The Arts Council of Ireland has engaged London-based consultants to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the Republic’s national theatre company. While the Abbey has a high reputation in the U.S., observers at home have lately found it to have serious problems with both costs and artistic quality.
Tag: 02.10.14
Why Is Opera Still Thought To Be Elitist?
Today, opera is routinely styled as the antithesis of everyday life. The clash of opera (assumed to be “posh”) with “ordinary people” is a formula wheeled out repeatedly in reality TV series such as From Pop Star to Opera Star and Maestro at the Opera.
London Mayor To Investigate Shortage Of Affordable Artist Studios
“London is home to almost two-thirds of all artists’ studios in the UK, the majority of which are concentrated in the boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, according to the most recent numbers compiled in the 2010 Cultural Metropolis report.”
Did The CIA Fund a Generation Of Creative Writing In America?
“What drew writers to Iowa was not the innate splendor of a spontaneously good idea. What drew writers to Iowa is what draws writers anywhere: money and hype, which tend to be less spontaneous than ideas. So where did the money and the hype come from?”
Broken Trust: College Sells Art For $25 Million To Benefit Its Endowment
“In selling the painting, the college disregarded the policies of several art and museum groups, which state that museums (including those run by colleges) should sell art only to buy more art, not to improve their finances.”
Funding Cuts In Canadian Theatre Spark Existential Debate
Almost all of the 117 English-language groups that were getting funding are seeing cuts – many as much as 7 per cent to 8 per cent – so that 11 new groups could be added to the list. What began as an exercise in the much-vaunted “generational renewal” is raising some hard questions about how thin the gruel can be spread.
How Fast Food Might Be Killing Our Attention Spans
Researchers at the University of Toronto investigated how fast food–which they call an “icon of time efficiency”–affects patience levels, and therefore our ability to “savor” the world around us.
Folio Prize Announces Inaugural Shortlist of Eight Books
“Born from frustrations with the Man Booker, the Folio chose eight writers from the US, Canada and Britain, all of whom ‘take risks’.”
A Child Sex Abuse Survivor Explains Why He Willingly Worked With Roman Polanski
Rafael Yglesias, who adapted Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden for Polanski to film, recounts his own ordeal and explains – with unusual clarity and eloquence – how it has affected his life. He goes on to explain why he gladly agreed to collaborate with Polanski despite the longstanding allegations against the director.
Only Publicly-Funded Theatre Could Have Created a Show Like Matilda
Dennis Kelly, who co-wrote the West End and Broadway hit, writes, “I know with absolute certainty that at that time no commercial producer would’ve gone near me. … If it was my money I wouldn’t have come near me either.”