Category: issues

“Some foundations have decided to increase the amount they dispense each year, even though that may trigger a higher excise tax. Others are allocating their grants to support nonprofit groups’ operating costs, when they have traditionally supported only program expenses.” A significant minority, including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, are renegotiating grant agreements.

“Already funded with a $10 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, the initial festival is scheduled to run April 7 to May 1, 2011, centered on early-20th-century Parisian artistic life. [New executive director J. Edward] Cambron referred to the programming theme as ‘Stravinsky in Paris’ – this was a period when the composer wrote his great ballet scores – though a variety of figures from that period will be examined, as well as some of their 21st-century counterparts.”

“My husband and I donate to several charities but get very frustrated with the constant deluge of what I call ‘Thanks for the money. Send more’ letters. Do charities actually expect that people who donate once a year will start donating every month?”

“The New York State Legislature passed a bill on Monday that would allow the continued sale of tickets for entertainment and sports events at any price. The bill, which must be signed by Gov. David A. Paterson, would extend by 50 weeks a two-year suspension of New York’s scalping restrictions.”

Among the passengers presumed lost on AF 447 were Silvio Barbato, former chief conductor of the opera houses in Brasília and Rio de Janeiro; vocalist Juliana Ferreira Braga de Aquino; and German architect Moritz Kock, who had been meeting with colleagues from the firm of Oscar Niemeyer.

The region has suddenly lost two of its three largest arts funders. “The lack of leadership, and deep-pocketed, committed donors, is of growing concern to cultural leaders. There’s an obvious need to cultivate a new generation, the next Lenfest, the new Lee Annenberg, as the economy continues to lash endowments and resources.”

“Now — in an era of belt-tightening — funding and promoting a grandiose art form is a tricky business. Especially when you have $150,000 less to spend on the ball this year,” as is the case for Washington National Opera’s annual Opera Ball, budgeted this year at $250,000. “The ball planners are trying to make do without anyone’s realizing they are spending a lot less.”

“Having lost the battle against transforming the campus’s north plaza in front of the Vivian Beaumont Theater, laid out in 1965 by the celebrated landscape architect Dan Kiley, some preservationists say they fear that the rest of the $1.2 billion redevelopment project could end up compromising the original 1960s composition of Lincoln Center as a whole.”

“At the new arts high school downtown, it has become nearly impossible to separate the substance of the architecture. Rarely has the firm’s architecture seemed so visually dramatic — or so politically out of touch. In its finished form, the school emerges as a symbol not so much of a rudderless school district as one where the person at the helm is continually changing — and the direction of the ship can swing markedly from year to year.”