As the Royal Opera/Sun cheap-tickets-for-first-timers scheme a few years ago demonstrated, “[new] audiences for opera will be wooed by price, not subject matter. … [Have] an allocation of seats for under-25s at cinema prices, and they will come to Rigoletto, Carmen or Madam Butterfly even more enthusiastically than they will to Anna Nicole.”
Tag: 01.29.11
Can a Dance Company Down Under Make It With No State Funding?
The idea underpinning Graeme Murphy’s new Mod Dance Company is “that contemporary dance can be more commercial – ‘with integrity’, he is quick to add. ‘I always believed that [Sydney Dance Company] had commercial potential that it wasn’t in a position to make the most of’.”
Peter Sellars Says the Darnedest Things
“When people accuse my work of being political agitprop, I say it’s quite the opposite. Art is one of the only non-propaganda experiences you can have. Today, someone is always trying to sell you something or convince you of something. I’m creating this radically open space that you haven’t had access to before.”
Soprano Margaret Price, 69
“She made her acclaimed operatic debut with Welsh National Opera as Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro in 1962 before becoming famous overnight when she stood in for Teresa Berganza at the Royal Opera House.”
Defund The Arts? The Culture Wars Are Back
“The proposed cuts in arts funding echo those of the 1990s. In one battle in 1995, Republicans, who then controlled both houses of Congress, pursued measures to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts. It survived — but saw 39 percent of its budget slashed. The NEA still hasn’t recovered to even funding levels from the 1980s, if inflation is taken into account.”
Want To Live A Long Time? Pair Up!
“According to the review of almost 150 studies, married people live longer, happier and healthier lives than singletons. What’s more, the longer the couple are together, the smugger they can be, because these benefits only increase with time.”
NEA Chief Rocco Landesman: Too Many Theatres?
“You can either increase demand or decrease supply. Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.”