Category: today’s top story

“For the past two weeks, the delegation of Chinese cultural experts has swept through American institutions, seeking to reclaim items once ensconced at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, which was one of the world’s most richly appointed imperial residences until British and French troops plundered it in 1860.”

Nephew of Walt and son of Disney Co. business head Roy O., Roy E. Disney spearheaded the corporate revolt that led to the installation of Michael Eisner, Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg at the company’s helm. Roy E. then revived Disney’s flagging animation division, turning out a string of massive hits including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

“[T]he problem with this project, or with any other grand museum project you could name, is that it risks making activity and action the museum’s central goal, with contemplation pushed to dismal second place. Art museums ought to be about three things: Art. Art. And more art.”

“The French National Library announced in August that it was engaged in discussions with Google over the digitization of its collections,” news that “provoked an uproar among French officials and the publishing community.” The money “pledged Monday will finance a public-private partnership,” which “might well involve Google.”

“This is not a Luddite’s lament, or a cri de coeur about the significantly reduced audio quality of those compressed MP3 files. I love having more music at arm’s reach than ever before, I love taking it with me wherever I go. But I do find myself wondering why, exactly, collecting music now means so much less.”

The arrangement will seek to integrate access to nearly one million hours of BBC TV and radio content and more than 150 million British Library items.

“Abandoning some of the best known names in trade publishing, the Nielsen Company said Thursday that it would shut down Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews, and sell a stable of other publications, including Billboard and, to a newly formed media company.”

“While many adults still like the intimacy of live theater, particularly musical theater, over the past year an estimated 47 million of them chose to watch or listen to music, theater or dance performances online at least once a week.” According to the NEA’s 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, “the mode of delivery is rapidly changing.”

“The artists, from the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang[,] had been invited to the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane to discuss their paintings,” but “Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has denied the men visas, saying their studio was a propoganda tool of Pyongyang.”

“Los Angeles Opera asked for and received a $14-million emergency loan from Los Angeles County today to allow it to stay afloat and keep paying its expenses through the middle of next year.” In his request for the aid, the company’s COO said that the loan “is needed now, literally next week.”