“Could the creative industries provide innovative models which will make this sector not just resilient in the current economic climate, but allow it to flourish? There are economists who think this is happening already. Recent research from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) suggests that the cultural sector will grow by 4% between 2009 and 2013 – double the estimate for the rest of the economy.”
Tag: 06.15.09
Attention, Orange Co. Museum: You’re Not A Private Gallery
“Today’s news that the Orange County Museum of Art surreptitiously sold 18 of its 20 early California plein-air paintings for a relatively modest price to an undisclosed private collector in Laguna Beach is remarkable on many levels. Not least is the private sale’s clear deviance from professional standards for deaccessioning that guide the Assn. of Art Museum Directors.”
CalArts’ Erik Ehn Will Head Brown’s Playwriting Program
“Erik Ehn, the dean of the School of Theater at California Institute of the Arts, is leaving his position to head the graduate playwriting program at Brown University. ‘He did a good job, but the position went against his nature. He truly is a writer at heart,’ CalArts President Steven Lavine told Culture Monster today. ‘I asked him if we could do anything to make him stay. In the end, he just received the perfect job offer from Brown.'”
China’s Revolutionary Opera, Once Required, Is Recreation
“Once upon a time, revolutionary opera was forced down the Chinese people’s throats.” One such work, “Jiang Jie,” is on the program of the opera festival at Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts. It would be easy to assume that its presence “is an obligation imposed by the government. Except that this festival sells tickets on the free market. Those tickets aren’t cheap. And the audience for ‘Jiang Jie’ on Friday night is large, and notably involved.”
Report Card: Kids’ Arts Education In U.S. Not Exactly Stellar
“Music and art instruction in American eighth-grade classrooms has remained flat over the last decade, according to a new survey by the Department of Education, and one official involved in the survey called student achievement in those subjects ‘mediocre.’ The survey, released on Monday, was conducted as part of a nationwide test of music and arts achievement administered last year.”
NEA: Audiences Shrinking Even In Diehard Demographic
“Audiences for the arts in the U.S. continue to decline and age at significant rates, according to a report released Monday by the National Endowment for the Arts. But the Internet holds out hope, as more people are going online to experience culture. … Surprisingly, the largest drop in arts consumption comes from people ages 45 to 54, which has traditionally been the most dependable group of arts participants.”
An International Slump In DVD Sales
“Internationally, last year consumers spent $26.4 billion on video software, with $18.1 billion of that spent on buying DVD discs. The overall figure represents a 3.6% drop on 2007 spend and a 4.7% drop on disc sales alone, the research shows.”
How TicketMaster Gets Away With Soaking Ticket-Buyers
“I understand that they need to cover the manpower, the credit card costs and the technology required to process my purchase, as well as make a reasonable profit. But how come the service fees can be anything from £2 to £15 per ticket? How can they justify a fee for printing out your own ticket, using your own ink and paper? Does it really cost four times as much to process a purchase of four tickets than a purchase of one?”
When The Sears Tower Isn’t The Sears Tower Anymore
“In a ceremony next month, Chicago’s 110-storey Sears Tower which, at 442 metres (1,450ft), is the tallest building in North America, will be rechristened as the Willis Tower in a multimillion-dollar naming rights deal. The locals are not impressed. An online petition condemning the change has attracted 33,000 signatures.”
Arts Groups Turn On To Social Media
“The use of social media as a marketing tool is fast becoming a key means for cash-strapped organizations not only to spread the word about offerings but also to heighten their “cool” quotients and attract Web-savvy patrons who might otherwise view the groups as stodgy or impersonal.”