“For the past decade or so, watching television in America has been defined by the families recruited by Nielsen Media Research who have agreed to have an electronic meter attached to their televisions or to record in a diary what shows they watch. This setup may not last much longer. Just as programmers and advertisers are clamoring for a better understanding of the television audience, a wave of new consumer products has made it increasingly difficult to satisfy them.”
Tag: 04.10.05
Dana Gioia: Why Books Matter
“A strange thing has happened in the American arts during the past quarter century. While income rose to unforeseen levels, college attendance ballooned, and access to information increased enormously, the interest young Americans showed in the arts — and especially literature — actually diminished. That individuals at a time of crucial intellectual and emotional development bypass the joys and challenges of literature is a troubling trend. If it were true that they substituted histories, biographies, or political works for literature, one might not worry. But book reading of any kind is falling as well.”
Land Of (Theme Park) Lincoln
A new theme park/museum based on Abraham Lincoln opens this week. “The museum, which opens to the public April 16 a few blocks from the Illinois state capitol, is an architectural flop that turns Lincoln’s life into the storyline for a mawkish indoor theme park. It puts us on a slippery historical slope, where the unreal blurs with the real and ultimately upstages it.”
Chicago Jazz Gets A Slug Of Cash
“In an unprecedented development, jazz — specifically Chicago jazz — is about to get a large infusion of funding and opportunity. Three Chicago-area corporations and one local foundation have joined forces to pour an estimated $1.5 million into the city’s jazz scene in the next three years, with possibly more money to come during that time. Boeing Co., Bank One and Kraft Food have teamed with the non-profit Chicago Community Trust to create the Chicago Jazz Partnership, which will begin funneling approximately $500,000 into the city’s jazz scene this year, with hopes of expanding that support in years to come.”
Official Artist To The ’05 Election
If you can have a Poet Laureate write verse for official events, why not commission an artist to record an election? That’s exactly what the British Parliament has done. “The artist, who was commissioned by an all-party parliamentary committee to present a unique portrait of Britain en route to the polls, will spend the next three weeks on the stump with politicians and plans to travel on both opposition battle buses. He is struggling to get access to Tony Blair’s strictly-controlled entourage, however.”
Opera Looks To Film, Now Film Looks To Opera
Opera once coveted the realism of film. Nowadays, film is looking to opera for its ability to create fantasy. “Opera once recruited film directors because it envied the truth vouchsafed by the frank eye of the camera. Nowadays, opera delights in illusion, which is why it can offer characters in film an escape from their grim, grounded lives: hence Cher’s trip to the Met’s Bohème in Moonstruck, or Tom Hanks’s duets with Callas in Philadelphia.”
Podcasting – Coming To A Radio Station Near You
“Executives at some of the largest radio companies are suggesting that radio stations develop their own podcasts and make them available at no charge to listeners seeking a more varied or obscure selection of tunes. The idea is to ease the pressure that broadcasters now feel to broaden the array of music on over-the-air radio. Give choosier listeners what they want, without making them wait for the 11 p.m. Sunday show, when radio has traditionally offered less popular forms of music. Once listeners get into the habit of downloading inventive podcasts from their local radio station, they’re more likely to tune in to that station’s broadcasts when they’re in the car or at work.”
Reinventing The Walker
The bigger Walker Arts Center is attempting to reinvent itself while it expands. “The Walker seems to be one of the few places in the world that tries tackling the progressive element of each art form. The MOMA doesn’t do that, the Guggenheim doesn’t do that, the Whitney doesn’t do that.”
Denver Hall Needs $40 Million Fix
An acoustical fix for Denver’s Boettcher Hall is going to cost more than $40 million. Last year the director of Denver’s Division of Theatres and Arenas, estimated the project’s price tag at $25 million to $40 million. But he now says he believes that “when the firm completes the second half of its study later this spring, it will recommend gutting Boettcher and essentially building a new, reconfigured concert hall within its existing walls.”
A Boston Billion-Dollar Arts Boom
Boston is in the midst of spending more than $1 billion on new arts facilities. “The projects are varied, ranging from a contemporary art museum on the waterfront and downtown theaters to a pair of cultural centers slated for open space created by the Big Dig. ‘It’s staggering. Boston has always had a lively cultural scene, but I think we’re seeing the kind of arts renaissance catching up with the tremendous revitalization Boston’s undergone over the last 25 years’.”