Even as America’s state governments slash their arts funding to the bone or beyond, Canada is moving in the opposite direction. “Government spending for the arts and culture has continued to rise, with Ottawa coughing up more than $3-billion for the first time during the fiscal year 2001 to 2002… all three levels of government contributed that year to the fastest rate of increase in cultural spending in a decade, with Ottawa, the provinces and cities together providing $6.8-billion in 2001-2002.”
Tag: 01.08.04
The Little Film That Couldn’t
The strange saga of Atom Egoyan’s controversial film, Ararat, continues apace in Turkey. “Turkish newspapers were reporting yesterday that the Istanbul-based distributor of [the film] is in contact with associates of a right-wing nationalist group that forced the distributor this week to postpone Ararat’s screening in Turkey.” Officially, the Turkish government is still allowing the film to be screened, but plans for its debut were scrapped this week in the wake of violent threats from the nationalists. Egoyan considered traveling to Turkey himself, to make the case for his film, but has scrapped the idea as “foolish.”
Changing The Orchestra Paradigm
“In a move unprecedented among full-time American orchestras, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is eliminating the position of music director and replacing it with a handful of ‘artistic partners’ of international renown. Among the first batch of partners are superstar violinist Joshua Bell and Italian conductor Roberto Abbado.” The decision to overhaul the SPCO’s business model comes in the wake of a controversial contract, signed last summer, which cut the SPCO musicians’ salaries by more than 20%, but also gave them an unprecedented leadership role in the organization. Orchestras around the country will be watching the new St. Paul model closely.
US State Arts Funding Cuts Not As Bad As Feared
Florida, California and Michigan are among the states that drastically cut public arts funding in the past year. But it could have been worse nationally. “Many other state arts agencies were expected to suffer comparable reductions this year, but did not. Sixteen states kept their cuts to less than 10 percent, and in 18 other states the arts budget actually increased or stayed the same.”
How Balanchivadze Became Balanchine
History left many such vivid marks – coincidences, close calls and fateful meetings – over Balanchine’s career, and none was more crucial than the timing of his birth. If he had been born in a different generation he would probably have remained Balanchivadze and stayed in Russia. During his last years at school, however, the gilded world of the Tsar’s Imperial Ballet was overturned by revolution. To a young choreographer, the resulting artistic fomentation was enthralling, but along with it came the risks of starvation and political chaos, and in 1924 Balanchivadze left for the west.
Tobias: Balanchine 100 Begins
“The trap in talking about Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—with which the New York City Ballet has just opened the winter repertory season of its Balanchine 100 Centennial Celebration—is comparing it to Frederick Ashton’s The Dream. (Balanchine’s take on Shakespeare’s play and Mendelssohn’s music was created in 1962; Ashton’s, in 1964.) The discussion quickly becomes a contest of merits—and Ashton usually wins. His one-act ballet is not merely more succinct and cohesive, it also harbors more emotional resonance. But what if we considered the delights of the Balanchine—and they are many—on their own?”
Young UK Playwrights Speak Out
The development of UK drama is broken, say many critics. Young playwrights have a catalog of complaints: “The trouble is, there is no middle-ground development. The theatre writer lives an indigent life of development hell that often shows little regard for experience and critical success. It is dependency with an independent tag, so nobody is accountable for the writer but the writer. An in-depth process that includes accountability will provide progress.”
The Death Of Aussie TV Dramas?
Australian-made TV dramas have been failing at an alarming rate. “So what went wrong? Have viewers stopped watching Australian drama? Or weren’t any of these series good enough? Has reality TV altered the landscape to such an extent that people no longer have an appetite for scripted drama? And, if so, is it just a cyclical thing, or is it the shape of the future?”
Turmoil At Royal College Of Music
The Royal College of Music is one of London’s most venerable institutions. But its students and faculty are in an uproar over cuts at the school. “Nineteen salaried staff have been “invited” to reapply for their jobs. The idea is to cut the number of positions, thus saving money, and to weed out those staffers who might undermine the college’s attempts to score high in the next research-rating round. Those who aren’t reappointed will be offered teaching on an hourly rate or redundancy. The students are said to be “up in arms about their favourite teachers being kicked into touch”.”
Why You Can’t Understand That Soprano
“Three physicists report in Nature today that they tuned into opera and found a perfectly good reason for not being able to hear the words: the louder the song, the greater the resonance frequency of the vocal tract and the more difficult it is to hear a soprano’s vowels.”