Baltimore In Trouble

The Baltimore Symphony ran a staggering deficit of $7.3 million in fiscal 2005, and expects to tally another $4.5 million in red ink this season, raising the organization’s accumulated debt total to a whopping $16.2 million. The numbers represent some of the largest deficits of any American orchestra in the last decade, even though Baltimore’s annual budget ($30 million) is considerably smaller than those of orchestras in Cleveland and Chicago, which have faced similar-sized deficits in recent years. Oh, and the musicians’ contract, which already included financial concessions meant to reduce debt, expires this September.

The Dancing Computer

Microsoft is showing off a computer interface that is controlled by dancing in front of it. “The dance pad has designated arrows and buttons that are normally used to correspond to beats in the game, but for Microsofts system it will be used to navigate and scroll through a wide variety of applications.”

Arts As Weapon?

“New Labour has been pouring money into the arts, not just because this is a good thing but because of the belief that the arts will heal communities, reduce crime and raise the aspirations of those not educated enough to know whether they like Bartók or Birtwistle. The arts have long been used as a weapon. In the Cold War they were a beacon of intellectual freedom of expression, in stark contrast to the repression of dissent in the USSR. Now the enemy is what Andrew Brighton calls ‘the limitations of working-class culture’.”

Video Games – A Cure For Aging?

Can video games help stave off old age? Millions of Japanese believe so. “Players have to complete puzzles as quickly and accurately as possible, including reading literary classics aloud, doing simple arithmetic, drawing, and responding rapidly to deceptively easy teasers using voice-recognition software. The player’s “brain age” is then determined. A physically fit, yet cerebrally past-it 30-year-old might be told after his first few attempts that his brain is into its 50s; a retired woman could, over time, end up with a brain age 20 years her junior. The challenge, to reduce one’s brain age, is proving addictive among Japan’s baby boomers.”

The Whitney – A Work In Progress

Just as the Whitney Biennial is constantly being reinvented, so is the Whitney itself. “We’re always going to be criticized for being trendy, for getting things before they’re fully tested. You can’t afford not to do that, if you’re the Whitney. We have to take risks, and make mistakes, and be light on our feet. Sometimes the things that happen by chance are the best things. The art world is changing, artists are changing, so to have a plan that’s too fixed would defeat what we’re trying to do.”

ENO Takes A Chance On New Leadership

Edward Gardner is the “high-risk” choice to be music director of the troubled English National Opera. “The selection process, though swift, was admirably consultativen and transparent. The American Andrew Litton, much liked by the orchestra, was vetoed by the singing staff who felt he gave them insufficient support. Yakov Kreizberg, the Russian-born American, was top of the search list but he could not find room in a busy international schedule for the seven months a year that ENO required. Mark Wigglesworth, a British conductor who had commendably refused to work with Doran, was forced to make a choice between troubled ENO and the comfortable Monnaie in Brussels, where his appointment is expected shortly.”