Do Playwrights “Plunder” Other Cultures When They Write About Them?

Playwright Lennie James went to New Zealand to write a play about teenagers there. But he encountered resistance. And it was brutal. “I mean, what is your deal, Lennie James? Are you going to travel the world stealing people’s culture?” When I was thrown out of the club to avoid any more “trouble”, Wiri followed me out, screaming my name at the sky and wishing me well in my quest to rob the “lesser” cultures of the world of their stories. “You go Lennie James! You go, bro!”

Lingua Franca Debacle

A bankruptcy trustee for the erstwhile Lingua Franca magazine puts the screws to freelance writers in an attempt to get them to give back money the magazine paid them before folding. “A dead magazine putting the squeeze on its freelancers? Insiders are lamenting this sad end to the glorious saga of Lingua Franca, which tweaked higher education and popularized what is now known as the journalism of ideas. In chilly apartments around the city, freelancers are freaking out, calling lawyer friends, and wondering how they will come up with the money.”

Saving Spiral Jetty

The Dia Foundation is discussing whether to restore Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. The work is Smithson’s masterpiece, but as the lake has receded, it has exposed the earthwork to environmental damage. “To ensure that “Spiral Jetty” is accessible to future generations, Dia, which exhibits and preserves art made since the 1960’s, has discussed raising it by adding more rocks. Dia is also studying whether nature will restore the contrast the “Jetty” originally had with its surroundings by dissolving some of the salt crystals when the lake’s waters rise, or whether the foundation needs to do something more.”

O’Brien Show Freezes Out National Post

The Conan O’Brien show is going to Toronto for a week. The city lured the late night talk show north in an attempt to promote the city after the SARS scare last summer killed the tourist industry. The government is giving the O’Brien show $1 million for coming, and some Canadian critics are unhappy that public money is being used to subsidize the show. And – after printing stories critical of the deal, the National Post was told by O’Brien producers they would be frozen out of interviews or access while the show was in town.

ENO Delays Reopening Of Its Home

The English National Opera is delaying the reopening of its London home for two weeks after an extensive restoration. “The restoration has adhered to an extremely tight schedule throughout and in these last weeks it is crucial that standards are not compromised during the reinstatement of our technical operation in order to meet the deadline.”

The Pop-Star Movie Concert

It’s the latest thing – pop stars performing at the local movie theatre. Across America, fans pay to see their favorites perform in concert movies. Then they buy the DVD and recordings. “The numbers are impressive. Of the seven music-based events Regal CineMedia coordinated in 2003, the products tied in with the screenings always debuted at No. 1, Regal says. As 2004 unfolds, screenings such as these could become a standard part of a label’s marketing approach – radio, TV, Internet, point-of-purchase and the movie theater.”

The Most Popular Artist The Artworld Doesn’t Like

Jack Vettriano is the most popular contemporary artist in Britain. He’s” sold more than three million poster reproductions around the world and earns an estimated £500,000 a year from the royalties. The works themselves disappear from public view into the hands of private collectors, with buyers including Hollywood star Jack Nicholson, composer Sir Tim Rice and British actor Robbie Coltrane.” So why is his work unloved and uncollected in “official” art world circles?

Lingua Franca Trustee Demands Writers Return Paychecks

Lingua Franca magazine folded a couple of years ago. But freelance writers for the magazine still got paid for the last stories they turned in. Now a bankruptcy trustee says he wants freelancers to return the money or he’ll sue to get it back. It seems the writers were “unsecured” creditors, and the money “should” have gone to secured creditors. “It certainly seems unfair. These freelancers did the work and were paid the fees that they bargained for. They delivered what was asked of them.”