“For those who work in the theatre, it represents the biggest change in scale and aspiration since the beginning of public subsidy for the arts more than half a century ago. For audiences, too, there are high hopes of bigger, better resourced shows, perhaps even featuring some of those fine Scottish actors, from Sean Connery — well, we can dream — to Tilda Swinton, who ply their trade everywhere except at home.”
Tag: 02.18.06
Culture Under Canada’s Conservatives
Canada’s new cultural agenda under culture minister Bev Oda? “Ottawa spends roughly $150 per capita on Quebeckers for culture, and less than $75 per capita on provinces from Manitoba west. But Oda will not be drawn into any facile promises to change that situation.” And the CBC? “People are starting to question, if nobody’s watching CBC Television, English-language, then does it justify the utilization of those dollars in that way.”
Toronto’s Building Boom – More Money Please
Toronto’s big six – the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet School, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art and the Royal Conservatory of Music – have major building projects going, and $500 million to build them. One problem: as construction moves along, costs have gone up and…