Detroit’s Museum of New Art (MONA) has never had an easy road to follow. The very definition of a grassroots arts organization, MONA was founded in an abandoned suburban storefront in 1996, and moved to downtown Detroit in 2001. But the museum has had its share of recent turmoil at the top, and now, it faces eviction from its home in Detroit’s Book Building, amid bizarre charges of vandalism from the landlord, and accusations of mismanagement from several resigned directors.
Tag: 02.15.03
Seattle’s ACT Theatre On The Verge Of Closure
Seattle’s A Contemporary Theatre is $1.7 million in debt, has $3,000 in the bank, and has reduced its staff from 65 to nine. If the theatre doesn’t raise $1.5 million by next week, one of Seattle’s oldest and most respected theatres will close its doors.
About-Face For Taper’s Egan
“The [Los Angeles-based] Mark Taper Forum’s producing director, Robert Egan, known for fostering new plays and emerging writers, said Friday that he has changed his mind about running ACT Theatre, a major regional company in Seattle, because a worsening fiscal crisis there has nullified the adventurous artistic plans that made him want the job in the first place.” ACT ran a $500,000 deficit in 2002, and is making plans to trim as much as $2 million from its 2003-04 budget. ACT’s board has released Egan from his obligations to the company.
Is The CBC Obsolete?
Supporters and critics of Canada’s public broadcaster debate the issue. According to critics, an expanded media universe renders a state-subsidized public broadcaster unnecessary: “The bad news is that the CBC is increasingly obsolete; the good news is that it is increasingly unnecessary.” But CBC supporters maintain that “broadcasters have a unique societal role to play beyond the ratings-based for-profit alternatives.”
Salon Magazine Near Closing If Investor Isn’t Found
The online magazine Salon said Friday that it might have to close by the end of the month if it’s not able to raise more cash. The magazine reports it has only $169,000. “In the filing Friday, Salon also disclosed that it stopped paying rent for its headquarters in
December.” The company’s landlord has demanded a payment of $200,000.
Making Repatriation Personal
The movement pushing on governments and museums to return art and artifacts looted by the Third Reich to their original owners has picked up steam in recent years, and a number of high-profile repatriations have occurred. But to Anne Webber, who runs the Commission for Looted Art, the recent successes are merely the tip of the iceberg. Her organization is currently working on over 100 cases of appropriated art, with plenty more waiting in the wings. Asked why it has taken so long for this cause to be taken up, Webber replies that the families have been trying to regain their possessions for decades, but “for a long time there was no one to help them.”
Words And Writing – Now In 3D!
“For a decade, scientists and engineers have used virtual reality and other so-called ‘immersive technologies’ to help them visualize complex designs and natural phenomena. A project underway at Brown University is taking that concept a step further by exploring how these 3-D computerized environments could expand our understanding of the written word.” The man in charge of the project is Robert Coover, who began his examination of what he calls ‘The Cave’ of virtual environments years ago, with actions as simple and revolutionary as imbedding hyperlinks in his text. Now, the experiment has expanded to include audio, virtual reality, and other innovations so far afield from traditional ‘writing’ as to seem more like a video game than a novel.
Decision Time At Ground Zero
“The time has come to make a fateful choice about the future of the devastated place in Lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center towers used to stand.” So says Benjamin Forgey, in making his official endorsement of Daniel Libeskind’s haunting yet elegant proposal. The New York authorities won’t issue their final decision for a few weeks yet, but Forgey says that while both finalists have created worthy (if flawed) designs, the Libeskind proposal “opens a path. It foresees meaningful public spaces shaped by moving architecture.”
Nouveau Riche or Never Better?
Surprisingly, the Metropolitan Opera still holds a lowly position in the minds of many old-school European opera fans, who look at the New York institution as little more than a plaything for ultrarich Manhattanites. But if such views were once at least founded in truth, they have little to do with what the Met has become in modern times. True, money is still a big factor in its success, as it is for any opera company not subsidized by a government (as all those old-school European operations are,) but fiscal largesse aside, many critics now believe that the Met offers the best, most consistent operatic product to be found anywhere in the world.
Writers On Writing, For Writers
There has never been any shortage of writers willing to hold forth about what good writing is, and how one might go about it. Two new installments in the writers-on-writing genre have recently appeared, penned by Norman Mailer and Pierre Berton. The advice they give, and the style in which it is presented, has Philip Marchand wondering why it is that so many writers seem to disagree on nearly every facet of the subject. Is writing a science or an art? Is it work or play? And do we write for ourselves, or for our readers? Great minds think nothing alike.