One of the biggest challenges for arts organizations is finding good sound board leadership. “Tony Scotford, a Sydney lawyer and outspoken arts advocate, has an innovative solution – a board ‘bank’ where the best talent can be matched with the neediest companies – on the cards as part of the Australian Business and Arts Foundation’s future projects. If it works like the health industry’s sperm and blood banks, why not? So many of our boards are the result of mateship, or favours, or a reward for sponsorship.”
Tag: 03.28.03
Theatre – Going One-On-One
“On stage, there may be no more daunting task than the solo performance. The show is you – and you’re the show. But actors continue to brave this special kind of high-wire act. Some of the reasons are economic: It makes for a short line at the pay window. But the more profound lure is artistic: the chance to have the audience all to yourself, to shape an intimate show that’s entirely personal.”
Trying Harder As Money Gets Tighter
As money gets tighter, American arts organizations are rethinking their operations. “To survive, cultural establishments nationwide are pooling resources, taking artistic risks, and stepping up outreach – rethinking everything from fundraising tactics to show times to get people back to the box office. In a time of financial famine, the arts are getting creative. ‘These organizations are like farm animals in the 1930s dust belt. They have less and less to sustain them’.”
Driven To Read
“There is a natural symbiosis between long-distance truckers and the audio book business. Just about anyone who has taken a road trip knows the boredom of the long empty stretches. For truckers who have the interstate system memorized, a story well told can make miles go by faster. Truck drivers have a critical underground that passes judgment mercilessly on recorded books. They swap tapes and book advice at freight terminals and at truck stops, where taped books are often available to rent. Reviews of audio books are a feature of trucking magazines and Web sites. Drivers tend to disdain abridged versions.”
Wales, Scotland, Striking Out On Their Own At Biennale
Scotland and Wales are jumping ship at the Vennice Biennale this year – both countries are pulling out of the British pavilion to set up their own shows. “As if to underline their secessionist tendencies, the Welsh have bagged a bigger venue – the Ex-Birreria brewery on Giudecca – and they are throwing a party for the art glitterati while sobriety will be observed in the British pavilion. The Welsh deny that they harbour historical resentments, but do point out that the British council has not honoured a Welsh artist at the biennale for 40 years.”
Collapse Of Art Investment Co. Hurts Artists, Investors
The collapse of art investment company Taylor Jardine has left a lot of artists and investors owed money. “Investors were told that once they had bought the paintings, Taylor Jardine would arrange for them to be leased to companies in London. They were assured this would generate an annual income of about 15 per cent on top of any increase in the value of the paintings. But, by the time the company folded, just 300 of the 2,000 paintings had been leased. This was a company that banked at Harrods and stored its art at Christie’s. Its brochures were glossy, its website was slick and its salesmen had public school accents. But despite the swanky exterior, investors have lost £6.4m and struggling artists have been told they may have lost the works they offered for sale.”
Money Woes? Who Ya Gonna Call?
Opera Australia has turned to a money expert to be its new chairman. “Dr Gordon Fell, 38, has strong links to the money networks of Sydney, including his business partnership with David Coe, chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art. These are vital connections for Opera Australia, whose operating deficit was $2 million last financial year. It expects a loss of $1 million this year.”
The New Saatchi Museum…Er, Gallery
So is Charles Saatchi’s new gallery in competition with the big London museums? “The press has made so much of the supposed rivalry. I’m looking forward to working with the two Tates and the Hayward. Where we differ is that we will always be able to remain at the cutting edge of new art because we can buy and sell, and we’re not answerable to taxpayers or to the idea of a national collection. We’re about contemporary art – that’s to say of the past 20 or so years – not modern art. Our job is to showcase new British art, and to act as a springboard between art colleges and major museums. We’ll always be changing the collection, sometimes gradually, at others quickly. And we don’t plan ahead. Only once a show is up will we think about what the next one might be.”
UK – Finding All The Public Art
Britain is initiating a national campaign to catalogue all the oil paintings in all the public collections in England, “down to the last dusty alderman hanging in a council waiting room.”