Tag: 09.15.04

Artistically Yours At The New RSC

Yes, the Royal Shakespeare Company has revived its fortunes in the space of a season. But the best things about the revived RSC under new director Michael Boyd, are artistic. “The best thing about his plan is its intellectual coherence. He took over a company which was fitfully brilliant, but which lacked purpose. While this year’s season of Shakespeare’s tragedies and Spanish Golden Age drama has been artistically diverse, it has given the company an identifiable style, conspicuous for its narrative and linguistic clarity.”

Australian Political Party Pledges Major New Arts Funding

There’s a national election campaign going on in Australia. And what would the official opposition party do for the arts? “Opposition pledged to “ease the squeeze” on the ABC and turn around the decline in film and television production with $175 million in new arts funding. The ABC would get $105 million over four years, while the film industry would get an immediate $70 million injection, followed by a wide-ranging review into structural reform and private investment incentives.”

Arts Mean Money For Scotland

Scotland is locked in a debate about cultural funding, as high profile arts institutions say they are underfunded. Now a new study that measures the economic impact of the arts: “Every job in the arts community supports nearly another whole job elsewhere in the economy, the study by the Scottish Economic Policy Network revealed. It also shows that more than 4000 jobs are sustained by the annual funding provided by the Scottish Arts Council and in total the arts community supports £72.5m worth of income.”

UK Might Speed Up Digital Switch-over

“The UK government wants to switch the country to digital television to free up broadcast frequencies and to encourage technology that allows for more channels and a clearer signal.” To that end, it has mandated “switching off” analog signals completely by 2012. “Ultimately, the change could affect between 80 and 90 million television sets. Currently, about half the households in the UK have digital television through either cable, satellite, or the free-to-air service Freeview.”

How Peanuts Saved A Comics Classic

Seattle comics publisher Fantagraphics has always had a lot of critical respect. But its finances were perilous. Indeed, its survival was just about a constant question. But then it “nailed down the multiyear rights to reprint, in its entirety and in chronological order, another newspaper classic: Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts. It’s a blockbuster deal that guarantees Fantagraphics will actually be around for another 12 years. Until this spring, no one at the company was certain if it would be around another 12 weeks.”

Philadelphia Orchestra Contract – More Than Money

The Philadelphia Orchestra and its musicians are locked in new contract talks, and of course money is an issue. “But on another level, more enduring than money, these talks and other forces at play seek a change in orchestra culture that would alter how musicians view themselves as employees. For the music-listening public, and the extent to which the orchestra is perceived as a responsible cultural citizen, the results could be profound.”

Canada’s Largest Bookstore Chain Wants To Rely Less On Books

Indigo Books, Canada’s largest bookstore owner, says its diversifying its store offerings, de-emphasizing books. “We imagine over the next three or four years that books, which are now 80 or 85 per cent of our offering, will evolve to be approximately 60 per cent of our offering, although the selection will still be as meaningful.”