Category: issues

“Valery Gergiev, the director of the Mariinsky (formerly Kirov) Theatre, has come up with a grand plan to rebut these fatuities, commanding, on the centenary of the composer’s birth, a fabulous spread of Shostakovich’s work to be set before the world’s cities. All 15 Shostakovich symphonies are being performed, under Gergiev’s own baton (at the Barbican), along with all his less well known operas and ballets, in a celebration that the conductor hopes will convince the world to see the composer differently.”

The history of Berlin’s “Loveparade is the stuff of myth, as documented in countless guidebooks and Web sites. The first Loveparade, in July 1989, was actually staged as a political demonstration, and it attracted a crowd of about 150. Over time the parade grew and grew, the number of attendees skyrocketing for more than a decade. According to the Loveparade Web site (loveparade.net), the event has had more than 8.8 million visitors since its creation and has attracted some of the world’s most famous D.J.’s.” But changes this year have some of the original organizers protesting.

Last week the Massachusetts legislature approved millions in funding for improving and repairing arts infrastructure. “The groups surveyed said they needed about $1.1 billion to repair, expand, or construct buildings in the next five years. Governor Romney vetoed the $13 million for the fund this summer, but this week the House and Senate decisively overrode his veto. ‘This is not the Legislature saying, ‘Hey, we want better ballet on stage. It’s saying, ‘We want these cultural resources improved as the infrastructure for tourism.’ “

Is the Dallas Morning News about to offload its movie and TV critics? Managers met with staff and “a large part of that meeting dealt with how to make the section more local in coverage–which suggests that those writers who handle movies and TV shows could go, because the paper could simply pick up reviews from wire services.”

Canada’s National Arts Centre has named prominent Ontario arts supporter Julia Foster as its new chair. Foster is credited with being a key presence in the turnaround of the Stratford Festival a decade ago, and has served on the boards of the Toronto International Film Festival and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

“In the late-night frenzy to craft a budget deal this week, lawmakers cut the budget of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts an additional 5 percent, to $19.1 million, while adding money to pet projects in Montclair, Camden and Newark… Organizations currently receiving state aid should expect cuts of more than 15 percent as less money will be shared by more groups.”

Robyn Archer’s resignation as director of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture programs has made organizers rethink. “We have to beware of the kneejerk reaction that [Archer’s ideas] were too intelligent for this city. We need a variety that includes all sorts of weird and wonderful cultural adventures. There also has to be a lot that local people can engage with but it mustn’t be a parochial, inward-looking event celebrating scouse culture. Why would the rest of Europe take notice of us if we are too insular?”

Four sites have been taken off UNESCO’s endangered list. “UNESCO’s World Heritage List, created in 1972, includes some 812 sites around the world, from the Giza pyramids in Egypt to the Great Wall of China to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Alberta.”

“As common sense and good manners become lost in this era of cell phones, iPods and high-tech everything, loud talking at concerts and nightclub performances has reached almost epidemic levels.” So what’s to be done?

Managers of Miami’s new Performing Arts Center say they hope to make “the $446 million center accessible to all, both through programming and ticket prices. But in a community as diverse as Miami, the task of serving everyone is akin to building a bridge across the Atlantic. Nearly 60 percent of the city’s population was born in another country, according to 2004 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. And about 91,000 people – 28 percent of the population – earn less than the federal poverty level of $9,570 a year for an individual, making Miami the third poorest big city in the nation.”