The Houston Chronicle editorial board has weighed in on the bitter dispute between the Houston Symphony Soiety and the orchestra’s musicians. “The symphony management promises to present a five-year plan for artistic growth and financial stability in May, but the society demands that the musicians accept its final offer of reduced pay and benefits by Saturday. This precipitous ultimatum might reflect the symphony’s dire financial state, but surely the final hour can wait until the society has a plan to climb out of its hole – a plan the musicians might be willing to accept and aid… Once that compromise is reached, it will fall to Houstonians to give the Houston Symphony the same generous and enthusiastic support they give to rodeos and ball games.”
Tag: 03.05.03
Cinefranco Rejects Ultraviolent Films
Toronto’s “Cinefranco” festival of French-language films gets underway this month, but the lineup will not include Gaspar Noe’s celebrated Irreversible, which is part of a new wave of ‘shock-violence’ films. Cinefranco “has also refused to screen several other French art-house films using extremes of violence in recent years. These new films, which blend sophisticated scripts with protracted and gratuitous use of violence, are the object of great controversy among critics.”
Pushing Ahead
Members of the Winnipeg Symphony management team, as well as leaders among the musicians, are moving to assure the public and the press that the mass resignation of the orchestra’s board does not mean that the organization is near filing for bankruptcy. But while the ensemble does not appear to be in imminent danger of collapse, “since the extent of its financial troubles became known late last fall, the WSO has lost three of its four professional fundraisers and three chief executive officers.”
Saatchi’s Gift, Part II
Iraqi-born art collector Charles Saatchi, whose devotion to promoting the work of young and emerging artists is well-established, is making a second major donation to the Arts Council Collection, based in London. Saatchi is giving over control of 34 modern sculptures to the ACC, which plans to display them in touring exhibitions around the U.K. and possibly abroad as well. Saatchi had previously made a gift of more than 100 artworks to the council in 1999.
US Supreme Court Hears Library Internet Censorship Appeal
The US Supreme Court hears arguments this week in the US government’s appeal of a Philadelphia court ruling that the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a violation of the First Amendment. “The law, enacted in December 2000 in part to protect minors from access to Internet pornography, requires schools and libraries to use the filtering software to shield minors from adult material but, because it called for adults to get permission to access certain information, it raised the ire of the civil liberties and library groups. The law also blocked federal funding to libraries that did not install the software.”
Tin Can Wins Sculpture Prize
Gereon Krebber, who graduated last year from the Royal College of Art, won this year’s Jerwood Prize with a proposal for “Tin, a 1.5-metre can with the top slightly open – or almost closed, creating uncertainty and ambivalence, the artist says. Krebber beat seven other sculptors, shortlisted from 90 proposals, for the prize, which is open to sculptors who have graduated from art school in the past 15 years.”
Kennedy Center To Do Williams
Following up on its critically received Sondheim retrospective last summer, The Kennedy Center plans to present a 10-week celebration of the plays of Tennessee Williams this summer. Included will be new productions of his major plays including “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “The Glass Menagerie.” Last summer’s Sondheim fest drew audiences from around the US.
Cleaning Up Stratford
The town of Stratford needs to clean itself up, pull itself together, and start acting like the major attraction it is. The Royal Shakespeare will announce a new plan for its theatre in the town – one can only hope for the best – but the whole operation needs a thorough refurbishment if it’s going to survive. Otherwise…
Norman Mailer On “Finding” The Book You’re Trying To Write
Planning out a plot isn’t always a good thing. “I look to find my book as I go along. Plot comes last. I want a conception of my characters that’s deep enough so that they will get me to places where I, as the author, have to live by my wits. That means my characters must keep developing. So long as they stay alive, the plot will take care of itself. Working on a book where the plot is already fully developed is like spending the rest of your life filling holes in rotten teeth when you have no skill as a dentist.”
The Woman Behind KaZaa
Nikki Hemming is the 36-year-old chief executive officer of Sharman Networks, Kazaa’s parent company. It is based on Sydney’s north shore with a staff of 18. Sharman is being sued by Hollywood and the American music industry for alleged breach of copyright over pirated music and movies. But Kazaa is fighting back, counter-suing household names such as EMI, Sony, Warner and Disney for alleged collusion and anti-competitive conduct.” Hemming says she’ll win, and that she still buys CDs and goes to the theatre for movies….