James Houghton’s departure as artistic director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Playwrights Conference took many by surprise. “The sudden resignation took the theatre community by surprise, coming just five weeks after Houghton’s decision, announced publicly Mon., Sept. 15, that the O’Neill would ‘suspend’ indefinitely its longstanding policy of open submissions, a move that quickly provoked discord in the national playwriting community. The resignation also came following the O’Neill’s receipt of a letter, written by a three-time Playwrights Conference alum, questioning Houghton’s claim that the decision was largely based on the state of the institution’s finances.”
Tag: 11.06.03
Congress Increases NEA Budget To $122 Million
“House and Senate conferees last week agreed to increase the NEA monies by $7 million over the amount in the original appropriations bill for the Interior Department, whose budget contains the arts-endowment funding. ‘This special budget increase marks a new era at the NEA,’ said Dana Gioia, the NEA’s chairman.”
We The Network
Should we stop thinking of ourselves as individuals and ponder our place in networks? It’s a “move from virtual reality – the old 90s idea of the net as a separate, alternative realm – to ‘augmented reality’ (AR), in which ubiquitous computing and mobile wireless networks are used to reconnect us to the real world. One theorist suggests “we should no longer think of ourselves as “fixed, discrete individuals”, but as nodes in a network. ‘I am part of the networks and the networks are part of me. I am visible to Google. I link, therefore I am’.”
Finding Nemo Sells At Record Pace
Finding Nemo has become the fastest-selling DVD and tape of all time. “The film sold more than eight million copies in the first day of US release, beating the record held by Spider-Man. Nemo is the most profitable cartoon in US cinema history and the biggest hit of the year at US box offices.”
Spaulding – The Tightlipped Grinch Of Boston
When Wang Center director Josiah Spaulding announced he was kicking out Boston Ballet and its annual “Nutcracker” performances in favor of a traveling Radio City Rockettes tour, he provoked a storm of questions. But he refuses to talk to anyone further about the decision, especially the press. He “was happy to be front and center in the press during the Wang Center’s glory days when he spearheaded an enormous revival of the Theatre District, that, quite simply, made Boston a more vibrant more exciting place to live. Now he’s made a decision that causes consternation and anger about his eviction of an event that’s owned as much by the people of New England as it is by the Boston Ballet or the Wang Center.”
Will Fort Worth Repeal Public Art Allotment?
Voters in Fort Worth, Texas may get a chance to vote of whether they want to continue setting aside 2 percent of bond-issue construction projects for public art. The city’s mayor proposed slashing the public art share to one percent earlier this year, but dropped the plan when many protested.
Pew To Change Status – Will Become A Public Charity
The Pew Charitable Trusts is changing its legal status and will become a public charity. “Pew would no longer be subject to a number of other legal and tax restrictions on private foundations, including self-dealing laws, restrictions on outside business holdings, and restrictions on making grants to government officials and individuals, to name a few. To maintain its status as a charity, Pew will have to raise outside money beyond the endowments of its trusts, which it has shown it can do for a number of Philadelphia civic projects, including the Barnes Foundation and the Independence Visitor Center.”
When Vandalism Is Art? (There’s A Tradition)
“The ‘comedy terrorist’ Aaron Barschak faces a possible jail sentence, after being convicted last week by Oxford magistrates of criminally damaging works in the Chapman brothers’ summer exhibition The Rape of Creativity. What makes the case unusual is that some of the artworks concerned, now part of the Chapmans’ Turner prize show, have themselves given rise to accusations of vandalism: they include an edition of 80 rare original impressions of Goya’s The Disasters of War, on which faces of clowns and puppies have been drawn.”
In Praise Of A Different Kind Of Poet Laureate
Louise Glück isn’t exactly a recluse. But not far from it. Just don’t expect her to be the kind of US Poet Laureate who evangelizes for her art. “Ms. Glück is an inspired choice because she excels in doing the kind of thing that only lyric poetry can do, which is among the most intimate, nonpublic things words can do: mimic the peculiar music of thought itself. Her appointment sheds interesting light on a private art’s public existence.”
Ibargüen Named Chairman Of PBS
Alberto Ibargüen, publisher of The Miami Herald, has been named chairman of the board at PBS, the governing body for the nation’s public broadcasting stations. As chairman, Ibargüen said, his challenge will be to draw on the PBS heritage while preparing for a rapidly changing future. ‘The issue is not so much PBS’ going out of business tomorrow, but, in a world of tightening budgets, finding ways to keep PBS as sharp as it needs to be.'”