reports that, nationwide, legislative appropriations for fiscal 2003, including state appropriations, fell from $408.6 million to $353.9 million. California and Massachusetts had a combined loss of $33.9 million, making them the two states hardest hit by the faltering economy.”