Category: today’s top story

“Broadway grosses are holding their own, with fairly minimal boxoffice dropoffs, and some shows — notably the revival of “West Side Story” — are doing $1 million a week even in preview. More startling still, this spring features an impressive number of openings, with virtually every theater booked. By the time the season wraps at the end of April, more shows will have opened during the 2008-09 campaign than in each of the past two years.”

As the 22nd European Fine Art Fair, which closes on Sunday, opened its doors to the private viewing on March 12, the rush of hundreds of well-heeled prospective buyers to get in first was as feverish as ever. Transactions were concluded there and then at prices that would not have been higher the previous year.

“The first of the major projects for the Cultural Olympiad, the slew of arts projects linked to the London Olympic Games in 2012, was launched yesterday. Artists Taking the Lead is a series of 12 commissions planned to come to fruition in 2012.” Artists in any genre may compete for one of the commissions, and the works will be spread throughout the UK.

“A powerful Chicago alderman is threatening to halt free city services provided to the Art Institute of Chicago because of its plan to increase admission fees by half. But it’s unclear whether Ald. Ed Burke (14th) can reverse the museum’s course, and he suggested something less than that might satisfy him, even as he expressed anger over the fee hike.”

“The luminous British actress from one of the world’s great acting families [the Redgraves], whose performances ranged from the high-brow drama The Handmaid’s Tale to the lightweight comedy The Parent Trap and the Tony-winning Broadway production of Cabaret,” suffered a head injury on a beginner’s ski slope, in a fall from which she apparently walked away.

“On the eve of Barack Obama’s election last fall as the first African-American president, television seemed to be leaning toward a post-racial future. In October two prominent cable networks — CNN and Comedy Central — began new programs that featured black hosts, a development that was notable because so few current programs on cable or broadcast channels have minority leads. Five months later both programs … have been discontinued.”

“The bill, drafted [and introduced] by Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky in collaboration with the New York State Board of Regents and the Museum Association of New York, would prohibit museums from using proceeds from the sale of artworks ‘for traditional and customary operating expenses.'”

“In one of the largest such gifts ever to the Music Center or any of its resident companies, Los Angeles philanthropist Glorya Kaufman is donating $20 million to the Dance at the Music Center program. The donation, to be announced today, surpasses all but a handful of contributions to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Center Theatre Group or the Los Angeles Master Chorale.”

“In a public protest meant to put pressure on Brandeis University officials, fifty members of the Rose family today demanded the continued operation of the museum that bears their name and denounced plans to sell the art to pay its bills. The Rose family, whose $1 million gift enabled the construction of the building that opened in 1961, dismissed recent statements by Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz that the Rose would remain open for academic purposes, although not as a public museum.”

“The J. Paul Getty Trust, envied as the economic Goliath of the museum world, is cutting its operating budget nearly 25 percent for the coming fiscal year — an emergency response to investment losses that have totaled $1.5 billion since July and nearly $2 billion since mid-2007.”