This year’s six winners of the C$25,000 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards are singers Bryan Adams and Buffy Sainte-Marie, Quebec theatre actress and broadcaster Françoise Faucher, artist manager Walter Homburger, Quebec choreographer Edouard Lock and actor/stage director Robin Phillips. Hot young conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin received the C$25,000 National Arts Centre Award.
Tag: 02.23.10
Why Jake Heggie Likes ‘Moby-Dick’ As An Opera Subject
After all, Melville’s book is probably the most famous classic American novel that most of us haven’t actually read. Yet, says the composer, people “have a sense of what it’s about. They know that there’s an obsessed captain, a ship, a white whale. And that gives a creative team tremendous freedom to play with it.”
Old Vic, Public Will Swap Young Theatre Artists
“This April, 50 actors, writers, directors and producers, aged between 18 and 30, will travel from London to New York for a week-long placement in The Public Theatre. In May, 50 US artists will take part in a similar programme at the Old Vic.”
Long Beach, Calif., Tries To Make Itself Arts-Friendly
One proposal in a multi-pronged city council initiative “would excuse artists from having to pay the city’s annual business license fee unless their earnings topped a certain threshold.”
Are Arts Organizations Exploiting Their Interns?
“[W]e should be asking why … 40% of graduates entering the cultural sector do so through working unpaid – not least because it has massive implications in terms of access. It immediately discounts all those who can’t afford to work unpaid, and particularly disadvantages those whose family home doesn’t happen to be near London….”
Thousands, Many Famous, Opt Out Of Google Books
“Authors who did not wish their books to be part of Google’s revised settlement needed to opt out before 28 January, in advance of last week’s [anticipated] ruling from Judge Denny Chin over whether to allow Google to go ahead with its divisive plans to digitise millions of books. … [M]ore than 6,500 authors, publishers and literary agents” did so.
Will iTunes Finally Push Us To A La Carte TV Viewing?
“Apple wants to lower the cost of a single TV episode on iTunes from the current $1.99 to 99 cents. Consumers are beginning to ask why they’re paying so much for cable….”
Werner Herzog Is Anything But A Film Buff
“‘I see maybe three or four films a year. Probably less than the average moviegoer.’ The admission seemed genuine, and one imagines that this approach accounts for how nonderivative Mr. Herzog’s films are. His movie-watching tendencies have also had some unexpected consequences.”
Gay Drama Comes Of Age (Subtle Politics Only, Please)
“While persecution remains a reality for most of” the gay characters in a batch of new plays and musicals, “the widening acceptance of AIDS as a pandemic rather than a gay disease — and the broadening debate on gay marriage and gay soldiers — have led, and have to some extent freed, writers and producers to use a wider lens to explore a broader landscape.”
The Powerful Link Between Touch And Behavior
“Momentary touches, [researchers] say … can communicate an even wider range of emotion than gestures or expressions, and sometimes do so more quickly and accurately than words.” Evidence suggests that those touches “can lead to clear, almost immediate changes in how people think and behave.”