“Salaries have been frozen, travel expenses reduced by 50 percent, and League contributions to 403b accounts suspended. League spokesperson Judith Kurnick reports that the League closed fiscal 2009, Sept. 30, with a balanced budget, after reducing expenses by about 9 per cent.
Tag: 10.06.09
Afghanistan Exhibits 2,000 Artifacts Recovered By UK From Smugglers
“It was a moment that went a long way to putting Afghanistan and its cultural heritage back on the map. … Afghan dignitaries and western diplomats squeezed past each other to see into the display cases: bronze age digging implements, pieces of carved marble and elaborate metal goods spanning Afghanistan’s rich history.”
Are Conductors Overpaid? Yes.
Philippa Ibbotson: “Conductors are a mysterious breed. Oozing self-belief, elevated on a podium, they are endowed by critics and public alike with magical abilities. … [But the] truth is that almost the last place you look as a musician is towards the conductor. There simply isn’t time.”
The Brothers Gao, Guerilla Artists In China
“Exhibitions by the Gao brothers, whose work the authorities find politically challenging, have been shut down in the past, and their studio has been raided.” So they turn to tactics such as underground shows (disguised as parties) and disguisable sculptures (like a satirical sculpture of Mao with a removable head).
Floods Of Brain Waves Just Before Death
“A study of seven terminally ill patients found identical surges in brain activity moments before death, providing what may be physiological evidence of ‘out of body’ experiences reported by people who survive near-death ordeals. … [T]he spikes occur[ed] at the same time before death and at comparable intensity and duration.”
Mimi Weddell, Poster Girl For Late Bloomers, Dies At 94
“[B]lessed with an elegant bone structure, an endless supply of airy bons mots and an Unsinkable Molly Brown attitude, [she] broke into the movies in the early 1980s with small roles [in low-budget films] … From this less than promising debut she built an idiosyncratic career, appearing in advertisements for Louis Vuitton and Nike” and in numerous mainstream movies and TV series.
Met Stagehands Object To Canadian-Made Ring Sets
The Metropolitan Opera’s 2010-11 production of the “Ring” cycle, directed by Robert Lepage, “hit a speed bump” when “[t]he stagehands union, Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, filed a grievance yesterday against the Met concerning non-union work on the opera’s set.”
Opera Theatre Of St. Louis Freezes Staff Pay
The company “said Tuesday that it ended its fiscal 2009 with a surplus of less than $5,000 but has frozen salaries and cut spending to prepare for an even harder fiscal 2010.”
Local Gov’t Threatens To Withhold Operating Funds From Arts Center In SoCal
“A showdown is brewing at [Escondido’s] struggling performing arts center, with City Council members threatening to withhold cash the center needs for bills and salaries unless center trustees accept a new management model that could reduce their authority.”
RSC To Relaunch Its Research-And-Development Program
“The Royal Shakespeare Company is to revive its Studio – the research and development centre which was pioneered by Michel Saint-Denis and Peter Brook in the sixties. Associate artists David Farr and Deborah Warner will oversee the project.”