The Royal Shakespeare Company reports that it lost £1 million last year, “bringing its cumulative loses to £2.4 million. The company’s experimental season at London’s Roundhouse was “a financial disaster even though artistically it had its moments.” And this is the company with ambitious reorganization plans. “for the first time the staggering costs of the company’s reorganisation have become clear. Its administrators are budgeting on spending at least £9.2 million.”
Tag: 12.04.02
You Don’t Exist Outside Of London
Do London editors and critics ignore the rest of the country’s theatre endeavors? At least one director thinks so. “In other European countries, places like Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh would be all considered to be centres of endeavour. We are not really given that credit, and it makes people resentful; we do not need these divisions.”
Downpour In Philly
The Philadelphia Orchestra was rehearsing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring with incoming music director Christoph Eschenbach yesterday in its beautiful new concert hall, when strobe lights began to flash and dust started to drift down from above. Then, the downpour began. A high-powered sprinkler system, set off by construction work elsewhere in the building, engaged, and showered the musicians, their instruments (many valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars,) and the new stage with enough water to fill the $75,000 Steinway grand that sat on the stage. The extent of the damage is not yet known, but most musicians managed to shield their instruments from severe damage.
And The Survey Says… We Like Music
Britons are big music consumers, says a new poll of more than 10,000 people by the digital music channel Music Choice. The average respondant in the poll spends “three hours 11 minutes and 55 seconds a day – or 48 days a year – listening to our music collections.” The poll also indicates sizeable investments in music. “The average Briton owns 100 CDs, 51 records, 50 cassettes, 28 MP3 files and eight minidiscs worth more than £3,000.”
New Opera Company In Sydney
A new opera company debuts in Sydney. It’s called the Pinchgut Opera, named after the old convicts’ name for Fort Denison in Port Jackson. With a startup budget of $500,000 and ambitions to produce chamber opera, the name was chosen “partly as a reminder of the company’s humble beginnings.”
Guggenheim Gift With Big Strings Attached
“Peter B. Lewis, the philanthropist who recently stunned Cleveland, his hometown, by announcing a boycott of charitable contributions there, this week gave the beleaguered Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum a $12 million gift, but only after forcing the institution’s ambitious director to accept a pared-down budget. Mr. Lewis, who is chairman of the museum’s board of trustees and its largest benefactor, said he had presented Thomas Krens, the museum’s flamboyant and controversial director, with a ‘tough love’ choice: he could either bring the museum’s tangled financial affairs in order, or start looking for another job.”
English Heritage In Peril
“According to some of our top art conservators, Britain’s heritage is slowly deteriorating, mouldering away in museums, stately homes and churches. Some of the nation’s treasures will be lost within a couple of years unless they are properly treated. Britain’s heritage is being exposed to the ravages of time, humidity and pollution because public institutions simply cannot afford to pay for its proper upkeep.”
The Genius Of Flushable Art
Art Truism #873: The Public does not appreciate art which includes toilets. The Public is particularly irked by artistic toilets combined with religious imagery. But any toilets at all, even immaculate ones with books on top, are unlikely to be well-received at your next exhibition. Nonetheless, artists continue to use the porcelain repositories in everything from sculpture to photography, and a few galleries have even dedicated whole shows to them.
Troupe Faces Reporters
Troupe told a colleague last week that “he decided to step down after the university decided to suspend him for a year without pay or benefits.” Troupe told reporters that he is a person who faces up to his mistakes, but while some of Troupe’s supporters were angry that the university didn’t stick up for the poet, others seemed relieved that the affair is over. “I am relieved he chose to do the honorable thing by resigning. He’s a great poet, but he needs to be a great poet somewhere else.”
Troupe Faces Reporters
Troupe told a colleague last week that “he decided to step down after the university decided to suspend him for a year without pay or benefits.” Troupe told reporters that he is a person who faces up to his mistakes, but while some of Troupe’s supporters were angry that the university didn’t stick up for the poet, others seemed relieved that the affair is over. “I am relieved he chose to do the honorable thing by resigning. He’s a great poet, but he needs to be a great poet somewhere else.”