Category: issues

“With world-class acoustics and a dramatic, curved steel exterior that looks more like sculpture than architecture, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is more than just a new home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. When the $274-million, Frank Gehry-designed building opens this fall, government officials and business leaders are counting on it to become the signature of the downtown skyline and an impetus for revitalizing the area.”

“The Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the nation’s largest foundations, is taking steps to separate itself from Glenmede Trust Co., the money-management firm created in 1956 to administer the Pew family’s fortune and its charities.” The move is largely a financial decision, allowing the Pew to become a full-fledged non-profit corporation, creating a significant tax savings. Glenmede would continue to administer the Pew’s multiple trusts, but would no longer employ the Pew’s staff.

“More than 10 well-known New York arts and cultural institutions are working on plans to be part of the new center that will be built at Ground Zero. The proposals, from institutions ranging from off-Broadway theaters to museums, are in response to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.’s recent request for formal expressions of interest from cultural groups that wish to be part of the site.” Among the groups which have already declared their wishes to relocate to the site are the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York City Opera, and the Joyce Theater.

What could be better than a brand spanking new concert hall with the latest in acoustical technology, built to host a chamber music festival previously housed in a high school gym? Well, how about that same concert hall, but with a hockey museum attached? “A centre in Parry Sound, Ontario, containing both the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame and an impressive concert hall for playing classical music is the latest in a list of strange compromises in Canadian culture.”

A new book accuses the hip-hop culture which is so dominant among African-Americans of “doing a better job of demeaning black people than the Ku Klux Klan ever did… [The author’s] main point is that by glorifying ‘gangsta’ and ‘playa’ lifestyles, most major label rap releases are stereotyping black Americans as sex-crazed simpletons prone to violence.” The book doesn’t argue against rap music in general, only against the “thug” image which drives the form in today’s corporate-dominated music industry. The book is winning slow and cautious support from some on the fringes of the hip-hop world, who claim that the form has been co-opted by gun-wielding thugs and pretend ‘pimps.’

Austin, Texas is frequently cited as the Lone Star State’s cultural oasis, a small city with a legendary music scene and more arts than it knows what to do with. But things are tough all over. Last year, “Austin Lyric Opera fired one of its founding members, the Austin Musical Theatre couldn’t afford to finish its season, and the city slashed arts funding by 33 percent across the board. With these uncontrollable events behind them, the need for adequate performing space persists along with a fierce competition for patrons’ dollars.”

In Austin, arts supporters have been upset over the way the city allocates the funds it receives from the municipal hotel tax, which is earmarked for cultural activities. But the city insists that this year’s 30% cut in funding was necessary because of the slumping tourism industry. The city’s arts leaders are currently working on a series of economic impact studies, which they hope will convince civic officials that the arts are the type of investment that returns more money to the community than it takes out. But such studies tend to be difficult to quantify.

Nearly all of Portland’s major arts groups ran in the black in the fiscal year just concluded, despite the nationwide economic malaise which has seen so many orchestras, museums, and theatres in other cities struggle to stay above water. The Oregon Symphony is right on its budget target, Portland Opera outdid its own fundraising expectations, and several smaller performing arts groups also met or exceeded their budget goals. The key to Portland’s success seems to be agressive fundraising and sound management practices.

Detroit has been losing population for years, and the city’s image in the national consciousness is hardly a positive one. Everyone wants to see a turnaround, but where to begin? Other cities have harnessed to power of the “creative class” to make their urban core more attractive, more exciting, and therefore more attractive to homebuyers. Paul Horton writes that Detroit has plenty of artists, so why not see what a little unity can do? “A hip and happening atmosphere is a crucial element in a city that ‘works’ and is a key to prosperity… If the elements needed to draw new residents are not in place, Detroit and other urban cities will continue to lag behind.”

The city of Orlando wants to build a new performing arts center, and everything has been falling into place lately. The mayor is on board, and a prime plot of land in the downtown district has been acquired and earmarked for the project. There’s just one thing missing: $200 million. So far, not a single donor has come forward to offer assistance for the project, and one official has suggested that “presenting a community such as Orlando with a fund-raising goal as large as $200 million can be overwhelming.”