What’s happened to Random House? “The flagship imprint of the world’s largest publishing company is suffering an identity crisis. Staff turnover and a difficult marketplace for literary books are pushing Random House away from its highbrow heritage and toward the lowbrow commercialism that marks most of its competitors. And at the same time that it’s shedding its literary distinctiveness, it has yet to enlist the sort of blockbuster author, such as John Grisham, who can be relied on to keep a commercial publisher in the black.”
Tag: 03.07.05
Recording Company And Scholar Clash Over Old Music
A recording company (Hyperion) wants to record ancient music. A scholar claims copyright on his work recreating them. Impass. “What are the consequences? The gloomiest scenario doing the arty rounds is that, since most old musical compositions and stage works have been edited in some way, thousands of scholars will now claim millions of pounds in royalties, destroying the finances of performing organisations already operating on the most precarious budgets.
The Medically-Enhanced Performer?
“Forget going to the doctor for bronchitis or poison ivy. Nowadays, patients are increasingly demanding drugs to help them perform better at the company conference, study harder for tests, or eliminate performance anxiety before a big date. It’s called “cosmetic neurology,” this use of new drugs that help people who aren’t sick psychologically perform better socially.”
Broadway’s Classic Spring (But Nothing New)
A number of classic dramas are coming to Broadway this spring. But there is a searth of new plays. “The high cost of mounting a play in a theater seating 500 or more people means that unknown plays are often deemed too risky, even if their authors are big names.”
Can Philly Find A Stable Arts Funding Source?
Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center budget woes points up the need for some sort of stable public funding, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial page. “Mayor Street hopes to revive that important conversation with his proposal to raise a sizeable endowment to supplement ticket sales and other grants. No single funding source has been identified. The mayor proposed at least one idea – selling off the naming rights to the Pennsylvania Convention Center – that, while well-intentioned, had the drawback of commercializing the center’s identity.”
Arts Bundling – Charlotte Tries For More
Charlotte (NC) arts leaders are struggling to keep $147 million worth of arts projects bundled in a request to the state for funding. “The wish list encompasses a 1,200-seat performance hall, a museum for an art collection owned by Andreas Bechtler, a relocated Mint Museum of Art, a new home for the Afro-American Cultural Center, rehearsal space for the N.C. Dance Theatre and renovations at Discovery Place.”
Theatre Naming Rights Fail To Translate Into $$$
Winnipeg’s historic (but ailing) “Walker Theatre was in rough shape at the turn of the century. The 95-year-old building was saddled in debt and close to being shut down. It was renamed the Burton Cummings Theatre for the Performing Arts in August 2002, in exchange for an agreement that Cummings would perform five free concerts to raise funds for the theatre. At the time, newspaper reports heralded the yearly concerts as having the potential to bring in over $1 million. So far, however, only one of those concerts has happened, back in April 2003. That concert brought in a profit of $55,000.”
Showdown At Guarantee Corral
Pop concert promoters run a risky business. They have to judge demand and specify guarantees. Often the two don’t meet. “Ticket prices have spiraled out of control as artists demand higher guarantees. Every year promoters pledge to say “no” to those acts, but they never do. This year might be different.”
Classical Music Radio Decline Says Something About The Taste-Makers
So Washington DC loses another classical music radio station. “Once upon a time and long ago, bringing classical music to the airwaves was an image-enhancing operation, a programming decision, in the words of music historian Russell Sanjek, to “win over the custodians of public taste and appease the Federal Communications Commission.” These days, it’s bad taste even to mention public taste, and the FCC is appeased just by keeping a wardrobe functioning. What the classical fade-out tells us more than anything is that the “custodians of public taste” have left the building.
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Needs Emergency $100 Million
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is in major disarray. “An Arizona Republic examination over the past year revealed that the foundation is beset with legal and financial mayhem, clashes over its mission and revolving-door leadership. The situation is so dire that the foundation’s board of directors recently endorsed an emergency proposal to raise $100 million as part of the solution, a considerable challenge given that it has raised less than $2 million in donations over the past five years.”