A survey of executive salaries in Minnesota arts organizations reveals that top executives are well-compensated. “Some who watch the nonprofit world wonder why arts administrators tend to out-earn their peers in other nonprofit categories such as those related to health, social services and education. In the Twin Cities in 2001, median pay packages for directors of top arts and culture organizations was $273,125, compared to $177,708 in education, $215,557 in health care and $123,984 in social services. ‘These jobs are much tougher now than they were. It’s difficult to recruit good, experienced people for director positions, and for critical marketing and development jobs. This narrows the pool and increases the salaries of really good people.”
Tag: 03.13.03
Star-Struck In LA
Two enduring characterizations of Los Angeles – that it’s unintellectual and star-struck are only partically true. There’s no shortage of intellectual events featuring A-list names. But the attendees appear every bit as star-struck for the intellectual heavy-hitters as other crowds do for the movie stars. “The only thing wrong with intellectual life in L.A. is that people keep asking if there’s intellectual life in L.A. The last remnant of provinciality is asking that question.”
Sell Off – Major Music Labels For Sale
There are five major recording labels. And that number looks to be reduced in the near future. “In a sign of how bad things have become in the down-and-out music industry, most of the five biggest music companies are either up for sale or contemplating deals.”
Porn Factor – The Modern American Library
“Today it’s common to walk into any public library in America and see adults and teenage students openly viewing hardcore pornography that is unavailable at home on any premium cable channel, is restricted to “adults–only” sections of video stores and, at least before the advent of the Internet, used to be purchased by church–going folks who felt compelled to don hats and fake mustaches to avoid shameful recognition. The situation is tearing at the very soul of librarians, most of whom were raised in a reverential atmosphere of uplifting ideals and lofty debates about how literature can shape and elevate the mind of man. The elevation of his other organs was simply not discussed.”
The Oscars, Tightly Scripted
The Academy Awards are serious business in Hollywood, but producers are well aware that the minds of their audience may be elsewhere if the Oscars are held in the midst of an invasion of Iraq. The show will go on, regardless of the political situation, but new rules are being imposed, and organizers say they will be strictly enforced. Rule #1: No one wants to hear actors in ball gowns spouting their political opinions. Rule #2: No paper lists of people to thank. Rule #3: For that matter, thank more than five people, and the orchestra will play you mercilessly offstage.
College Cuts Theater Department
“Last month, in a sharp cost-cutting move, the administration [of Mills College, a small liberal arts school in Northern California] voted to eliminate the dramatic arts department in 2004… For reasons both pragmatic and symbolic, the disappearance of drama from the academic program at Mills reverberates in especially pointed and powerful ways. Beyond the loss of classes, student productions and jobs for the small department’s four nontenured, ‘semi-permanent’ faculty members, the decision puts larger issues about women and theater — and the way women get seen and heard in the world at large — into high relief.”
NAC Gets An Unexpected Gift
Canada’s National Arts Centre “is expected to collect at least $500,000 from the sale of the estate of James Wilson Gill. He died in December after a long fight with cancer, leaving his Ottawa home and his extensive and valuable art collection to the centre… He was unknown to most NAC patrons, including many of those heavily involved in fundraising for the centre… The precise value of Mr. Gill’s estate will not be known until his house and art collection are sold, a process that could take several months.”
Sopranos Suspends Production
HBO has suspended production of its global hit The Sopranos as a result of a bitter legal fight between the network and the show’s lead actor, James Gandolfini. The conflict began when Gandolfini claimed that HBO had missed a contract deadline, and thereby voided his agreement. HBO has countersued in an effort to force Gandolfini to work. Conventional wisdom holds that Gandolfini doesn’t actually want to leave the hit show – he’s simply angling for a sizable raise.
Rowling On The Warpath
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is suing a Russian author and a Dutch distribution company in an effort to stop the global release of a book she says plagiarises her tales of magical teens. The book in question features a character named “Tanya Grotter,” a stunningly familiar-looking cover, and several plot twists mirroring the Potter series. The book’s author claims that his work is parody, and therefore protected under publishing law.
Don’t Tell Him What To Do
When Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty released his proposal last month to deal with a state budget deficit approaching $5 billion, arts advocates breathed a sigh of relief – the proposal cut the arts, but only by 22%. Still, a massive lobbying effort was launched to get the cuts down to what the state arts board sees as a more fair level, such as 14%. Apparently, the governor does not like being questioned: a revised draft of the budget slashes an additional $5 million from the arts board’s budget, bringing the total cuts to 40%.