James Eroncig, the new MCB board president, “said concerns over [founder and artistic director Edward] Villella’s age and the lack of a successor made it difficult to raise funds for an endowment. ‘People want to know, if Edward should fail or something were to happen to him, what’s going to happen?’ he said.”
Tag: 11.15.11
Bolshoi And La Scala Need To Renovate Their Art As Well As Their Theatres: La Scala Head
“The recent modernization programs have equipped [both historic theatres] with enough up-to-date technology to enter the 21st century with dignity, but must now extend to the performances which grace their historic stages, La Scala General Manager and Artistic Director Stéphane Lissner said” while visiting Moscow.
Ottawa’s Opera Company Cancels Rest Of Season
“Opera Lyra Ottawa, struggling with a mounting accumulated deficit in recent years that was made worse by disappointing ticket sales for its first production of the season, is calling off its two remaining productions of the current season, a move the company says will allow it to return in a healthier position next season and present two productions.”
But New York’s Dance Scene Is Unusually Entrepreneurial
That same report on dance finds that New York has “a strong start-up culture of dance. … Dance organizations in New York City are entrepreneurial and innovative, despite having to scramble for money and rely on part-time, contract and volunteer labor.”
Why It’s OK When Popular Video Games Have Weak Stories
Farhad Manjoo: “Modern Warfare 3 fails as a story, and even its gameplay is formally uninteresting. But these apparent shortcomings are part of its appeal. The Modern Warfare series, and MW3 in particular, satisfies three important criteria that more creatively ambitious games can’t often achieve.”
Neuroscience Challenges Our Ideas About Responsibility
“Neuroscience is beginning to challenge some people’s notions about criminal behavior and what we should do about it. Determinism–the belief that all current and future events, actions, decisions, and behavior are caused by preceding events combined with the laws of nature–disputes long-standing beliefs about what it means to be responsible for one’s actions; some scholars assert the extreme view that humans are never responsible for any of their actions.”
Patrick deWitt Wins Canada’s Governor General Award For Fiction
“deWitt struck book-prize gold once again this morning as his comic western The Sisters Brothers won the $25,000 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction.”
Groups Petition Supreme Court To End Broadcast TV Decency Rules
“From broadcasting to cable to video games to the internet, technology has empowered parents to enforce their own household standards for appropriate content. The court should extend full First Amendment protection to broadcast just as it did in 2000 for cable content.”
In A Crowded World – How We Find New Things We’ll Like
“How do we introduce you to something that would otherwise be difficult for you to find, but something that you probably have a deep interest in discovering? It’s really just another algorithm, or it’s just more curation, but it’s something that you would find delight in anyway.”
Ai Weiwei Pays To Appeal Tax Bill
“Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has handed over a $1.3m (£820,000) bond to the government in order to begin an appeal against a massive tax bill.”