Montreal’s Festival International de Nouvelle Danse gets underway this week, and as usual, there is expected to be plenty of debate over the direction of modern dance, and the efficacy of choreographers who continually push the envelope. “What’s ironic is that FIND is a structured, conventional-style gathering of dancemakers who consciously work against structured conventional thinking.”
Tag: 09.27.03
A Nation Of Artists Divided
In his short time in power, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has led his country in what some call a leftist revolution, and what others call a needless class war. As clashes between Chávez supporters and opponents intensify, the nation’s artists have found themselves in unexpected conflict with each other. “Once faithfully leftist and mostly detached from political life, Venezuela’s modern art community is now deeply divided over Chávez and his populist program. A new brand of political art has emerged in Caracas, produced by acclaimed painters best known for vast abstract canvases and murals. In recent months, the protest that has played out in a haze of tear gas has become clearly visible in paintings.”
Expansion And Contraction In Detroit
As the Detroit Institute of the Arts plows ahead with a major expansion project, slated to be completed in 2006, the museum is also undergoing some major changes behind the scenes. Earlier this year, the DIA laid off 55 staffers, and now, a shuffling of curator positions is reportedly causing some grumbling. The curatorial changes will see some departments combined, and others expanded. Some longtime curators are being reassigned to positions which could be seen as less prominent. DIA’s chief curator says that the changes are merely meant to streamline the museum’s operations.
The Arts As Urban Renewal
As cities go, Detroit does not have a good reputation. Decades of urban blight and civic mismanagement left the city in a hole which it has only recently begun to climb out of. But when the Detroit Symphony opens its new $60 million expansion of Orchestra Hall this week, it will represent the latest push by the community to revitalize the urban core. For the DSO, the project means a chance to continue playing downtown, and to do so in one of the finest performance complexes in the nation. For the project’s major benefactor, who admits that he was never much of a music fan, it means an opportunity to jumpstart the turnaround in one of Detroit’s most blighted neighborhoods.
Musicians Walk Out Of Charlotte Talks
Striking musicians of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra returned to the bargaining table on Friday, but walked out again two hours later, when it became clear that the CSO’s management had made no substantive changes to their original proposal, which included wage cuts and a shortened season. No further talks have been scheduled, and the Charlotte strike is now three weeks old.