Category: issues

“Operating losses at the Cork Opera House almost trebled in 2010/11 to more than €825,000 (£692,000) following a drop of more than a fifth in revenues … Production volume and audience numbers both fell by nearly a quarter (24%) in the year to the end of March 2011.”

“Arts Council England is expected to have around £160 million of extra funding at its disposal over the next five years, thanks to increased National Lottery ticket sales, culture minister Ed Vaizey has claimed. … An additional £40 million is also projected to go to the British Film Institute.”

Culture minister Ed Vaizey told a conference of arts professionals that the new plan would include everything from “archaeology to architecture and the built environment, archives, craft, dance, design, digital arts, drama and theatre, film and cinemas, galleries, heritage, libraries, literature, live performance, museums, poetry and the visual arts.”

“A surprising number of writers, poets, comedians and illustrators have come to regard missed-connection classifieds for what they truly are – an inexhaustible treasure chest of heartbreak, longing, obsession and hopefulness, waiting to be ransacked and appropriated.”

“Some organizations have invited audience members into the creative process. Others have altered their ticket policies, offering more liberal exchanges or hooking up with Groupon. Whatever the case, business as usual has lost its sense of usual.”

As Scotland prepares for a vote on independence, some in the arts think a yes vote would be disastrous. Mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill: “For the arts in Scotland, funding is difficult. There is an audience for classical music, but it’s very small, and we can’t deny that people travel from south of the border to attend. I think we’re stronger together.”

“The students had objected to the ‘indecent’ clothing … and ‘categorically refused’ to let the filming continue unless the wardrobe was changed.”

“More performing arts are finding their way into movie theaters. Ballet and opera, theater and orchestra performances are part of a burgeoning new field that the movie theater industry refers to as ‘alternative content.’ Yet it may be a little too alternative.”

“The 28-year-old Swedish entrepreneur with a boyish face … addressed a ballroom full of power attorneys in Brooks Brothers and Armani suits — essentially schooling them on the brave new world of digital music. Ek boldly predicted that revenue from streaming services such as Spotify will in two years return as much revenue to the industry as iTunes does today.”

“The black middle and upper classes have long fumed that stage and film have rendered them largely invisible — and are hungry for serious works with rounded characterizations of themselves. This hunger was not satisfied by The Help.“