“The government has cancelled plans to build a permanent home for the Portrait Gallery of Canada, a move that is likely to anger members of the arts community who slammed the federal Tories during the recent election campaign over cuts to cultural programs… Many in the cultural community fear the Conservative government is targeting the arts since nearly $45-million in cuts to cultural programs were revealed in August.”
Author: sbergman
“Unfilmable” Rushdie Novel To Be Filmed
“Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie’s panoramic 1981 allegory of the birth of modern India, is heading for the big screen. Deepa Mehta is to direct and co-write the adaptation with the author, and the film is expected to start production in 2010… Rushdie’s novel, which has been selected twice as the best-ever Booker prize winner, is widely regarded as one of the premier literary works of the latter half of the 20th century and is required reading on most university syllabuses.”
Squatter Art Gets Brazen In London
A group of anarchist artists have taken over an unoccupied townhouse in London’s posh Mayfair neighborhood, and announced their intention to mount an art installation inside. Meanwhile, the building’s owners appear not to have noticed, and the artists say they won’t be leaving unless they’re officially evicted.
Anish The Anti-Sculptor
Sculptor Anish Kapoor “is very interested in negative space, in spaces filled with a nothingness that is, paradoxically, deeply present… ‘On one level you might say it’s not art, it’s a silly game. But I think there’s something in that little edge which is interesting and problematic. There is something going between the meaningful and the banal.'”
Remembering A Children’s Lit Legend
“People feel they know Roald Dahl. Most of us have read his books and had our childhoods shaped by his fantastical mind and macabre sense of humour. Dahl’s vision was one of boundless possibility and unfettered imagination; a world where witches had no toes, where giant peaches could float like zeppelins and where friendly giants subsisted on a revolting diet of snozzcumbers.” This week, a new kidlit prize bearing Dahl’s name will be awarded in the UK.
All The Pretty Horses
The climactic scene of the Broadway production of Equus is best known at the moment for the fact that actor Daniel Radclyffe is naked when it begins, but the most interesting figures in the scene are six “horses,” who enact a mesmerizing, terrifying ballet as they are viciously blinded by Radclyffe. The scene is one of the most painstakingly choreographed moments on Broadway.
Broke And Homeless In Chicago
Chicago is legendary for its theatre scene, but many troupes in the city remain homeless, performing wherever they can find available space. And now, with the credit markets nearly frozen and funds for new construction drying up, some organizations with big plans for the future are confronting the scary possibility that they may have missed their window of opportunity for growth.
How To Raise Half A Billion
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is in the midst of a $500m endowment drive. Yes, in the middle of a recession, and at the same moment that the Boston Symphony is looking to raise $400m of its own. So what’s the secret to fundraising success in one of America’s toniest cities? “Endless networking, skillful research, deft public relations, and genteel persuasion.”
Boston Lyric Opera’s New Leader Outlines Her Vision
“I think we’re ready to expand in what we offer to our public, and I think that it makes a lot of sense to look at what we’re doing from a broader, grander, and more holistic viewpoint… I would like to see us branch out and add concerts, vocal recitals, performances of large choral works or oratorios, and seminar series that shed light on the multiple aspects of creativity connected to a particular opera.”
Facing The Virtual Music
The effect of the Internet on local bookstores has been well-documented, but less talked about has been the dwindling number of brick-and-mortar sheet music vendors. “Sheet music might be a nearly $600-million-a-year business in the U.S., enjoying a largely steady 2% to 3% growth rate over the past decade, but sales at [many local stores] have fallen off the charts.”