“What’s startling about American culture in wartime today is how much it resembles American culture in peacetime. If earlier wars soaked deep into the fabric of the nation, Iraq has become a sporadically demanding background, popping into the nation’s consciousness at times of extreme carnage, and then politely making way for other stories, from natural disaster to the foibles of teenage celebrities.”
Tag: 01.28.05
SF Ballet Opens On A High (Praise, That Is)
Is San Francisco Ballet the “best company in North America?” That’s what Mark Morris told the crowd assembled for the opening of the company’s 72nd season.
Long-Lost Beethoven Work Gets Hearing
A long-lost Adagio written by Beethoven is getting a performance. “Beethoven likely wrote the draft in Vienna in the 1790s, when he was in his 20s. It was found among bundles of his sketches and drafts in the British Library and published in 1970. Beethoven titled his draft “Concerto in A for Piano,” with brief indications for other instruments.”
Philly Mayor Proposes Big Cut In Museum Funding
Philadelphia Mayor John Street proposes big reductions in the city’s support of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “Street’s austerity budget proposes to cut city support for the Philadelphia Museum of Art by $250,000 to $1.75 million. City funding for the art museum provides for security and maintenance. By 2010, under the mayor’s proposed five-year financial plan, city support would be scaled back to $500,000. Art museum officials called the proposed cuts a “major setback” and noted that there already had been a 7 percent reduction in staff and elimination of Wednesday-evening programs due to city funding cuts last year.”
Whitney’s New Expansion Plan
New York’s Whitney Museum has a new expansion plan. It calls for a new, nine-story building just a few feet south of the current museum. “The new plan, by Italian designer Renzo Piano, is “more moderate” than previous iterations, said Adam Weinberg, the Whitney’s director. “What we want to do is balance the needs of preservation and the needs of the neighborhood with making great architecture,” he said. Piano’s design calls for demolishing two brownstones next to the museum, and using that space for a new entrance that would feed onto a plaza.”
Esbjornson Named To Lead Seattle Rep
David Esbjornson, the 52-year-old, New York-based stage director, has been named artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre. Esbjornson has numerous Broadway and off-Broadway credits, and close ties to such major American playwrights as Edward Albee, Arthur Miller and Tony Kushner.
In Virginia: Squabbling Over An Arts Funding Plan
There’s a proposal in Virginia for the state to borrow $86 million for arts and cultural projects. But officials in Hampton Roads and the mayors of Norfolk and Virginia Beach said their cities are being shortchanged since 35 percent of the funds go to Richmond. Then there is the state legislator who attacks the funding plan as “vulgar.”
Death Knell For Sitcoms? (Or Do We Reinvent?)
Is the traditional TV sitcom dead? Dome think so, and there hasn’t been a breakout hit now for a few seasons. So how do you reinvent the form? Or is it more a problem of writing?
Madrid Museums Aim For Higher Profiles
Three prominent Madrid museums are upgrading their fracilities in a long-awaited move. “The Prado, Reina Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemisza museums have each embarked on ambitious renovation and expansion that, along with improved pedestrian access, promise to raise the Spanish capital’s cultural profile.”
What Does It Mean To Be Indie?
Independent film is a serious genre in the marketplace these days. “But what does “indie” really mean – assuming it means anything at all in this age of globalized mass media? Opinions are varied, as are the movies grouped in its ever larger tent.” Is it a movie made outside the studio system? Or is it a “style” of filmmaking?