The director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Lars Nittve, has asked the Swedish government for 50m Swedish crowns ($6.8m) to buy work by female artists. The museum, which houses 250,000 20th-century works, has around nine times as many pieces by men as by women in its collection
Tag: 06.01.06
Be The Neighborhood
Making art accessible to poor and minority audiences is like the weather: everyone in the arts talks about it, but almost no one really does much about it. Part of the problem is the lack of proven methods of engaging low-income communities. The answer, as demonstrated by a successful project in theatre-rich Minneapolis, may be that arts groups will only become palatable to underserved communities when they make a concerted effort to embed themselves in those communities, rather than condescendingly offering an “escape” from the outside.
Sweden Gears Up For Another File-Swapping Smackdown
The headquarters of The Pirate Bay, a web site that enables users to find and download pirated music and movies, was raided by Swedish police this week, setting up a legal confrontation over the issue of whether such sites can be held responsible for the actions of their users. Courts in several other countries, including the U.S., have held that sites clearly intended to facilitate illegal activity are not protected by law. The fight is likely to be more complicated in Sweden, however – the country is notorious for tolerating file-sharing, and has no specific law prohibiting it.
It Was A Very Good Year
“Broadway has had a record-breaking year for attendance and box office earnings, thanks to the success of plays such as Julia Roberts’ Three Days of Rain. Theatregoers on Broadway topped the 12 million mark for the first time, with a strong attendance by tourists. Ticket sales increased 12 per cent to $861.6m during the 2005-2006 season, according to the League of American Theatres and Producers.” Strangely, though, there was no increase in the percentage of Broadway shows that turn a profit.
Twin Cities Closer To Having A True Home For Dance
A long-derelict theater in Minneapolis is a big step closer to a long-planned reopening, following government approval of a bonding bill that will provide $11 million towards the project. “When it’s finished, the Shubert will immediately become home base for a host of dance groups, including James Sewell Ballet and Minnesota Dance Theater.”
Chihuly Fights For Originality
Glass artist Dale Chihuly is “in the midst of a hard-edged legal fight in federal court here over the distinctiveness of his creations and, more fundamentally, who owns artistic expression in the glass art world.”
And A Soprano Shall Lead Them
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has named soprano Dawn Upshaw to an important part-time leadership position. The SPCO abandoned traditional music directorships in 2004, and named a collection of high-profile “artistic partners” who lead the orchestra in multiple programs over a period of years. Other current SPCO “partners” include conductor Douglas Boyd and violinist Joshua Bell. Of course, it’s one thing for a violinist to lead a conductor-less orchestra, and quite another for a soprano to do it…
Sort Of A $3 Million Cherry On Top Of A $50 Million Sundae
Just in time for the unveiling of its new $50 million expansion, the Minneapolis Insitute of Arts has acquired a pricey new piece for its collection. “The Louis XV-era painting Comtesse d’Egmont Pignatelli in Spanish Costume by Alexander Roslin was bought from the New York gallery Wildenstein & Co.” for $3 million, making it the most expensive work acquired by the MIA in nearly a decade.
Moore Accused Of Manipulating Sound Bites
“A veteran who lost both arms in the war in Iraq is suing filmmaker Michael Moore for $85-million, alleging that Moore used snippets of a television interview without his permission to falsely portray him as anti-war in Fahrenheit 9/11… He claims in his lawsuit that the way Moore used the film clip makes him appear to ‘voice a complaint about the war effort’ when he was actually complaining about ‘the excruciating type of pain’ that comes with the injury he suffered.”
How To Rile Up Quebeckers
The chairman of the CBC has sparked a furor among Francophone Canadians by suggesting that Radio-Canada, the French-language version of CBC (both radio and television), has become too centered on Quebec and its insular world. Guy Fournier’s desire to make the French networks more nationally relevant might have slipped in under the radar, but for his use of a word fraught with controversy in French Canada – “unification.”