The city of Seattle is telling Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet that they’ll have to pay a share of the bill on their new home. “The city is asking the opera and ballet to come up with $114,000 each to pay the first year of debt under the council’s plan. That amount will increase to $227,000 for each of the arts groups in 2006.”
Tag: 11.11.04
Movies During Video Games – Apples and Oranges…
Video gamers love to point out that video games are now a bigger business than movies. But the two really aren’t comparable. Movies play to much wider audiences. “Playing video games is still a minority sport, though its popularity has soared. Not everybody wants a games console. It is only because games cost so much more than film tickets ($50 versus $7) that games can outsell films, despite their narrower appeal.”
Patently Absurd
The world’s patent system is a mess. Far too many patents are being applied for and too many are being granted. This has led to backups in the system. And America’s changes in patent law have made things worse. “It not only ushered in a wave of new applications, but it is probably inhibiting, rather than encouraging, commercial innovation, which had never received, or needed, legal protection in the past.”
3D TV
Are we close to being able to enjoy holographic 3D TV? Recent research suggests we are…
Stats Show Dance Companies Expanding
Recent stories have told of job cuts at dance companies and generally tough finances. So is the dance world shrinking (again)? With data available from seven of America’s twelve largest companies, “Dance/USA found that in fiscal year 2000 these companies employed a total of 417 full-time dancers and apprentices. In fiscal year 2003, the same seven companies reported 480 full-time dancers and apprentices.”
Afghanistan Bans Cable Channels
The Afghan government has banned some cable channels, including a channel that shows raunchy Bollywood movies. “The high session of the ministers have decided to ban cable TV until a cable broadcasting law is made. More than a dozen cable stations broadcasting from places such as India, Pakistan and Dubai have been available in Kabul.”
Gaudé Wins Goncourt
The Goncourt prize, France’s most prestigious literary prize, has been awarded to Laurent Gaudé for The Sun of the Scortas.
At The Met – Wrong-Way Gelb?
Norman Lebrecht is impressed with the Metropolitan Opera’s choice of Peter Gelb as its new top man. Impressed in the wrong way. “When I tell you that the new man has done more over the past decade to remove classical music and opera from public consumption, you will understand that the simmering scandal at the Met has the gelignite to blow a hole in opera far larger than all the petty mishaps of English, Scottish and French national operas put together.”
Fund Seeks To Fund Bay Area Creativity
“The Ford Foundation’s Leveraging Investments in Creativity initiative, which conveniently spells LINC as an acronym, surveyed Bay Area artists over a 15-year period and came up with some important and distressing findings: Sixty-three percent of artists earned less than $7,000 from their art. Seventy-eight percent of artists worked more than one job, and all artists surveyed had a median gross income from all sources of $35,000. In 2004, artists have less time to spend on their art than they did 15 years ago.”
James: National Book Awards Marginalizes Itself
Why is this year’s National Book Awards shortlist so narrowly defined (in almost every way)? Caryn James writes that “by trying to strong-arm readers’ taste, the judges are guaranteeing that their prize remains marginal. A National Book Award doesn’t vault a writer into the upper reaches of American literature, as the Pulitzer Prize often does, and narrow-minded nominations like these help explain why.”