An Iowa Symphony Orchestra Is Thriving. Here’s How

“Orchestra Iowa has grown to be the state’s largest not-for-profit performing organization in terms of budget and performance schedule. That budget has doubled from a low of $1.6 million right after the flood, and 150 concerts are staged per year in the Corridor, in all Cedar Rapids and Iowa City schools and in venues in such cities as Fairfield, Davenport, Mason City, Ottumwa and Coralville.”

Is The Infomercial Dead? (Please, Please Say Yes)

“The golden age began in 1984 when President Reagan deregulated the television industry, allowing broadcasters to sell larger chunks of time to advertisers. That year also saw a significant cable television growth spurt, exploding the number of channels needing content. In 1984–1995, marketers rediscovered the ‘the power of the half-hour,’ and fortunes were made.”

New York Is Eating Into Hollywood (Again)

“New York had a record number of film and TV projects last year and is on track to do the same in 2014, state officials say. Credit goes to generous financial incentives, experienced crews that rival Hollywood’s best and friendly (some might say star-struck) politicians.”

Jane Jacobs Vs. Robert Moses: The Opera (Wait, THE OPERA?)

“A group of New York artists is working on an opera telling the story of Jacobs’s fight against Moses’s utopian schemes to raze Manhattan neighbourhoods. The battles turned Jacobs, a freelance journalist married to an architect, into an activist and formed her thinking about urban issues articulated in her 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities.”