As part of China’s efforts to strengthen business and diplomatic ties to Algeria, Chinese officials have signed an agreement to build a $43 million opera house on the outskirts of the Algerian capital. “Algerian Culture Minister Khalida Toumi says the building was designed in traditional Algerian style by Chinese engineers.”
Tag: 04.14.10
UK Arts Organizations Argue For No Funding Cuts
“Leading cultural institutions have joined together to try to stave off predicted government cuts to the arts. In Cultural Capital: a Manifesto for the Future, 17 key organisations–including Arts Council England, English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Museums Association–argue that investing in culture will help bring the country out of recession. The report was launched at the British Museum on 25 March.”
A Blind Composer’s Odyssey
“Today, through a combination of top quality soft synths, Sonar, Sibelius, and a screen reader called JAWS, I’m able to create in a diverse collection of genres governed only by my own musical taste and the professional opportunities that present themselves.”
Oregon Symphony Wants Portland To Help Pay For Carnegie Hall Trip
“The Oregon Symphony is asking the city of Portland for $200,000 to help it get to Carnegie Hall next year. The request appears on a list of special appropriations in the mayor’s 2010-11 budget. But the orchestra’s request comes at a difficult time – with a tight city budget in an election year – when the needs of police, schools, firefighters and transportation are dire.”
UK Voters Lobby Candidates With E-Cards
“Advocacy body Dance UK has launched a campaign to persuade politicians of the value of dance in the run-up to the general election. For the DanceVote 2010 campaign, people across the country are being asked to send e-cards to their local parliamentary candidates.”
Great Intellectuals And Their Unproduced Screenplays
Vladimir Nabokov. Kasimir Malevich. Winston Churchill. Aldous Huxley. Theodor Adorno. Georges Bataille. Jean-Paul Sartre. All of these gentlemen wrote screenplays (and not only on spec) that never made it to the screen. And what were they about?
Seiji Ozawa, Too, Will Miss Tanglewood This Year
The Boston Symphony Orchestra announced “that its former musical director says he needed to cancel more engagements than originally planned so that he could fully concentrate on continuing treatment” for esophageal cancer. “Ozawa was scheduled to lead BSO in [Lenox], Mass. on July 24 and 25.”
Pundits’ Kabuki Confusion (And A Plea For Enlightenment)
“Pundits use Kabuki as a synonym for ‘posturing.’ … But how did Kabuki, one of Japan’s most revered arts, come to signify loathsome fakery? Kabuki escaped derision only so long as no one had heard of it. The Japanese initially considered it too difficult to export; indeed, seeing a Kabuki play cold is like tuning into Lost midseason.”
Every Word David Foster Wallace Circled In His Dictionary
“What’s notable about the list is that along with many three-dollar words that seem rather difficult to pronounce (witenagemot), DFW also marked up more run-of-the-mill entries like the ones for bisque and tennis. … Did he circle bisque while writing ‘Consider the Lobster’? We’ll never know.”
John Killacky Goes To Vermont
“For seven years, John Killacky has been the program officer for the San Francisco Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funds a variety of community initiatives, including arts and culture projects. On June 1, he will leave that post to become the chief executive officer of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vt., a multidisciplinary arts organization housed in a 75-year-old, 1,300-seat theater.”