Tag: 04.01.09

Bad News For Scouts: Toronto’s Location Library Shutters

“A location ‘lending library’ that helped bring such films as Chicago and Cinderella Man to Toronto is closing today, adding another irritant to efforts to revive the city’s film and television production industry.” The library’s managing director “said film and TV production in Toronto has declined dramatically over the past five years due to a number of factors.”

Failed Company Gives Its Funds To University Drama Dept.

“Milwaukee Shakespeare, which closed suddenly in October when it lost its principal funder, is giving its remaining financial assets,” about $38,000, “to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee theater department. … The money is being given to the UWM Foundation for an endowment that will help underwrite student Shakespeare productions.”

How The Arts Truly Performed During The Depression

“The engine of the arts in the ’30s was not escapism, as we sometimes imagine, but speed, energy and movement at a time of economic stagnation and social malaise. … If we look at the arts as a life-giving form of social therapy, many other fads and fashions of the 1930s fall into place. The thrust of the culture, like the aims of the New Deal, was to get the country moving again.”

Stars Lobby For More NEA Funding

“A woman held a BlackBerry over the crowd surrounding Linda Ronstadt to get a shot of the onetime queen of country rock. Someone else thrust an album insert and pen at Josh Groban. ‘Just one more photo, please,’ followed jazz musician Wynton Marsalis out of the room. The three musicians were among a group who appeared Tuesday on Capitol Hill to speak in favor of increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $200 million in the 2010 budget.”

Maurice Jarre’s Power

“Without Maurice Jarre, who died last week at 84, who would David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia be? Peter O’Toole’s deliquescent eyes, shimmering in the desert light, would have been little more than a silent mirage. Jarre’s 1962 film score, which won an Academy Award, is a reminder that in the movies there is no character and no landscape unless there is a musical soundscape too.”

Film Society Is Remade Swiftly, Though Not Smoothly

New director Mara Manus has brought change and anxiety about change to the Film Society of Lincoln Center. “One-quarter of the society’s staff has been dismissed or has resigned, prompting concerns about the group’s direction. And the Film Society’s 3,600 members are waiting to hear what perks they may lose as part of Ms. Manus’s drive to run what has traditionally been a low-key and easygoing operation ‘more like a business,’ as she puts it.”

Getting Your Concert Tickets Online? Good Luck With That.

“Two years after the repeal of New York State’s decades-old anti-scalping laws, the ticket marketplace has become a fiercely competitive game in which major corporations compete over resale prices with the fan next door, scalpers have a Washington lobbyist and thousands of tickets disappear in a fraction of a second. … And the churning secondary market has muddied long-held beliefs in the concert industry about what constitutes fair trade.”

Asbestos Was In The Air At A Second Smithsonian Museum

“Members of a steamfitters union local said that in 2007, asbestos dust filled the air during renovation of the National Museum of American History because contractors repeatedly failed to take legally required precautions while removing insulation.” The Smithsonian acknowledges that there was a problem, though not as serious as the union alleges. A congressional hearing about asbestos at the Smithsonian is to take place today.