Category: issues

“The Mori poll showed that 73% were interested in history, compared with 59% in sport in general and 48% in football.”

Many fans have put up $750 for tickets to Barbra Streisand’s upcoming concerts. But such super-stardom doesn’t seem to be passing down to younger stars. “In a world that’s about rebelling against your parents, no star draws like those rock-and-roll granddaddies. New ones seem not to be on the horizon. Young talent is out there, but the old vehicles to fame have left the station. Beyond absorbing the latest news from Iraq, the collective consciousness spawned by a once-mass media has dwindled.”

Throwing money at a problem is one way to help fix it. But how do you tell if a foundation is making an impact with its giving? It’s a bigger problem than you might tink…

After struggling with its finances, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center has managed not only to balance its budget but post a surplus of $1.2 million. “While a surplus would be good news by any standard, Kimmel leaders acknowledge that this year’s numbers benefited from two unusual circumstances: a long summer run of The Lion King, the industry’s coveted cash cow; and income from an out-of-court settlement after the Kimmel sued its own architect, Rafael Vinoly Architects.”

Pope Benedict has denounced the modernization of church music, particularly that including (shudder) guitars, and has ordered Catholic churches worldwide to reacquaint themselves with Gregorian chant. “What this cultural authoritarianism completely overlooks is how radically the congregations for liturgical worship are changing. The single, central kind of music heard in church in the past has, as in so many areas of our life, been completely overtaken by a huge variety of styles and tastes: who is to say that different generations cannot worship to the music of Palestrina or pop, Josquin or flamenco?”

“David Galligan has resigned as president and CEO of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. Galligan, former chief operating officer at the Walker Art Center, had held the Ordway position since 2002.”

L.A.’s decision to double its arts grants for next fiscal year is being seen as an important step in bringing California arts funding up to national standard levels. But the state (and the city) still lag far behind other national arts centers in even the most basic levels of arts support.

“Student-teacher ratios for the arts can be staggering. According to data provided by the department to the City Council this fall, there is 1 visual arts teacher for every 943 students and 1 music teacher for every 1,200. For dance and theater the numbers are even more extreme, with 1 dance teacher for every 8,088 students, and 1 theater teacher for every 8,871. Although about 40,000 teachers have been added to the New York City school system since 1975 — bringing the current total to about 84,000 — no more than 2,000 of them are arts specialists, according to the Center for Arts Education, a nonprofit group. Experts estimate it would cost $150 million to $200 million to hire arts specialists for every school, and the blueprint has no funds attached.”

“The middle of the 19th century; nearly 150 years ago. Forget what you know. Forget the stale and unjustifiable notion that 19th-century art was tame and gentle, that the impressionists were ‘chocolate-box artists’, that modernism began in 1900. The truth is that everything great about modern art – and, perhaps more significantly, everything about it that still lives – was invented in the undervalued 19th century.”

That Iran’s extremist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has nuclear ambitions for his country is no secret – indeed, it’s front page news around the world nearly every day. But Ahmadinejad apparently feels the need to trumpet his plans in a more literal sense. He has commissioned a “nuclear symphony” from an Iranian composer, and the work’s debut will be given next week in Tehran.