Sir Christopher Frayling has some new ideas as he takes over as chairman of the British Arts Council. “Eighty per cent of the cash we give out goes to regularly funded organisations and a quarter of these take almost 90 per cent of the grants. Many of them have been on our books since 1947, and are receiving money in the same proportion. Too many people see the Arts Council as a cashpoint machine with a complicated pin number. We have got to be more than that. A lot of the most interesting developments in the arts are inter- disciplinary. So we could be looking at new categories for funding”.
Tag: 09.14.04
Been There, Deja That
French for “already seen”, déjà vu is “the sort of fleeting, intimate experience that reveals itself more readily to novelists than to researchers. As recently as the 1990’s, social scientists doing population surveys asked about it in the same breath as they inquired about poltergeists and contact with the dead. But new research on memory has opened a promising window on the phenomenon, providing both possible explanations for the sensation and novel ways to create and measure it.”
High-Level Churn At The Baltimore Symphony
Yuri Temirkanov’s departure from the Baltimore Symphony is only the latest leaving by senior leadership. “When some of the most seasoned and effective employees left, the blithe word from on high was, ‘No one is irreplaceable.’ Management expressed no concern for the drain in institutional memory or community and patron connections that those resignations signified. Losing Temirkanov, whose guidance has generated a higher technical level and remarkably communicative spirit within the orchestra, may likewise be shrugged off as an inevitable, not-to-worry development. But only those who have never truly recognized what this conductor had to offer could be feeling blase today.”
A Closer Look At Denver’s Still Deal
Denver is trying to raise money to build a museum to house 2000 works from the estate of Clyfford Still. But the terms of the deal are very restrictive. “None of that art can be sold, and some question whether Still’s name will attract a wide audience. Few would question the viability of a Pollock, de Kooning, or Rothko museum, but those artists are much better known. If marketing abstraction to the masses weren’t challenge enough, the artist’s will forbids the display of work by other artists in the museum, so the institution cannot create a varied schedule of temporary exhibitions to lure return visitors.”
A Whitney Audit
“The Whitney Museum’s new chief financial officer is conducting “a vigorous review of all financial controls to ensure that the highest standards of accountability are met”. Bridget Elias was appointed in June, and her audit follows the arrest of two Whitney employees in late July, charged with embezzling nearly $1 million since January 2002.”
Natural Watercolors
“A study of the vibrant red, pink, orange, purple and yellow bands in the rocks of the Valley of Fire State Park in southern Nevada has revealed that the hues in the rocks were probably put there by a complex ebb and flow of groundwaters, faulting and raising of mountains and even the presence of now absent hydrocarbons over the last 150 to 200 million years.”
Sample Ruling – The Big Chill
Last week’s court ruling requiring artists to get licenses for clips they sample could have a big chilling effect on creativity. “In the long run, this will lead to mediocrity in the music. People may say, `Well, why is [Sean “P. Diddy” Combs] just sampling Rick James, that’s not very creative.’ But if you sit down and talk to him, he’ll break it down that he could have done more creative stuff — a Rick James riff, a James Brown beat — but it would have cost him an arm and a leg.”
NY Art World As Super Paradigm
“Nowadays, different art worlds work differently. Glasgow, Leipzig, and Los Angeles are laboratories run by skeleton crews. London is the same, only crossed with a private club, a sparkler, and a sideshow. The New York art world has swallowed up all these paradigms and mutated into a kind of nebulous Super Paradigm. Think of it as a giant sponge: Bland on the outside, intricate within, it is extremely porous and permeable, takes advantage of any current, absorbs everything, and is capable of enormous engorgement. The Super Paradigm may be pluralism gone wild, or a giant oil spill—sprawling but not evolving. Whatever, there’s no avant-garde within it because there’s nothing to react against.”
Teeny Tiny Movies For Your Phone
Are you ready to watch movies on your cell phone? “We’re not talking 90-minute thrillers starring the likes of Kim Basinger and William H. Macy. A mobile movie is a smaller, two-minute affair meant for audiences on the move, not captive cinephiles. Like a TV ad in the age of TiVo, cell phone cinema has to hold your attention before your mind jets off to do something else with your phone, such as surf the Web, check your e-mail or, gasp, make a phone call.”
A New Model For New Plays?
The National New Play Network aims to make it easier for playwrights to get new work produced. “The economics are very challenging, and looking for national attention is part of everyone’s goal. We’re trying to find the best way to share and maximize resources. We’re using the model of the new Europe instead of a feudal system where companies build walls around themselves.”