The mayor of New York is cracking down on movie piracy, pushing a new city statute criminalizing unauthorized recording. There is already a federal law banning such practices, but advocates of the New York bill hope that “such a law would spur the Police Department to crack down on piracy and minimize the economic damage it does.”
Tag: 12.02.06
Who Cares About History? It’s Tall And Shiny!
“Russia’s largest company, Gazprom, announced on Friday that it had chosen the architecture firm RMJM London to design [St. Peterburg’s] tallest building, brushing aside arguments from preservationists and residents that the project — whoever the architect — would destroy the city’s architectural harmony.”
Shaw Has A Good Year
Canada’s Shaw Festival finished its 2006 season in the black, with box office revenues of more than $14 million. “Attendance reached 295,016, or 70 per cent of capacity for 808 performances.”
The Borat Effect: Ethics & Integrity In Filmmaking
The International Documentary Festival is underway in Amsterdam, and everyone is talking about… Borat. Well, not Borat, actually, but “many of the ethical issues that emerged in the Borat backlash are similar to those being discussed here this week by filmmakers from around the world. Not everyone here has seen Borat, but everyone certainly knows about it. So whether or not Borat will have any lasting effect on real documentary filmmaking is definitely up for unofficial debate.”
Exhibit™
Times have been good for North America’s science museums, as blockbuster traveling exhibitions and commercial tie-ins bring in unprecedented crowds. “But the popularity of these branded shows may be exaggerated,” and some say that museums have no business promoting commercial enterprises, regardless of whether the sponsor manages to wedge some educational content into the bargain.
Alberta Artists Go Tory
This weekend, a provincial election was held in Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, and a strange political push was observed among those who work in the arts. Traditionally a monolith of liberalism, Alberta’s artists, musicians, and other cultural workers are “throwing [their] support behind Jim Dinning, the moderate conservative and front-running candidate who has promised to double the budget of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to $40-million in the next two years.”
More Red Ink In Minneapolis (But Not As Much)
The Minnesota Orchestra finished the 2005-06 season nearly $600,000 in the red, but that deficit is less than half of last year’s number, and keeps the organization on track for a planned return to balance next year. “Despite the deficit, the orchestra and its board reported a year of considerable achievement. Highlights included a critically successful tour of European festivals in August, the release of two Beethoven symphonies on CDs that earned rave reviews in both the U.S. and England, and a 5-percent increase over last year in ticket sales.”
Florida Orch Finds Itself $1m Short
The Florida Symphony, which is hoping to add a full corporate headquarters to St. Petersburg’s Mahaffey Theater, hit a roadblock this week when the initial construction estimate came in $1 million over what had been budgeted. “Under current plans, the 10,000-square-foot headquarters would be housed in a new wing at the northeast corner of the Mahaffey, which was recently renovated. It is to include offices, a music library and space to store instruments.”
Let’s Go See A Show! (Anybody Got A C-Note?)
The $100 ticket is old news for concertgoers in Los Angeles, and theatre tickets are starting to follow suit. Supply and demand is driving the high prices, but that doesn’t change the fact that culture in America’s second-largest city is increasingly becoming a luxury that only the wealthy can afford.
Are We Neglecting The Piano?
Piano recitals used to be as common as coffee shops in cities around North America. But these days, opportunities for pianists (who often don’t have the diverse career options afforded to other instrumentalists) are dwindling on this side of the Atlantic, and many young soloists are choosing to focus their careers in Europe.