“You wouldn’t know it by looking at its current season, but Phoenix Theatre Ensemble is just getting started. It was only October 2004 when the company mounted its first show, but in the next seven months it will offer six new productions, the return of a previous play, and a community-based work on social justice. That level of output puts the Phoenix on a par with many large New York theatres and major regional companies. But unlike most of those groups, the Phoenix doesn’t even have its own space. It doesn’t have an office or a leader, either.”
Tag: 10.23.06
A Coat Of Paint, And Brutalism Disappears
After decades as a drab, new-brutalist monstrosity, London’s Brunswick Centre has morphed into an appealing place to be. “The building has always had its admirers, but for decades this corner of Bloomsbury has been one of the most miserable places in London – a rain-streaked, litter-strewn concrete bunker of empty shop units, whose ambitious, space-age design only accentuated its sense of failure.” The reason for the Brunswick’s belated success? Someone finally honored the architect’s original, very non-brutalist desire that the building be painted.
Dangerous To Dance (Not Really)
Contemporary dance has a rep in some circles for being hard to understand. What? “It never occurred to me that, for more than three decades now, I’ve been sitting among extremely nervous people, audiences so fearful of what they were about to see that they’d need to soothe their nerves with booze, Valium, or maybe just a really juicy Big Mac. Dance dangerous? Oh, my god! Should I have buckled my seat belt? Donned my helmet? Slipped on elbow pads? Will my local precinct sell me a bullet-proof vest?”
MoMA Is America’s Top Arts Fundraiser
The Museum of Modern Art “raised $239.2 million in its 2005 fiscal year ended June 30, a 106.5 percent increase over the previous year, according to a Chronicle of Philanthropy survey of the top 400 recipients of donations scheduled to be published today on its Web site. That year, the museum received its largest gift ever, $100 million in cash, from philanthropist David Rockefeller. The Metropolitan Opera Association led performing-arts centers with $93.4 million, followed by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at $51.1 million.”
Fewer Women Accept Harvard Positions
A study says that “slightly more than 20 percent of those who accepted tenure-track offers in Harvard’s main undergraduate college last year were women, down from 40 percent in 2004-5. Thirty-nine percent of tenure-track offers were to women last year.”
Microsoft Makes A Deal To Digitize
Microsoft is ramping up its efforts to digitize books and make them available online. The company has made a deal with a digital-scanning company to produce a vast library of online-accessible digitized books.
Studies: More Media Consolidation Will Kill Niches
Easing government rules to allow more media consolidation would push out niche radio programming such as classical, jazz and gospel music while doing little to improve local TV coverage, new studies say.
Orange County’s Arts Deficit
Southern California’s Orange County just opened a flashy new performing arts hall. But a study says spending on culture in this rich area is below average. “Orange County nonprofit arts groups had assets of $257 million, or $90 per capita — compared with $155 in Los Angeles and San Diego counties and $506 in Santa Barbara County. Orange County’s per-capita arts capitalization is 72% of the Southern California average of $124.”
No More TV Theme Songs?
“Back in the day, even into the ’90s, shows usually had a ‘main title,’ a 40- to 60-second opening montage that introduced the cast and was often set to music written by a composer. Songs summed up what a show was all about… But now many sitcoms and one-hour dramas are dropping that device. They dive straight into the action, sometimes flashing the show’s title or logo at various points throughout an episode.”
TV – Living In A Gilded Age?
NBC’s decision to stop programming scripted shows at 8 pm is a shock to the industry. “The broad range of programming choices in the 100-channel era has led many to conclude that TV is basking in a second golden age (the first was during the 1950s, when pioneers like Lucille Ball, Milton Berle and Sid Caesar held sway). But NBC’s move suggests that ours is actually a gilded age, and the paint is starting to flake off.”