The Arts – New Realities…

“The new watchword must be consolidation, rather than expansion; we’ve had an unprecedented level of investment in bricks and mortar for the arts, now we need to hunker down and make the most of them. The £100million-plus grands projets still on the drawing board – such as the ambitious developments of the Tate, British Museum and V&A sites – will have to be shelved, and pie-in-the-sky fantasies like the free theatre ticket scheme and the Royal Opera House’s annual sojourn to Manchester should be dumped.”

Improbably, Reading Flourishes

“If you choose to create entertainment that demands reading, you are deliberately choosing the most inaccessible of art forms from which to make your living… Astoundingly, however, books continue to be a lucrative business. It doesn’t make any sense. Popular books are selling in the millions. Think about all the disadvantages of reading…”

Opera With All The Chaos, Live On Camera

The satellite TV network Sky Arts will simulcast opening night of the new Jonathan Miller Bohème at English National Opera on two channels: one showing the staged performance and the second capturing the goings-on backstage. ENO artistic director John Berry says, “It’s about all of that furious paddling under the water that you don’t normally see.”