When the UK’s public museums scrapped their admission fees a couple of years back, attendance swelled and the museums thrived. But in the U.S., admission fees continue to rise, and precious few museums are free to all comers. Tyler Green suggests not only that museums gain more than they lose when they go free of charge, but that the money they’re currently making from admission fees is negligible when compared with their overall income and expenditures.
Tag: 01.04.07
Everybody (In Radio) Hates Classical: D.C. Edition
A few weeks back, it was reported that Washington, D.C.’s lone classical radio station, WGMS, was soon to be bought by the owner of the city’s NFL team and switched to sports talk. Now, the deal is apparently falling through, but WGMS’s management may choose to abandon the classical format, regardless.
We’re Now Using Awards Shows To Forecast Awards
Hollywood’s Producers’ Guild is out with its annual list of nominees for producer of the year in film and TV. This would be the ultimate “inside baseball” news, except for the fact that the Guild traditionally does an uncanny job of predicting how the Oscar race will shape up. “Over the last 14 years only four films that didn’t win the Producers Guild award… went on to receive the best picture Oscar.”
Actors’ Strike Looms North of the Border
“The simple news is this: Unless a deal can be reached in the next four days, actors will be on the picket lines first thing Monday morning and all film and television productions employing members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists will come to a grinding halt. But, in fact, talks between actors and producers involve a much more complicated story.”
All You Need Is Love For The Art
Even as prices in the art world continue to spiral out of control, a new web site is offering art lovers a chance to “adopt” paintings, sculptures, and sketches for the mere price of an e-mail exchange with the artist. “In an art world where money and status loom large, a transaction that revolves around one person’s response to another person’s art is not only unusual, it is potentially subversive.”
Egypt Leaps Into The Antiquities Recovery Game
Remember all those Egyptian mummies that caused such a stir in American museums a couple of decades back? Yeah, well, Egypt would like them back, if you don’t mind. (And even if you do, actually.) “Egypt’s lead sleuth in the country’s hunt to reclaim ancient antiquities has gained a reputation for often strong-arming curators and bullying museum directors. But while he’s attracted critics in his hunt for Egypt’s mummies and pharaonic masks, his hard-nosed techniques are indeed paying off.”
Sniping At Studio 60
In the age of the instant online review, people working on a new television show have to get used to some negative reaction. But the blistering critiques that have been directed at Aaron Sorkin’s highly touted “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” this season have been notable not only for their vitriol, but for who’s been doing the complaining. Much of the criticism of the show has come not from the great unwashed viewing masses, but from the very comedy writers whose story the show purports to tell.
Soprano Attacked By Bedbugs
A soprano with New York City Opera is suing the Hilton hotel chain for $6 million, claiming that she suffered more than 150 painful and scarring bedbug bites while staying at a Hilton in Phoenix. She may require laser surgery to reduce the scarring from the bites, and claims that the incident could hurt her career in the increasingly image-conscious opera world.
Honeymoon Over For OC Concert Hall
A new $235 million concert hall in Orange County, California, has been drawing rave reviews since it opened in September. But as the newness wears off, some patrons have begun complaining about bad sightlines, poor wheelchair access, uncomfortable seats, and an air conditioning system that seems to be set to “Arctic” on many nights.
Europe: The Doubts Of Empire
“As it grows to 27 countries, the European Union is the most successful example of peaceful regime change in our time. More than half its member states were dictatorships well within living memory. Their advance towards liberal democracy has gone hand in hand with their advance towards membership of what is now the European Union. In every corner of the continent most people are better off and more free than they were half a century ago. Yet everyone knows that, beneath the surface, political Europe is not in party mood about itself. “