“A looming recession, surging unemployment and lack of investors is likely to push many smaller and medium scale events out of business” in the UK, according to experts, and the summer music festival scene could be a major source of casualties. “Estimates suggest the UK festival industry was worth about £900m in 2008.”
Author: sbergman
Canadian Arts Cuts Won’t Hit Olympic Culture Fest
“Olympic organizers in Vancouver may be tightening purse strings during this volatile economic climate but the 2009 Olympiad arts festival will not be on the chopping block… More than 100 projects will take place during the Olympiad and 85 per cent will be by Canadian acts.”
Managers Accused Of Bilking Prominent Composer
Scottish composer and current Master of the Queen’s Music Peter Maxwell Davies “was left temporarily unable to compose and had to borrow from friends after money was allegedly found to be missing from his accounts. Scotland Yard said yesterday that Michael and Judith Arnold, his former managers, had been charged with the theft of £447,000.”
Saving South Bank?
“You might be forgiven for thinking that [London’s] ailing South Bank Centre has brought in the Government’s chief spinner to manage its spiralling problems, but that would be an over-simplification. Alan Bishop… will have his work cut out to restore musical confidence and budgetary discipline on the riverside site.”
Another Attempt to Keep Classic Art In UK
“Titian’s masterpiece Diana and Actaeon has been unveiled at the National Gallery in London, as a campaign to keep the painting in the UK continues.” The painting ordinarily hangs at the National Gallery of Scotland. “The Duke of Sutherland is offering [the painting, plus another Titian] to the galleries for £50m each – one third of their estimated open market value.”
LA Conservatory Chief “Resigns”
The president of LA’s highly regarded Colburn School of Music has abruptly resigned his post. Neither Miguel Angel Corzo nor school officials are saying what led to his departure, but the school has been under fire from parents of young students in recent weeks for scrapping its Suzuki piano program. Corzo joined the school in summer 2007.
Pillar Of LA Art Scene Dies
“Patricia Faure — a beloved art dealer and eternally glamorous personality whose teenage dreams of movie stardom gave way to careers in modeling, fashion photography and, finally, the art business — has died at 80… She established her presence as director of the highly regarded Nicholas Wilder Gallery in 1972 and formed a partnership with the late Betty Asher in Asher/Faure Gallery before opening her space at Bergamot in 1994.”
Broadening The Scope In Toronto
The organizers of Toronto’s International Festival of Authors are aiming for a broader appeal than it may have had in years past. “In the six years since taking over from founder Greg Gatenby, [Geoffrey] Taylor has routinely added new wrinkles to an event that formerly served as the exclusive domain of writers of so-called literary fiction. The doors have been flung open to non-fiction authors, graphic novelists, poets, genre writers and the like.”
Gehry To Design New Signature Home
“After a wearying five-year search… [New York’s Signature Theater Company] now plans to move to a tower under construction on West 42nd Street, a few doors down from its current home. The Signature space, to be designed by Frank Gehry, would be at the base of a 58-story, 1.2-million-square-foot hotel and residential building… near the strip of theaters known as Theater Row.”
Foster Tapped To Redo NY Public Library
“Norman Foster, the eminent British architect who has made something of a specialty out of inserting contemporary designs into historic buildings, has been selected for a major renovation of the New York Public Library’s landmark 1911 main building.”