The Arts, Now 50% Off

Times are tough in the art world, and attendance has been slow for many organizations. So a group of Philadelphia arts groups have banded together to try out a very old-fashioned method of gaining new business: they’re offering half-price admission to everything from operas to plays to pop concerts to museums. But the discounts are a one-time event, since no arts groups wants to create a ticket base that gets used to not paying full price.

Who’s Minding The Architectural Store?

The UK’s Commission for Architecture needs a new director to oversee the country’s heritage and wrangle with sticky questions of future development. So why are the short-listed candidates all individuals with little to no knowledge of architecture? “This loss of nerve, which threatens to turn [the commission] from an organisation set up to nurture Britain’s architectural culture into a band of all-purpose do-gooders comes when [its] income from the government has trebled to £11 million a year. Of that, it spends nearly 25 per cent on salaries for its staff of 65.”

The Conundrum Of The Modern Composer

Talk with a composer these days, and you likely won’t have to dig very deep to find some serious bitterness over the direction of the classical music industry. Orchestras are deathly afraid of driving away audiences with difficult contemporary works, record labels are only interested in pop-crossover junk, and the spectre of serialism still makes most listeners wary of anything new. Still, with obscurity comes freedom, and “a lot of the dross around composing and what it means has been cut away and people are certainly expressing their hearts more.”

Axelrod Extradition Set

“Herbert Axelrod, the fugitive philanthropist who sold suspect violins to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and fled the country to avoid tax fraud charges, will soon land back in New Jersey to stand trial. Federal authorities are completing extradition proceedings against Axelrod, 77, who has been jailed in Germany since his arrest June 16 at a Berlin airport on a U.S. warrant.”

Selling The KC Arts Tax

“People may not always agree on what art is, but Kansas City area voters will be asked Nov. 2 to pay for lots of it. Residents of five counties will consider a quarter-cent sales tax to raise $500 million to $600 million for arts projects over the next 12 to 15 years, including $50 million for a downtown performing arts center… Arts supporters say the issue is quality of life. Does Kansas City want more and better theater, art galleries, museums, concerts and other entertainment?” But opponents are saying that the arts are no more culturally relevant than a tractor pull (seriously, someone said that,) and that tax money should stay out of the mix.

When Did Traditionalism Become Controversial?

As conductors go, Raymond Leppard is a realist, and he is eager to spread the gospel of performance within an appropriate scale to smaller orchestras across America. For instance, why would an orchestra with 65 musicians ever attempt to mount performances of Mahler symphonies and Strauss tone poems intended for orchestras of 100, when there is an endless supply of music (Mozart, Haydn, etc.) specifically intended for the smaller-sized ensemble? And while new music is all well and good in theory, Leppard stresses that “when you’re so busy chasing notes in a 20th-century score, you can’t pay attention to your neighbors.”

Canada’s Musical Salon

The old European idea of the intellectual salon has combined with the modern concept of marketing to the multitasking generation to create a wildly successful concert series in Toronto. The Off Centre Music Series, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, offers prelude concerts, guest lecturers, social interaction, top-notch pastries, and of course, the main event, presented less as a formal concert than as a gathering of friends around a common love of music.

Reaching Out In A Big (And Highly Visible) Way

It’s a major year for the arts in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, and not a bad year for construction companies, either. The Guthrie Theater is putting the finishing touches on a massive new riverfront home designed by architect Jean Nouvel, and major expansion projects are well underway at the Walker Art Center, the Children’s Theatre Company, and the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. “Most of the institutions are expanding their missions or reaching for new audiences with their new facilities. And all are trying to redefine what it means to be a home for the arts.”

Letting The Music Speak For Itself

The Delaware Symphony is not an ensemble most people would think of as cutting edge, but a new marketing technique is being pioneered in Wilmington which larger orchestras probably should have thought of years ago. “Instead of the traditional orchestra pamphlet simply listing programs and prices, which is often geared toward listeners who already know what they want, the Delaware Symphony’s “Guidebook” takes potential ticket buyers gently by the ear and leads them through the season’s repertoire.” The season brochure is accompanied by a 30-minute CD which features musical samples, and the orchestra’s music director talking about the music.

Back To Booker Basics

“The Booker Prize, currently under fire for concentrating on fashionable and quirky writers, will this week attempt to regain its reputation for high seriousness with the launch of the ‘super Booker’, a worldwide search for the living greats of fiction. While the winners of the main prize, due to be announced next week, must come from Britain or the Commonwealth, the new £60,000 competition will be open to all comers.” The top contenders for the first ‘Super Booker’, which will be given not for any individual book but for a lifetime of literary achievement, are V.S. Naipaul, Margaret Atwood, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and John Updike.