John Mellencamp: “Now that the carnage in this industry is so deep you can hardly wade through it, it’s open season for criticizing artists, present company included, for making a misstep or trying to create new opportunities to reach an audience…. If we have any hope for survival of the music that we all love, compassion must replace name-calling, fairness must replace greed and we need to come together as a musical community and try to understand each other’s problems.”
Tag: 03.22.09
University Of Michigan Museum Of Art Reinvents With A New Expansion
“A once-sleepy museum has been reinventing itself as a 21st-Century institution worthy of a collection that experts rank among the top 10 at American universities. The expansion more than doubles the size of the museum, while bringing the original 1910 beaux arts building up to contemporary standards.”
Upheavals In the Film Festival World
“There are more film festivals today than any Caltech astrophysicist can count. Not surprisingly, the ranks are starting to thin, an inevitable consequence of not only festival glut but also the deteriorating economy.”
Does Britain Care About Beauty? (A Debate)
“Beauty can be abstract as well as visual. London is the cultural and gastronomic capital of the world. Better now to eat here than in Paris. Same goes for music and theatre. We spend more time in and more money on gardens than any other culture.”
In Recession, Movie Box Office Booms
“According to the box office tracking service Media By Numbers, movie attendance in the first quarter of 2009 is up 12 percent over the same period last year. The box office gross for the same period was $2 billion, a 14 percent jump from 2008.”
New Jersey Arts Groups Warn Of Doom If State Makes Big Arts Funding Cuts
“Adding to the storm of financial problems, New Jersey’s arts, history, and tourism industries now face a state funding reduction of up to 25 percent in the budget proposed by Gov. Corzine this month. Arts officials say the decrease – about $9 million, if approved by lawmakers – might close some organizations and cut operations at others.”
Pressure Increases On Philadelphia Orchestra To Name Music Director
“The search is at a frightening moment, not because there are no prospects, but because time and time again in the last two decades, the orchestra has failed to cultivate meaningful, long-term relationships with guest conductors. The one long-term connection it has is with Simon Rattle, whose agent has signaled a strong no. All the other promising leads – except one – have been here only once and are scheduled for a single visit next season.”
Is George Steel The Man To Save NY City Opera?
“Hiring Steel could be a brilliant one-stroke solution to all these needs, but it also represents an unnerving leap of faith. For one thing, he is new to opera. Like President Obama, Steel is plunging into a crisis with a record that is promising but thin. He professes to be unfazed.”
Music! At Bargain Basement Prices!
“The pop-music business has turned out to be the canary in the economic coal mine, a small example of the enormous financial buckling that is now global. The numbers are still dropping for musicians, but their responses to this problem have become more creative, sometimes to the point of desperation.”
Indy Museum Makes Its Collection Details Transparent
“The Indianapolis Museum of Art pioneers a new wave of transparency with a database you can check to see what’s going and what’s gone. The database at www.imamuseum.org/explore/deaccessions runs from scraps of lace to French paintings and, coming soon, African and Asian art.”