“Arena Stage has received a $1.1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create the American Voices New Play Institute, an initiative to help further new play development within American theater. … The institute will become a center for research and development of practices, programs and processes for new play development, Arena said.”
Tag: 08.10.09
Perusing Leonard Bernstein’s 800-Page FBI File
“During the long reign of J. Edgar Hoover, Leonard Bernstein was a person of considerable interest to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. His file has not yet appeared in the F.B.I.’s Electronic Reading Room–an interesting place to while away an afternoon–but the Bureau sent me a copy on request.”
Authors Guild: Google Settlement Still A Good Thing
“After the New York Times reported that the William Morris Endeavor agency would be officially advising clients to opt out of the Google settlement, the Authors Guild issued a statement of its own Monday afternoon claiming the agency was off base in its assessment and recommendation. In an open memo to agents and authors, the Guild … said WME’s advice to clients ‘contains several errors that are likely to sow some confusion.'”
Stephen Adly Guirgis On Ojai’s Smart, Sexy Playwrights
Guirgis blogs from the Ojai Playwrights Conference: “I have already fallen head over heels for the brilliant, hot and award-winning playwright Lisa Kron — and the fact that she is a lesbian only means I’ll have to work a little harder to figure out a way to turn myself into a gay woman. … The truth is that everybody here is pretty brilliant and hot.”
Shepard Fairey Critiques Obama Joker Art
“Shepard Fairey is all for free speech and creating a political dialogue. But the man who created the instantly recognizable posters for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has some choice words for the anonymous artist who made the Obama Joker artwork. ‘I have my doubts about the person’s intelligence,’ Fairey said on the phone from Pittsburgh.”
Porn Industry Falls On Hard Times
“The adult entertainment business, centered in the San Fernando Valley, has weathered several recessions since it took off with the advent of home video in the 1980s. But this time the industry is not dealing with just a weakened economy. A growing abundance of free content on the Internet is undercutting consumers’ willingness to pay for porn, and with it the ability of many workers to earn a living in the business.”
Addicted To Excess
“Nothing makes people more excessive than talking about excess. We tend to become either extremely disapproving or unusually enthusiastic and excited about the most recently reported celebrity orgy, or managing director’s pay rise.”
In Bad Economy, Colleges Cut Arts
“Tens of thousands of students at public and private colleges and universities around the country will find arts programs, courses and teachers missing — victims of piercing budget cuts — when they descend on campuses this month and next.”
Music Album Sales Test New Lows
“The latest sales period marked just the second July week when not one current album sold at least 100,000 copies since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.”
What They Earn: Best Paid Museum Director
It’s the Museum of Modern Art’s Glenn Lowry. “His $1.95 million in salary, bonus and benefits earned him a place as the best-paid director among the half-dozen largest U.S. museums by budget that have filed returns for 2008, according to Bloomberg research.” This year he earned $1.32 million after a voluntary pay cut.