Playwright Arthur Miller was awarded this year’s Jerusalem Prize, but for last week’s ceremony he sent a videotape in which he criticized Israel’s policies. This angered Jerusalem’s newly elected ultra-Orthodox Jewish mayor who said “Miller was a ‘universal dramatist’ who had reached his peak more than 50 years ago. He condemned the tendency of intellectuals to ‘always criticise the actions of the state of Israel and sometimes even impose colonial criteria on the issues’. He further attacked Miller for sitting on a ‘literary Olympus tens of thousands of kilometres from here to voice criticism’.”
Tag: 07.07.03
Did Da Ponte Steal Don Giovanni From Stoker?
“An article published yesterday on the front page of one of Italy’s leading national newspapers draws attention to some remarkable parallels between the story of Bram Stoker’s seminal Gothic villain Dracula and that of the archetypal Latin cad Don Giovanni depicted in Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto more than 100 years earlier.”
Berlin Saves Its Opera Houses
After fierce battles for a year, during which cash-strapped Berlin considered closing one of its three opera houses, the city has decided to continue funding all three. “At a packed press conference last week, federal cultural minister Christina Weiss announced the funding of a long-term rescue package to enable all three embattled institutions to continue independent operations under a corporate-type umbrella structure, the Berlin Opera Foundation, to be set up Jan. 1.”
ABT’s Hands-On Chairman
Lewis S. Ranieri, became chairman of American Ballet Theatre last August after “pledging $2 million to the company. While chairmen typically contribute to a cultural institution’s general operating fund, Mr. Ranieri has personally paid for specific expenditures, including increased marketing, dancers’ housing, consultants’ fees and bathroom renovations at the company’s headquarters. Chairmen usually do not work on the premises of their arts organizations, but Mr. Ranieri created an office for himself out of a dance studio at Ballet Theater’s Manhattan headquarters — he pays the rent for his space — where he puts in time almost every day despite his job as lead director at Computer Associates on Long Island. Mr. Ranieri’s unorthodox approach raises questions, arts executives say.”
Fox Pulls Charlie Chan – For The Wrong Reason?
“The Fox Movie Channel — citing protests about Asian stereotypes and white actors playing a Chinese sleuth — pulled its summer festival of antique Chan mysteries recently for the wrong reasons. Black stereotyping is much more offensive than Charlie in some of the Chan movies that Fox Movie Channel had planned on beaming to the 20 million homes it reaches.”
Australia In Berlin
“Berlin’s poetry fest, put on by the city’s venerable literaturWERKstatt (literary workshop), is one of the world’s most innovative literary festivals and it focused this year on Australia. The 10-day program comprised text-based works by Australian artists and writers, including collaborations with leading German writers.”
Art’s Big Spenders – Who Are They?
“Rated as number one spender on art this year is London resident Sheikh Saud al-Thani of Qatar. His interests range from antiquities, Islamic art, furniture and jewellery to Old Masters, Impressionist paintings and vintage photographs. The surprise entry is the London jeweller Laurence Graff, who is included in the top 10.”
University Presses – State Of The Business
University presses gather in St. Louis to talk about the “both public and private anxiety about the presses’ position, at a time of diminished sales, rising returns and much disagreement as to whether publishing books with a stronger trade flavor is the best way to mend their fortunes or whether it simply leads to higher returns.”
Lloyd Webber: Lay Off The Negative Classical Music Stories
Julian Lloyd Webber is tired of all the doom and gloom about the classical music bhusiness. “In this country only one small orchestra – the Bournemouth Sinfonietta – has closed in the past 30 years. Meanwhile, over the same period, membership of the Association of British Orchestras has increased by 38 orchestras, 19 of which are new. How come the ‘grim reapers’ don’t write about that? Then again, I suppose good news is not news.”
Indianapolis’ Big Cultural Initiative
While other American cities have been cutting back their cultural initiatives, Indianapolis has been putting together a new $10 million plan for the arts. “The thing I’ve been most struck by is the intense emotion everyone feels about this initiative. Right or wrong, individual or organization, there is a very strong conviction that this is our chance, and we’d better not blow it.”