“Lawrence Tamburri, president and CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, has emerged as the leading candidate for the managing director position at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.” Pittsburgh CEO Gideon Toeplitz left his post in May, and there have been multiple rumors about who might replace him. For a time, it seemed that Douglas Gerhart, of the San Diego Symphony, was a shoo-in, and Gerhart even resigned from his San Diego position in order to focus on his candidacy, but the match never panned out. Pittsburgh is facing significant financial challenges, and is nearing a September 21 deadline to reach a new labor agreement with its musicians.
Tag: 09.16.03
Non-Profits Taking Big Economic Hit
America’s non-profit corporations, including many arts groups, are being forced to make painful cuts in the face of declining public funding, stagnated individual giving, and tumbling foundation spending, and the situation may not improve for quite a while, even if the economy continues its current rebound. Government funding is the second-largest source of revenue for non-profits, and at the moment, with states strapped for cash and the federal government charting a course which does not include much state aid, the public subsidy situation is dire.
Senate Rejects FCC Rules Changes
“The Senate approved a resolution Tuesday to repeal media ownership rules critics say could lead to a wave of mergers and ultimately stifle diversity and local viewpoints in news and entertainment. Defying a White House veto threat, the Senate voted 55-40 to undo changes to Federal Communications Commission regulations governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations. Those rules already have been placed on hold by a federal appeals court.”
Cleaning Of David To Resume
Anxious to clean Michelangelo’s David by next year’s 500th anniversary of its sculpting, officials in Florence have resumed cleaning of the statue. “At a news conference yesterday in front of Michelangelo’s marble vision of naked male beauty, experts defended their decision to resume the project, which was interrupted when an internationally respected restorer quit rather than follow orders to use a cleaning method she feared could harm the sculpture.”
Toronto Opera House To Be “Tops In The World?”
Plans for Toronto’s long-awaited opera house are unveiled. It’s a $150 million 2000-seat theatre. “Our ambition is to position this opera house among the top two or three in the world. If you look at what has worked for 400 years, you have a reasonable chance of success. Once you go over 2,000 seats (Roy Thomson Hall originally sat more than 2,800 people), you have made an unacceptable compromise.”
Plans For A Music Museum
Organizers are trying to raise money for a $220 million museum of music. The National Music Center and Museum Foundation would be built in Washington DC. “At the convention center site, the planners are envisioning a facility on two acres with three theaters and a museum. The 3,200-seat performance hall could accommodate Broadway roadshows and musical acts. A second theater would have 750 seats, more than any of the Smithsonian’s current theaters and lecture halls. The third would be a 250-seat black-box venue for dance and experimental theater. The museum would have 50,000 square feet of space for both temporary and permanent exhibitions.”
Textbooks For $120?
“In the past two decades, the price of textbooks has soared. The price of educational books and supplies has risen 238 percent, while the price of consumer goods over all has increased only 51 percent, according to the Consumer Price Index. At four-year private colleges, the College Board found, students spent an average of $807 on books last year. Some students, particularly science and math majors, spent that much in one semester. At the same time, more books are being sold in shrink-wrapped bundles with supplements that a student may not need but must pay for, such as a study guide, dictionary or CD-ROM. But more and more, students are fighting back, finding ways to reduce the costs.”
Come Play The Movie Musical Game
They make musicals about anything these days. Indeed, offbeat topics seem to be preferred. So Dominic Papatola wonders: can you tell which ideas are Broadway musical fodder and which aren’t?
BBC In Print
The BBC is best known as a broadcaster. But it is also one of the biggest publishers in the UK. “BBC Magazines, now the third biggest publisher in the UK behind IPC and Emap, employs 550 staff and publishes 35 titles, usually linked to successful television programmes such as Top Gear and Top of the Pops, and the many lifestyle shows.”
The Archaeology Sleuths
New archaeological study is shedding light on sometimes long forgotten massacres in American history. “Archaeology can fill gaps in the incomplete oral and written histories of these atrocities, resolve discrepancies among various accounts, and help people to better understand what happened. This better understanding can lead to closure for many people, but archaeology can also cause controversy. These events all raise different issues and debates on the place of archaeology, and its helpful or damaging effect.”