“American higher education has long had a dynamic tension between intellectualism – represented by the humanities and elite colleges – and more ‘practical’ education offered up by land-grant universities, observers say. But while the US university system is widely hailed for its quality, some fear the pendulum may be swinging toward an overall anti- intellectual approach.”
Tag: 01.21.03
Europe’s Day Of Free Music
Struggling to develop an online strategy, European music producers have decided to offer free music downloads – for a day. “The campaign – Digital Download Day Europe – will allow music fans to download five euros’ (£3.40) worth of music for free from sites that pay royalties. The promotion takes place on 21 March and will be available in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK and The Netherlands. More than 150,000 tracks will be available to download, with a third able to be copied to CD.”
House Hunting With The Royal Shakespeare
As everyone knows, the Royal Shakespeare Company is looking for a new London home. “Top of its wish list are the Old Vic at Waterloo – a theatre thick with ghosts of RSC glories past – and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s slightly less gilded New London on Drury Lane, home for most of the past 20 years to the composer’s musical cash cow Cats, based on TS Eliot’s poems.”
Debating Censorship In Singapore
Censorship is common in Singapore. But a new set of guidelines concerning censorship are about to come out. “Surveys suggest that a majority of Singaporeans are basically conservative and still want the Government to be responsible for deciding what their children should see and hear. But as our people become more cosmopolitan, there is also a group which argues that Singaporeans should decide for themselves what they want to see, read and hear and what they want their children to read, see and hear.”
A Gallery In Your Room
One of Scotland’s “pioneering” online galleries has made a deal with a hotel chain to provide 1,500 works of art for hotel rooms. “We believe that art is part of daily life and we are challenging the way that people normally view and buy art.”
Develop This – Another Gatekeeper On The Road To Getting Published
“Some 13,000 new novels are published each year, a 45 per cent increase since 1998. But the deluge conceals a depressing reality for new writers. The slush pile – the derogatory term for unsolicited manuscripts that land on publishers’ desks – has been all but abandoned in this efficient age of corporate accounting and executive accountability. Publishers no longer read novels by unknowns. Nor, increasingly, do literary agents. If you are a first-timer, your chances of getting into print are almost non-existent.” Enter a new form of literary life – literary development agencies that for a fee will read and critique your work and make recommendations…
Best In Show Outside New York
The American section of the International Art Critics Association has chosen the “Eva Hesse” show, co-organized and launched on its tour by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, as best monographic exhibition outside New York.
Twenty Years Of Opera Supertitles
Twenty years ago the first supertitles were used at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. “The first titled opera was Strauss’s ‘Elektra’: As Orestes busied himself axe-cleaving his mother and stepfather to death, the audience — its eyes cast upwards at the titles — understood opera as never before. There were a few dissenters, but for most it was love at first sight. We had purists who said, ‘I’m German-speaking, I already understand every word.’ And some people said, ‘I have to look up, and it takes away from the action.’ But in an audience poll, approximately 80 per cent gave their approval.”
Colorado Springs Cancels Concerts
The Colorado Springs Symphony has canceled upcoming performances in a dispute with its musicians. “A spokesman for the symphony musicians and their union local, said they view the postponement as a lockout, a description the orchestra’s management rejects.”
Slash And Burn In Massachusetts
The state of Massachusetts made the biggest cuts in arts funding of all states in 2002 – slashing its budgest 62 percent. Now arts leaders are surveying the damage – reduced and discontinued programs, a few closings, and more difficulty raising money in the private sector…Arts groups just hope that this year’s budget won’t be cut even more.