“Stanford University and the Public Theater in New York have announced a long-term partnership that includes an annual residency program at Stanford for playwrights developing work for the Public, joint commissions for one playwright a year, and three annual fellowships for Stanford undergraduates and graduates with the artistic staff of the Public.”
Tag: 01.21.07
The Louvre Thinks British
“Why is the Louvre buying so much British art? The answer is that the museum is preparing to open a permanent gallery dedicated to British art in the spring of 2008, for which conversion work is under way. The 300 sq m gallery will display 70 pictures at a time, on an upper floor with natural light.”
You’re Successful – Why Should We Fund You?
The acclaimed Battersea Arts Center has been told its local funding (representing 30 percent of its budget) will be slashed to zero. A spokesman for the local council “praised BAC’s work and then argued that because BAC has earned a regional, national and international reputation, its local funding should be cut. ‘Is it right that that Wandsworth should have to carry the can for what is really a London resource’?”
The “Indie” Films Taken Over By Success
“Once upon a time not very long ago, it seemed as if the studios’ specialty divisions might take independent film to another level, like the rich uncle who plucks you out of the weeds and makes you a star. One day you’re working in a video store; the next day you’re Quentin Tarantino.” Alas, with success, it hasn’t turned out that way…
Arts Organizations As DJs
“If broadcast radio won’t provide the eclectic mix that so many young listeners create on their own iPods, then arts organizations will just have to do it themselves. In Washington, Wolf Trap, Strathmore and the Shakespeare Theatre Company are reaching out to existing customers and new audiences with Internet radio stations and podcasts — radio programs listeners can download for use at their convenience.”
2000-Year-Old Music Revived
The oldest music in Europe is being revived up in the Arctic circle. It is the “song of the Sami, the aboriginal people of arctic Scandinavia – and the oldest extant music tradition in Europe, dating back more than 2,000 years. The yoik has been alternately banned and suppressed for centuries. It is a sound now being revived by a group called Adjagas, itself a Sami word that denotes the mental state between sleeping and waking.”
Robbins Revival
It’s been 32 years since New York City Ballet last performed Jerome Robbins’ “Dybbuk,” set to music by Leonard Bernstein… The piece ahad a lukewarm reception. Would Robbins have wanted “Dybbuk” revived? “You mean, is he rolling over in his grave? It’s possible. But people will accept the dance more now. Robbins’ earthbound approach is no longer alien to ballet.”
Today’s Jazz – Lost In Time?
“What does jazz mean in today’s America? While the scene may be vivid and exciting, it’s an artificial construct, sadly untethered to any specific time and place or anything actually going on in American society.”
New Orleans – Antropologists Study Survival
Anthropolists have been studying why some New Orleans communities were wiped out in the hurricane and others weren’t. “Anthropology, if it does anything well at all, is able to understand communities — the key values and concepts that hold them together and make them persist over time. In this instance, it helps us understand what leads certain groups to survive — and others to be washed away.”
Indies And The International Audience
“International gross now accounts for 50% to 60% of the total box office take and is expected to grow in the next few years as multiplexes continue to rise in such cinematically underserved environs as China and Russia. While Hollywood continues to churn out blockbusters, there’s increasing interest at all the studios in catering to the local tastes in the different markets around the globe.”