“The head of the Smithsonian Latino Center resigned in February after an internal investigation found that she violated a variety of rules and ethics policies by abusing her expense account, trying to steer a contract to a friend and soliciting free tickets for fashion shows, concerts and music awards ceremonies, according to records released by the Smithsonian.”
Tag: 04.14.08
Newseum’s New Home – Tabloid Version?
“A museum about great storytelling wants to be the architectural equivalent of a screaming headline or a great TV- news teaser, grabbing your attention and dragging you inside.”
LA Talent Agencies Jockey For Position
There’s a bit of a shakeup going on behind the scenes in Hollywood, as talent agencies juggle and swap some top talent. “In the last few weeks, the swaps have grown so frequent and significant that many in the industry have been startled by all the big moves, which some say are a reaction to an overall contraction in the movie business.”
Toronto Turning Its Cultural Model Around
“For years it has been a frustration that in Quebec, culture is sacrosanct and supported with huge subsidies but here it gets shrugged off as expendable, turning Toronto arts leaders into beggars grateful for every dime of underfunding. Now something wonderful has happened. Ontario has a government that understands culture can help create a great society and make Toronto one of the world’s beacons.”
Backstage Ties That Bind Onstage
Relationships between actors and directors can get frosty at times, and the relationship tends to be fraught with tension at the best of times. So what’s it like when they’re married to each other? The word “dramatic” springs to mind…
Hitting Back At A Harry Potter Knockoff
J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has agreed to testify against the publishers of an encyclopedia of the Potter lexicon. Rowling has supported many of the fan-produced spinoffs of her work, but she and her publisher call the new lexicon copyright infringement. “Their objection is that the book merely repackages Ms. Rowling’s work and, unlike the free fan sites, is intended to make money for its publisher.”
New Leonardo Illustrations Found (Or Possibly Not)
“Reported discoveries of lost works by Leonardo da Vinci are almost as common as, well, images of the Mona Lisa. The latest attribution to be proposed involves the design for the illustrations in a chess book from around 1500.”
NBC’s Mixed Messages
NBC is making a point of “bringing back the family hour” of evening television this year. So why does the network appear to be undermining its own stated goal by airing blatant vulgarities in its sitcoms featured in exactly that hour?
Can This Man Save The UK’s Cultural Funding Model?
The new chief of England’s Arts Council “is more used to the shadows than the limelight… a policy man working out of the public eye, but a frequent sight in the audience at the theatre and concerts, often nursing a pint of bitter in the interval.” But unassuming or not, Alan Davey will be expected to guide the council through a critical period in its history.
Why The CBC Could Be Wrong About Classical
The CBC claims that its Vancouver-based (and soon to disband) CBC Radio Orchestra is anachronistic and too expensive to maintain, despite the fact that it actually makes up a measly 0.0035% of the broadcaster’s budget. Meanwhile, CBC is also gutting its classical radio programming. “Have we really reached the point where to voice a preference for classical music is to disenfranchise oneself?”