Category: issues

“The 6,000 square metre space will be designed by Frank Gehry, the architect behind the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The goal of this foundation is to spread the influence of culture, and the influence of France.”

YouTube isn’t just for home video and TV shows. There’s lots of arts footage, too. “Seeing these artists, most of whom are now known to us only through their recordings, is an awe-inspiring experience. To watch Art Tatum rippling through a bristlingly virtuosic version of Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays,” or Richard Strauss conducting his tone poem “Till Eulenspiegel” with a cool detachment that borders on the blasé, is to learn something about the essence of their art that no verbal description, however insightful or evocative, can supply.”

Some observers have questioned the viability of Miami’s new performing arts center, given the fact that the Florida Philharmonic, which was to be one of the center’s anchor tenants, folded several years ago. But with 465 performances scheduled for the center’s first season, supporters are hopeful that they can build a loyal local audience with a succession of high-profile touring orchestras and a healthy dose of Latin flavor.

New performing arts venues have served as the cornerstone of a larger cultural renaissance in several American cities. But will it work in Miami? “For all its efforts and aspirations, Miami clearly is no Manhattan, no Vienna… [But the center] may put a more visible stamp on the cultural community here and get people to find out about other cultural organizations in Miami.”

After years of planning and fundraising delays, ground will finally be broken this week on Kansas City’s new downtown performing arts center. “The two-hall, $325 million project scheduled to open in fall 2009 will feature a state-of-the-art, 1,600-seat symphony hall, an 1,800-seat opera-ballet hall and a multipurpose Celebration Hall for chamber performances or educational purposes.”

A documentary-style film purporting to depict the assassination of President Bush has been the talk of film festivals around the world this fall. But as the film prepare to go into wider release, newspapers have a tough decision to make when they are asked to run ads for the movie featuring a presidential tombstone.

Canada has a Conservative government for the first time in over a decade, and the effect of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s budget-cutting plan has been felt immediately by the country’s heavily subsidized arts organizations. “This week, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs announced that it would slash $11.8-million from its ‘public diplomacy’ budget… Canada’s spending was already pathetic, [and] foreign tourists already think of Canada as Mounties, mountains, maple syrup, Molson’s and moose. So these cuts are painfully shortsighted.”

As the major arts groups of Wales debate a change which would see the country’s arts council replaced by a system of direct funding from the government, leaders are warning that politicians will need to learn to separate their personal feelings from their funding decisions. “If politicians believe they can give artistic advice in return for handing out money, the culture industry could suffer rather than thrive.”

George Bush intends to nominate Dana Gioia for another four-year term as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

An anti-tax group in Cleveland is mobilizing to oppose a ballot measure that would increase a countywide cigarette tax and dedicate the proceeds to the arts. If passed, the measure would generate $20 million a year for cultural groups. Supporters are mounting a vigorous campaign to get voters to support the plan, but organized opposition could derail the effort at the polls.