“This is the first time Teatro Buendia has performed in the United States, but the troupe has traveled around the world.” The company’s artistic director “says that the company has never been censored, is no government mouthpiece, and that she and the troupe do not attempt to sugarcoat the reality of their country as they see it.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Court: FCC’s Indecency Rules Violate First Amendment
“On Tuesday, the appeals judges called the FCC’s policy, in place since 2004, ‘unconstitutionally vague, creating a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here.’ The vagueness left broadcasters uncertain about what they could air, which impinged on their freedom of speech, the judges said.”
Iraq’s Modern Art Collection Languishes
“Hundreds of works are packed away in a hot, dusty storeroom, tended to by a doting but frustrated staff. Many of the paintings there are damaged. All are withering from dangerous conditions and haphazard storage, from the heat and Iraq’s official indifference to an important if lesser-known part of its artistic heritage.”
Watching Fela! With Fela Kuti’s Son
“Until Sunday, [Femi] Kuti, 48, had vowed to see ‘Fela!’ only if the show was brought to Lagos, where in the 1970s Fela built a nightclub and residential compound to perform music and criticize the corruption and human rights abuses of Nigeria’s military rulers.”
Eli Broad Says He’ll Pay $7.7M, Not $1, For LA Museum Site
In addition to his new offer on “a 99-year lease on public land in downtown Los Angeles where he can build an art museum,” the billionaire “already has promised to pay the full construction cost of up to $100 million and provide a $200-million endowment that would yield an estimated $12 million a year to cover the museum’s operating expenses.”
Honolulu Musicians: Symphony Bargaining In Bad Faith
A labor grievance “accuses the Honolulu Symphony Society, the entity that runs the business operations of the orchestra, of bargaining in bad faith,” but a board member said the symphony, which is trying to emerge from bankruptcy, is willing “to continue talks if [the musicians’ union] had a counterproposal that was ‘financially realistic and sustainable.'”
Shoes — Yes, Shoes — Inspired By Ernest Hemingway
“Hemingway was very fond of loafers,” said Patrick Hemingway, the writer’s 82-year-old son. “A lot of celebrity endorsements are phony, but not in this case. Hemingway had a great sense of style. He especially loved leather boots from Madrid.”
In A New Opera, A Day In The Life Of Young Bill Clinton
“If any recent president’s life is the stuff of operas, it’s Bill Clinton’s. There’s been comedy, drama, back-stabbing, shouting, crying, death, and many miraculous comebacks. But that’s real life. Now art will be imitating life in a project coming together in Little Rock….”
LA-Area Schools Court Hollywood To Fill Budget Gaps
“‘Schools have historically been reluctant to make themselves available, but now they’re falling over themselves,’ said Scott Graham, leasing director for the sprawling 1,000-school Los Angeles Unified School District.” There’s been “a flurry of inquiries from cash-strapped districts in recent months asking how they can market themselves to production companies.”
Was Big Dance A Preview Of London Cultural Olympiad?
“What might the spawn of sport and the arts – never the easiest bedfellows – actually resemble? Last week gave us a clue” in Big Dance 2010, which “ran for eight days … and climaxed on Saturday with a procession of thousands from the Southbank Centre, over the Golden Jubilee bridge, and into Trafalgar Square for one big wiggle.”