The San Antonio Symphony’s bankruptcy reorganization plan was approved by a federal judge this week, allowing the orchestra to move ahead with plans for a new season. Bankruptcy may be in the past, but so are many of the SAS’s old musicians, who have moved on to new jobs in new cities. Still, hopes are high for a rejuvenated ensemble. “The new operating plan includes a slimmed-down budget with a shorter season and lower pay and benefits for musicians. It also features a new management team and increased emphasis on marketing, sales, corporate sponsorships and decreased telemarketing expenses. The proposed budget for 2004-05, based on a 26-week season and 72 musicians, lists operating expenses of about $5.5 million.”
Tag: 04.19.04
Of Value And Art
Sure, there’s the obvious connection between art and money, writes Thomas Crow. But art also “has its business in the world, in how a society functions and sees itself. As works of circulate from creator to patron, from dealer to collector, from private interior to public gallery, the transactions can be as much about sheltering the emotional, cultural and intellectual value of art as they are about money, even as prices climb and currency changes hands.”
Warning: US/Aussie Free Trade Proposal Will Harm Aussie Culture
Cultural leaders in Australia are warning that a proposed free trade agreement with the US will impinge on Australia’s home-grown culture. “The proposed deal caps the amount of local content at existing levels of 55 per cent on free-to-air commercial television and 25 per cent for commercial radio, and at 10 per cent on pay TV. If the government reduces these content levels, they cannot be raised again. The deal also prevents the government from regulating local content levels for new media without consulting the US, which can challenge any proposed changes.”
Two National Groups Fold Into Americans For the Arts
“Two national arts groups, the State Arts Advocacy League of America (SAALA) and the National Community Arts Network (NCAN), have agreed to be folded into Americans for the Arts.”
UK Arts Giving Up
Giving to the arts was up in the UK last year. “Donations to the arts by companies and individuals rose last year to £376m – equivalent to more than a third of the total of £957m of taxpayers’ money spent on subsidies. But art galleries and museums remain unglamorous causes to both kinds of donor, according to figures issued today. They are in low places for largesse from business sponsorship and private giving.”
The New Brooklyn Musem – “I Miss The Grandeur”
The new improved Brooklyn Museum is getting a lot of good press. But John Perreault isn’t so impressed. “Although the intention to make the entrance more welcoming is not all bad, I fear that looking like a ferry terminal in Scandinavia is not quite right. That glassed-in aquarium effect! Those tilted masts! True enough, the old entrance, consisting of stingy doors leading to the stygian lobby, was off-putting. We will now enter through the best party room in Brooklyn, but at the expense of grandeur.”
Scottish Opera On Hold
“Scottish Opera has put planning for its coming season on hold after it was told not to enter into any binding contracts. The crisis-hit company now has to wait for the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) and the Scottish Executive to agree on its financial future. In the latest sign of continuing problems, Scottish Opera’s accounts for last year have not been signed off by an auditor.”
Koolhaas Steps Out Front
Rem Koolhaas’ new Seattle Library could confirm his reputation as the most influential architect in the world. “While Frank Gehry remains the most famous architect in the world, for more than a decade Koolhaas, who is 59, has been the most influential. A few architects have a sharper theoretical edge than Koolhaas, and a few create more exciting spaces. But nobody—not even Gehry—produces buildings that are simultaneously so intellectually ambitious and so shamelessly populist.”
Audience Turns Up To Support Liverpool’s Schwarz
Gerard Schwarz returned to conduct the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic after members of his orchestra voted last week not to renew his contract. “The members voted against the 57-year-old music director’s contract being renewed when it comes up for renewal in 2006. But Mr Schwarz appears to have the support of the paying public as record crowds turned up to see him conducting the Liverpool Young Musician of the Year contest.”
Many Iraq Artifacts Recovered, Many Archaeological Sites Plundered
A year after the Iraq National Museum was looted, many of its artifacts have been recovered. But “in terms of archaeological losses, the looting of the museum may well be dwarfed by the continual destruction of archaeological sites all over Iraq by looters. This looting has touched upon well-known sites such as Nippur, home of an archaeological expedition of the Oriental Institute, Umma, Lagash, and Isin, but many more unexcavated sites are destroyed by the unsystematic onslaught of pick axes used by the looters throughout the country. The loss in archaeological data is impossible to quantify but clearly has reached disastrous dimensions. Although coalition forces have taken measures to protect some of the key sites in Iraq, archaeologists contend those measures have been inadequate.”