The Smithsonian Museum has told Congress that it will stick to plans to rename its Imax auditorium after a large corporate donor. “Critics saw the move as one more step in the commercialization of the Smithsonian. Members of the House Appropriations Committee asked Smithsonian officials to reconsider the change,” but the Smithsonian says it won’t.
Tag: 01.31.03
NEA’s New Poet/Chairman Confirmed
The National Endowment for the Arts finally has a new leader, after a year. Outspoken poet (they seem to be everywhere these days) Dana Gioia takes over in February after being unanimously confirmed for the job by the US Senate. “The NEA has been leaderless for too long. I am looking forward to a strong chairman who understands the values of artists, because he is one, and who understands the role of cultural policy, and above all who will invigorate the agency.”
Those Pesky Poets Get Into More Trouble
The White House “postponement” of a planned poetry event in February because of a planned protest by some of the invited poets is rousing lots of speculation. Some poets wanted to protest the war and resented the possible appearance of their support for war policies by their attendance. Plans to speak out againt a war with Iraq worried the White House and so the event was put off. Says one poet: “It tells you how little they understand poetry and poets, including the poets under discussion. It’s a way to co-opt people, makes them look like they are interested in the arts without bothering to understand the arts.”
Poetic Protest
“Most of the invited poets are vocal opponents of the Bush administration, including [protest organizer and Copper Canyon Press founder] Sam Hamill, an award-winning poet and publisher with a long history of protesting against U.S. military aggression.”
Music – Isn’t That Why They Call It “Live” Theatre?
Broadway is having a debate about musicians. Can they be replaced with a “virtual” orchestra? “I believe 90% of the producers want live theatre. “I don’t worry about them. I worry about the 10% that say, ‘I look at the bottom line. Look at how much I can save.’ I understand the bottom line. It’s a commercial venture. But theatre is based on certain compacts with the audience. But what happens if you change that contract with the audience? I think if you ask anybody that comes to the theatre, ‘Would you like to see a show with music on tape or supplied by a virtual orchestra, and pay the same price’- I guarantee that producers won’t lower the musical’s price – most people would say, ‘I’d rather have a live orchestra.’ “
Reinventing The Viola (And Isn’t It About Time?)
An instrument that resembles a Dalí-inspired melted viola is causing such excitement that there is a two-year waiting-list. Although the body is spruce and maple, the traditional ebony fingerboard is replaced by Formica to give it a lighter weight. Its eccentric shape also reduces the strain of arm and wrist stretching. The instrument, whose $12,000 (£7,300) cost is comparable to that of a normal viola, was made in America, at the Oregon workshop of David Rivinus. ‘The only thing sacrificed is visual symmetry. Does the shape change do anything to the sound? No’.”
Famous And They Make Art
A surprising number of pop artists have also pursued second careers in visual art. “David Bowie, Ray Davies of the Kinks, and the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia all pursued art before music. Joni Mitchell illustrates many of her album covers with Van Gogh-influenced self-portraits. The phenomenon is hardly limited to rockers. Crooner Tony Bennett has a second career as an artist. Jazz great Miles Davis began expressing himself visually late in life, but generated a compelling body of work.”
Boston Ballet Makes Cuts
Boston Ballet got great reviews, sold 600 more season tickets and posted a small surplus. But the company’s longterm finances have been shaky, and so the company is cutting staff and canceling some performances at the end of this season. “We are not treating this as a one-time emergency. We’re trying to look very closely at how we do business, how we can create greater efficiencies while enhancing our artistic quality.”
The Brain’s Last Stand?
“Far from being a step towards machine intelligence, as theorists had hoped in the 1950s, building a world-class chess computer has proved to be surprisingly easy, thanks to the plummeting price and soaring power of computer chips. Rather than emulating the complex thought-processes of human players, computers simply resort to mindless number-crunching to decide what move to make. Throw enough microchips at the problem—Deep Blue contained hundreds of specialist chess-analysis chips—and it does indeed become trivial. Quantity, as Gary Kasparov noted after his defeat, had become quality. He demanded a rematch, but IBM said no.” Now he’s getting another chance.
Companies Stepping Away From PBS Underwriting
Exxon Mobil has spent $230 million in the past 30 years underwriting PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre”. No more. “The company wants to target its messages in the environmental realms that more closely align with its businesses. It’s a message public broadcasting executives are hearing frequently these days.” Many companies “are saying they simply have no extra pocket change in the down economy for image messages – the only thing that public television’s strict rules allow – that aren’t directly tied to getting consumers to buy a product. That puts PBS, and local stations that air its programming, in an increasingly difficult situation.”