A random audit of a small theatre in Seattle earlier this year led the State to rule that actors should be paid as employees rather than contractors. That means theatres have to make deductions and pay new taxes… and where does that come from? Actors’ pay. “I don’t think there’s any producer in town who wants to screw [over] actors—it’s just a matter of what you can afford to do. It sounds weird to [debate whether] actors should get minimum wage. Well, they should—but they weren’t getting anything before, so the theaters that are actually trying to pay something are being told, ‘Unless you can pay them the whole amount, don’t pay ’em.’ That’s pretty much what’s being said.”
Tag: 07.13.05
Pope’s Not Wild About Harry
“As the sixth issue of Rowling’s Harry Potter series – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – is about to be released, the news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed serious reservations about the novels is now finally being revealed to the English-speaking world still under the impression the Vatican approves the Potter novels.”
NY Mayor Gives $55 Million To Arts
The city of New York’s biggest arts supporter? Gotta be Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “In each of his first two years in office, the gift was $10 million; his largesse for 2004 increased by 50%, to $15 million. This year — with his re-election efforts about to kick into high gear — Bloomberg’s gift, announced July 5, rose to $20 million, meaning that a total of 406 grants will be awarded, a substantial increase from last year’s 302. With his latest gift, Bloomberg has now donated $55 million in four years to the Carnegie Corporation, nearly matching the $70 million he spent on his first mayoral campaign.”
ABT Trumps Its Lincoln Center Rivals
How did American Ballet Theatre get to be a more interesting company than New York City Ballet? It’s an astonishing reversal — who could have dreamed it,” wonders Robert Gottlieb. “This has been an A.B.T. season that’s given us Ashton’s Sylvia as well as the best squad of ballet boys in the world — and Diana Vishneva. Perhaps even more important, the company is helping — or, at least, allowing — some of its dancers to grow before our eyes, unlike the situation at City Ballet, where talented kids roar in from the school and stagnate … if they don’t fall apart.”
Internet – A Basic City Service? Guess Who Argues No
“In hundreds of American communities, public officials have concluded that the Internet is an essential service. They see that their residents are either offered prices that are too high or are not offered services at all. They are aware that while our nation stumbles in high-speed-Internet adoption, other countries make sure consumers can get connected at lower prices.” But telecom companies are mounting campaigns to block city service. “They argue that taxpayer-funded competition makes the marketplace unfair (ironic, since those firms owe their dominance to government-granted monopolies). Then they claim that cities are too unsophisticated to pull off such projects (so why are they worried?).”
Rise Of The Video Bloggers
Now that podcasting has gone mainstream, the next big thing is video-blogging, of vlogs. “Anyone can create media and have a distribution outlet for it that bypasses television and mainstream media. It’s like slightly curated cable-access. Many of the vlogs have a home-grown, experimental feel. People capture moments in their everyday lives. Some post cooking lessons, short films or videos of local festivals or family events like graduations.”
European Movie Business Also Takes A Dive
“German ticket sales are down 20% compared to the first six months of last year, with Italy and Spain registering double figure declines. But the UK’s cinemas are showing only a small decrease, trade paper Hollywood Reporter said. Some European cinemas say adopting US practices, including summer blockbuster releases, have led to a decline.”
Freedom Of Speech Vs. Respect For Religion?
“Last month a judge in the northern Italian city of Bergamo said that the 76-year-old author Orianna Fallaci should answer to claims of abusing Islam in her book The Strength of Reason. Since then, her cause has become a rallying point for mainly rightwing intellectuals and politicians in Italy and the US, where Ms Fallaci lives.”
The Guggenheim’s Money Woes Spelled Out
Earlier this year the Guggenheim’s biggest benefactor left the museum’s board amid allegations that the Goog’s financial house was crumbling. A memo spells out just how crumbly…
Let The Computer Find Music You’ll Like
Most indie artists don’t have budgets to market their music. But new software is helping to connect musicians with potential audiences. “Software pushes independent artists’ songs through the Internet to the people with matching tastes, exposing their music to the people most likely to become fans. Each time the programs run, they download more songs for users to play and rate on a scale from one to five stars. The ratings help the software match each user to others who have parallel likes and dislikes. Once a match has been made, the software sends people songs that others with similar tastes have rated highly.”