The Atlanta Symphony has unveiled plans for a $35 million outdoor concert venue in Alpharetta, Georgia. “The 12,000-seat Encore Park for the Arts, planned for 45 wooded acres… is expected to open in May 2008.” The ASO is also attempting to build support for its new downtown concert hall, but ground has yet to be broken on that project. “Encore Park is expected to boost the ASO’s budget from $30 million to $50 million.”
Author: sbergman
The Orchestra That Plays Under Armed Guard
The Israel Philharmonic will play Los Angeles next month, and extra security measures will be abundant. “A sold-out benefit concert at Carnegie Hall in New York in January 2002 was delayed nearly half an hour as roughly 2,800 ticket-holders went through metal detectors… Later in 2002, the orchestra canceled an eight-city American tour… asserting that no U.S. security company would agree to guard the musicians and patrons.”
Can A Concert Hall Spur Miami Development?
Miami’s new concert hall at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts has been getting a workout from the visiting Cleveland Orchestra this week, and Elaine Guregian says that it is not only an acoustic success, but a hit as a public space as well. Unfortunately, it sits in a desolate part of town, but the hope is that restaurants, bars, and other development will spring up around it.
Are Cincy Arts Underfunded?
“Symphonies, museums and theaters throughout Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky will need more than $950 million in capital and endowment funds during the next two decades, according to a new report commissioned by arts supporters. The report… contends that arts and cultural groups don’t have the resources here that groups in competitor cities such as Minneapolis, St. Louis or Denver boast, either from taxpayers or private donors.”
‘Filmanthropy’ As A Public Service
The owner of the Washington Capitals hockey team has produced a powerful documentary on the Rape of Nanking, which is currently being shopped at Sundance. “And now that he’s made one film, Leonsis thinks he’s latched onto a Big Idea: He fancies using a ‘filmanthropy’ model to make future projects with a social bent.”
Iraq Comes To Utah
The Iraq war is inescapable at this year’s Sundance Festival, writes Geoff Pevere. “Many Sundance films have played out beneath the spreading cloud of the conflict. And people are willingly gathering beneath that cloud.”
Cleveland Play House Plucks New Leader From D.C.
“The administrative leader of one of the nation’s hippest theater companies will become managing director of the Cleveland Play House, the country’s oldest professional regional theater. Kevin Moore, now managing director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., was named on Monday to replace long time Play House managing director Dean Gladden, now at the Alley Theatre in Houston.”
Krakowski To Lend Some Star Power To Xanadu
Jane Krakowski is the producers’ choice to play the lead in Xanadu, the hotly anticipated new Broadway musical scheduled to open this spring. “Even with Krakowski’s name above the title, Xanadu, which will cost $5 million to produce, will be one of the riskiest ventures of the spring season.”
What Happened To Dreamgirls?
The talk of Hollywood in the wake of the Oscar nominations announcement is the snub of the critically acclaimed Dreamgirls in the Best Picture category, despite eight other nominations. “Was the Oscar campaign too heavy-handed? Did the musical not appeal to enough men? Or did simply not enough academy voters think it was best picture-worthy?”
A Sellers’ Market At Sundance
Sundance 2007 may have started off slowly, but all of a sudden, a buying frenzy has erupted. “The first five days of the festival have seen more than $30-million worth of deals.”