Carter At 96

“Elliott Carter is a phenomenon. Now halfway through his 96th year, he is as productive a composer as he ever was – maybe even more so… There are no compromises with Carter. His music is tough to get to grips with in terms of all its complexities, wrought of conflicts, contrasts, contradictions and intricate rhythmic conundrums. Not that audience appreciation seems to be a top priority, or even a particular concern.”

It Doesn’t Have To Be British To Be Important

Amidst all the brouhaha over the UK Heritage Lottery Fund’s decision to spend £11.5 million to keep a 9-inch Raphael painting in the country is a debate over what constitutes “national heritage.” To Charles Smith, the Lottery’s attempt to keep a foreign work of art in London is a promising sign that Britons are finally beginning to get past the notion that a work of art must be thoroughly British to be important. Still, with budget cuts running rampant in the UK, such programs of national preservation are under threat, and Smith says that the nation would do well to remember the reasons for their creation.

History vs. Agriculture

“A campaign launched 133 years ago finally resulted yesterday in a demand by archaeologists to end the trashing of 8,000 years of British history, through successive governments permitting and even encouraging farmers to plough archaeologically sensitive land… The scale of the destruction is awesome, and getting worse. There are government-issued ploughing permits for almost 3,000 scheduled ancient monuments, the archaeological sites that are recognised as nationally important.”

Are You On The RIAA’s Most-Wanted List?

Yeah, yeah, we know. You have a lot of down time at work, and so, for the last couple of years, you’ve been using your high-speed internet access to download a few hundred of your favorite songs without, technically, paying for them. Now the recording industry says it’s hunting down people like you, and you haven’t slept in a month wondering if you’re headed for a court date. But there’s hope: a new web site allows you to plug in your file-sharing username and match it against a list of subpoenas filed by the RIAA.

The Underdog’s Filmmaker

“John Schlesinger was once quoted as saying, ‘What interests me is not the hero but the coward… not the success, but the failure.’ That sense of empathy and melancholy pervaded the director’s best films, which will be remembered as compelling portraits, not just of their particular times and places, but of characters at their most vulnerable and damaged.” Schlesinger died last week after being removed from life-support machines.

Is Canada’s Book Culture Slipping Into Irrelevance?

The seemingly forced resignation of Greg Gatenby from Toronto’s Harbourfront Literary Festival is unfortunate, says Philip Marchand, since Gatenby was one of the few people left in the publishing world who truly understood the importance of nurturing intellectualism, even to the point of occasional absurd pretentiousness. But his ouster is only the latest sign in the Canadian book industry’s 15-year slide towards irrelevance and oblivion. Increasing consolidation of publishing houses and the demise of countless independents has taken its toll, and while there are a few positive signs, the industry is a shadow of its former self.

Ohio Slashes Arts Budget By 1/5

Ohio has become the latest state to make severe cuts to the amount spent on the arts in an effort to balance the budget. The Ohio State Arts Board will take a 21% hit in its funding level over the next two years. The cuts don’t take effect until next year, but the board is already moving to reduce the amount of some of this year’s grants.

As Ohio Cuts, Cleveland Innovates

“Revised legislation introduced at the July 16 Cleveland City Council meeting would require 1.5 percent of the budget for each new municipal construction or improvement project to go for artwork, brightening everything from new firehouses to bridges, parks, utilities and streetscapes.” In addition, an upcoming ballot measure could result in a slight sales tax increase with all proceeds going to local arts initiatives. The moves are part of a concerted effort to bolster Cleveland’s image through the nurturing of a serious arts scene.

Sun, Sand, And More Famous Writers Than You Can Shake A Mai-Tai At

This week, a huge literary festival gets underway in, of all places, the sleepy tourist town of Parati, Brazil. The festival, which aims to promote Brazilian literature to the world, was organize by Liz Calder, a London editor who has been vacationing in Parati for a decade. Certainly, the resort atmosphere is one of the big draws for the authors and intellectuals participating in the festival, but Calder insists that the event will raise the profile of Brazilian authors worldwide. Still, not everyone in Brazil’s literary world is happy, and some are claiming that Calder is only promoting the Brazilian authors whom her employer publishes.

City Opera Cut Out of Ground Zero Plans

“The municipal corporation overseeing the redevelopment of ground zero has determined that there is no place at the site for an opera house, a decision that all but dashes the New York City Opera’s hopes of moving there from Lincoln Center.” However, there appears to be some confusion as to whether City Opera has been officially informed of this development. City officials swear they contacted the company last week, but NYCO’s director insists that, as far as he’s concerned, a move to the site is still very much on the table.