New York Gets Its Own Arts Management Program

“The Kennedy Center announced yesterday it is expanding its arts management initiative to include a concentrated program in New York. Called ‘Arts Advantage/NYC,’ it is a cooperative effort among the center, Time Warner and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Michael M. Kaiser, the Kennedy Center’s president, said the venture would use the techniques employed in consultations for minority arts organizations and mid-size American orchestras, but would focus on unique issues in the New York arts world.”

Stern Losing Audience Even Before Satellite Switch

As shock jock Howard Stern prepares to depart his longtime employer for satellite radio at the end of the year, the industry is waiting with bated breath to see if Stern can make good on his promise to be the first personality to successfully bring a large chunk of audience with him to pay radio. But an ominous sign is already making itself known in the Stern universe: this fall’s ratings book shows Stern with his lowest traditional radio ratings in years. At his Washington affiliate, “Stern’s share of radio’s most lucrative audience (adults age 25 to 54) fell by nearly one-third during the July-September period, bottoming out at 3.4 percent.” Ratings in Stern’s New York home base fell by 15%.

The iPodding of America

Yes, iPods are a fine invention, and there’s no doubt that the ability to carry your entire music library with you (now with video!) is far preferable to the old one-note portable music players. But how healthy is it for everyone in America to travel around in a self-imposed isolation bubble, preferring the iPod sountrack to the sounds of the world? “Behaviors that seem weirdly antisocial when they emerge quickly take on the bland, banal tone of business as usual. Cell phone yakkers in airports and elevators barely get noticed now. And it’s no longer odd to pass someone in a grocery store aisle who’s peering intently at the tomato paste cans and chatting away into some barely visible headset.” Are those infernal white ear buds just the latest escapist plague?

Welcome To Workshop Hell. May We Take Your Dignity?

“There is a land for playwrights called Workshop Hell. It resides in the rehearsal halls and the mostly empty auditoriums of this nation’s theaters. In Workshop Hell, new scripts are pushed to their feet in readings and semistaged productions. They’re critiqued and commented upon and massaged. Those workshops most frequently lead to… another workshop. And another. And sometimes, another. For writers caught in Workshop Hell, seeing their script under the full illumination of stage lights can be a distant dream.”

The Madwoman Who Started A Movement

“Alma Lee is affectionately known as the ‘madwoman’ who built the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival from the ground up and kept it going for 18 years. When Lee steps down as artistic director at the end of December, she will undoubtedly be celebrated for her tenacious work ethic and many earnest deeds.” But those who know Lee say that the best way to understand her is through the endless stories told by anyone fortunate enough to have spent time in her inner circle.

Striking Doris

The union representing airline mechanics has been striking against Minnesota-based Northwest Airlines for two months now, with little to show for it. But the union has begun a strange strategy of attacking individual members of Northwest’s board of directors on unrelated fronts. One of the oddest attacks: a pamphlet distributed as presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was releasing her latest book, calling her “the great prevaricator” (a reference to Goodwin’s plagiarism scandal two years ago) and urging air travelers not to buy her books. Yes, Goodwin is a member of the Northwest board. But a real policy player at the airline? Alex Beam thinks not…

If It Vibrates, It’s An Instrument

A sound lab at the University of California, Berkeley, is aiming to make it possible for almost anything to be an instrument – synthetically, of course. “Any object that vibrates and makes sound — like a cymbal or a gong — oscillates for a period of time. These oscillations create complex vibration patterns based on a staggering number of variables, from the flexibility and thickness of the material to the force applied. [The lab’s new] software tackles the problem of predicting sounds by breaking down an object into various imaginary pieces, whose joints represent vibration points.” Then, all the user needs to do is choose which vibration points to “strike,” and voila! An instant instrument is born, regardless of how unlikely it would be in the real world.

Vanished Voices

“In June last year, the 34 members of the Scottish Opera chorus were unceremoniously sacked before going onstage to perform Puccini’s La Boheme at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. A few weeks later, they gave their last performance and went on to try to find other work… Scottish Opera was in financial turmoil. Its annual budget of £7.4m had been spent – it needed bailing out, and fast. The opera board wanted an advance on its 2004-2005 budget from the Scottish Arts Council to pay for salaries but the Scottish Executive demanded that, in order to secure the money, Scottish Opera had to restructure – thereby axing 88 jobs. For the chorus, it was a decision that changed their lives.”

Greek Opera To Get A Real Home (Finally)

A coastal site in the south of Athens has been chosen as the future home of the much-neglected National Opera of Greece. If things go according to plan, a huge performing arts complex will rise on the site, which beat out two other potential locations in the city’s downtown. “The aim of the complex is to provide a cultural hub combining music halls, museums and galleries such as that in the Spanish town of Bilbao, famed for its striking architecture.”

Chicago Still Running Deficits, But Things Are Looking Up

The Chicago Symphony ran up another sizable deficit in the 2004-05 season ($1.3 million, to be exact,) but that figure represents a major improvement over the previous season and is $700,000 less than the deficit the orchestra had projected for the year. Fund-raising was up by 4% overall, and the budget for fiscal 2005 was reduced 2.6% from the previous year. Ticket sales also rebounded from a slow year in 2003-04, and were up by 7% overall, with nearly 85% of subscribers renewing their seats for 2005-06. The CSO’s internal plan calls for achieving a balanced budget by 2006-07.