Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser warns that the performing arts are in danger, and issues a five-point call to action. “We have been scared into thinking small. And small thinking begets smaller revenue that begets even smaller institutions and reduced public excitement and involvement. No wonder so many arts organizations are announcing record deficits.”
Tag: 12.28.02
Circle Of Life – Melbourne Artists Forced Out By Developers
In recent years West Melbourne has been a place for artists. Not because it was so aethetically interesting, but because it was cheap. But now building restrictions have been changed and the area is suddenly desirable to developers. And the artists are moving out…
Fighting Saddam, Reading Shakespeare
“According to the Pentagon, war — at least the impending war in Iraq — is Shakespeare, the 5th-century BC Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu and two modern bestsellers about heroism and wartime correspondence. Before Christmas the US Defence Department began distributing free, pocket-sized copies of these books to its troops, to ensure that soldiers are improving their minds while removing Saddam. More than 100,000 copies have been given away so far.”
Toronto’s New Star Potential
Toronto is on the verge of a building boom – and billions of dollars are being spent. “After more than a decade of devastation, Toronto’s cultural institutions have regrouped into a position of civic leadership. By the time the cranes are down, Toronto will have works by some of the world’s leading architects, Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind and Will Alsop among them. Already, controversy is swirling.”
What Ever Possessed Them – Tales Of Bad Publishing Choices
The way it works is this – people get paid by publishing houses to sort through the crap and figure out which book ideas are good and which aren’t. Paid real money. To have judgment. Make informed choices. And then, books like these always seem to end up in print… What were they thinking?