“How should we react today to ‘Bojangles of Harlem,’ the extended solo in the 1936 film Swing Time in which Fred Astaire, then at the height of his fame, wears blackface to evoke the African-American dancer Bill Robinson? No pat answer occurs … [This] is no traditional blackface number.”
Tag: 01.30.11
British Parliament Considers Banning Ticket Scalpers
“A new bid to clamp down on “parasitical” ticket touts which has been launched in parliament could see Britain copying Queensland in Australia by banning people from selling on tickets at hugely inflated prices.”
Will Movie Theatre Broadcasts Of Concerts And Opera Help Or Hurt Local Arts?
So far it’s too early to tell…
Measuring The Economic Impact Of Texas Arts
“Creative industries — from advertising to dance companies to book publishing — generate $4.5 billion per year in economic activity for Texas.”
West End Theatre – Recession-Proof?
“More than 14 million people attended the theatre last year and total box office revenues reached £512,331,808, according to figures published by the Society of London Theatre.
About 8.4 million people went to see a musical, 3.7 million attended a play and two million turned out to watch opera or dance.”
Director Peter Jackson Recovering From Emergency Surgery
“The filmmaker, who will direct The Hobbit, was admitted to hospital on Wednesday with acute stomach pains and had surgery that night for a perforated ulcer.”
New Optimism For Indy Film At This Year’s Sundance
“The full-tilt injection of energy and optimism at Sundance this year wasn’t just hype. It was about a new, evolving vision of the independent film world that is starting to take hold, and that’s making the future of that world look more and more rosy.”
Small 114-Year-Old Classical Music Series Grapples With Its Mortality
“For years, we had world-class entertainment. We had a world-class facility. And that was enough,” says Greg Anderson, a board member of Troy Chromatics and its publicity chairman. “Now we’ve got an aging population that still loves classical music, but the world has changed drastically. And we don’t have new strategies. … I think a lot of organizations like ours are asking the same really hard questions.”
Study Measures Diversity Of Aussie Museum Visitors
“A study by Museums and Galleries NSW showed art institutions attract people from all walks of life. The survey, showed that more than 40 per cent of visitors came from households with annual incomes below $40,000. Only 14 per cent had incomes of more than $100,000.”
Egyptian Culture Minister Fears For Artifacts
Zahi Hawass “said the Coptic Museum, Royal Jewelry Museum, National Museum of Alexandria and El Manial Museum had all been broken into. He also said he is afraid the ruling National Democratic Party headquarters in Cairo, torched and vandalized by demonstrators on Friday, could collapse and topple onto the 100-year-old Museum of Egyptian Antiquities next door.”