Category: issues

Boston’s mayor proposes a 50-cent tax on tickets to shows, and arts groups are howling. “Jeez, what a time to do that. If I thought my shows could have another 50 cents added to the ticket price, I would have priced them that way to begin with. I don’t know where we’ll get it. If the public has to cope with a larger burden, it would really be problematic.”

It used to be that the quality cultural offerings in America were found on the East Coast. No longer. “The great and unfolding story of our cultural geography, however, is happening elsewhere now, driven by population shifts, new wealth, expanded education, international migration of artists and the evolution of a prismatic American aesthetic in cities from Miami to Seattle. Nowhere is this tectonic change more apparent than in San Francisco…”

The San Francisco Symphony isn’t one of America’s Big Five orchestras – it’s helped expand the definition of the country’s best ensembles.

Of course the Metropolitan Opera is America’s best – and biggest. But San Francisco is surely second (or third?) best?

San Francisco’s highest-profile art museum? SFMuseum of Modern Art. “SFMOMA stands reinvented in its landmark – though not universally admired – downtown building designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta.”

“Long regarded as a solid regional institution, San Francisco Ballet has vaulted forward in the past decade. Versatility and aplomb, distinctive stars from around the globe, depth in the corps, a clean and confident style and a broadly built repertoire now place San Francisco well ahead of the regional pack and into the first tier of major companies.”

Sad economic stories from arts groups all over America are common these days. But in the Los Angeles suburb of Orange County, the story is mixed. “Success stories are almost as common as negative reports. The mixture of good and bad news here is further evidence that Orange County is a quirky place, not to be graphed on a simple upward or downward chart.”

Looking back over this year’s offerings in arts and entertainment, there’s one trend that’s easy to spot – a low reading on the substance meter. “Maybe this year we needed an extra dose of escapism. But if the entertainment industry wants to stay connected with us in the long run, it needs to make more works that matter.”

Philanthropist Catherine B. Reynolds has given $100 million to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. It’s the Center’s largest gift ever, and “the first donation to the center’s plan for a major expansion over the next decade. One of the new buildings will be dedicated to educational programs and exhibitions on the performing arts; the other, to rehearsal space. Together they will be the focal point of a new plaza.”

In Ohio, where a massive state budget deficit and an arts-unfriendly Republican leadership threaten to leave arts funding in the lurch, the Ohio Arts Council is looking for creative ways to maintain their cash flow. The OAC budget has been slashed 21% in the last year alone, and further cuts loom, but council leadership insists that they will be all right if they can get at least a philosophical commitment from legislators.