Seattle’s The Stranger magazine gets a new art critic and he’s a bit put off by his reception in local galleries. “There is a mentality and an attitude about art–perhaps stemming from a protectiveness toward it, since it can be so easily dismissed–whose core conceit is exclusion: You don’t have the tools to understand this; you shouldn’t be here. Elitism has driven me away from the art world several times over the years–in Chicago, in New York, and, yes, in Seattle. (Curiously, in London of all places, I never encountered such starchiness.) And this has been true for many of my friends–smart, credentialed people. It’s the real crisis–more than funding, more than education–that plagues contemporary American art.”
Tag: 07.15.04
DC Gives $40 Million To Corcoran Gallery
The District of Columbia city council has voted to give $40 million to the Corcoran Gallery to help finance its new Frank Gehry wing.
BBC: We’ve Got To Improve
The BBC’s governors yesterday said that the corporation’s programmes were not good enough and launched a major inquiry into how to improve them.
Roadshow – Broadway Strike Averted
Broadway actors nearly went on strike this week over something that didn’t really have much to do with Broadway theatre. “The road is a far less certain bet than it used to be, as evidenced by the recent decision by the producers of “Avenue Q,” the Tony Award winner for best musical this year, to opt instead for an open-ended run in Las Vegas. Each side recognized that there needed to be a new economic model. It was no great secret that the road had to be restructured. The question was how.”
Cervantes Play To Get World Premiere
More than four centuries after it was written, Miguel Cervantes’ play “Pedro the Great Pretender” is getting its world premiere, by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Arts Council: UK Arts Groups In For A Rough Few Years
“Arts Council England has warned that the level of arts funding set out in Gordon Brown’s spending review will create a difficult few years for arts organisations. On Monday the chancellor announced an extra £230m for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, equivalent to a 2.3% increase per year in real terms. But according to ACE, the Treasury is engaging in some double counting.”
A Bigger China Means Stress On Heritage
“With China’s economy expanding and tourism growing even faster, insiders and outsiders worry that China will not take the time and trouble, or have the resources and expertise, to preserve its rich cultural heritage. Much has already been lost.”
In Praise Of Saatchi (Really!)
Richard Dorment has new appreciation for Charles Saatchi’s place in the artworld. “Since the fire, I’ve become much more aware of what the Saatchi Gallery means for the visual arts in this country. It has many faults – the difficult exhibition spaces at County Hall, the vagaries of Charles Saatchi’s taste, a PR machine in overdrive – but there is nowhere else in the world where so much new art is made instantly accessible to the public on a regular basis. I suppose you never know what you have until you see how easily it could disappear.”