Some of America’s greatest choreographers have been honored with postage stamps, unveiled at a ceremony Tuesday. Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille and Martha Graham were recalled in words by family and associates while dancers performed some of their best-known works.”
Tag: 05.05.04
French Reality TV Angers Farmers
A French reality TV show has sparked protests by farmers. “La Ferme Celebrites – Celebrity Farm – sees 14 French celebrities live in a farmhouse for 70 days without running water or electricity. Tasks include sheep shearing, milking cows and tending as animals give birth. But the show, which attracts eight million viewers, has infuriated the Farmers’ Confederation, who consider the show ‘degrading’ to rural people.”
Court Throws WTC Project In Doubt
Suddenly, a court ruling concerning the insurance payout to the developer of the World Trade Center site has put the entire project in doubt. “Now, barring a lengthy appeals process, it appears that developer Larry Silverstein is a day late and a dollar short of the time and money he needs to build back all 10.5 million square feet of the office space he lost on Sept. 11 according to the Governor’s aggressive plans. And so everyone downtown is buzzing Larry Silverstein is unlikely to be the developer behind most of the office buildings at Ground Zero. Another developer will have to step in. But who has billions of dollars to spend on a spanking new building with no guarantee it will fill up?”
Proms In The Digital Age
London’s annual Proms concerts have been reborn. “Digital and web technology has not only revolutionised universal awareness of the Proms, it has become an invaluable PR tool for the BBC. If the two-month event was ever in danger of being an expensive and cumbersome weight around the corporation’s neck, the Proms are now, without doubt, its greatest cultural showcase.”
BBC 3 Giving Up Classical Diet?
Is BBC3 giving up its commitment to broadcasting classical music? “They don’t claim to be the classical music station any more and we feel sad about that. I think they desperately don’t want that mantle.”
Aussie Art Collector Donates Major Collection To Victoria
Dr Joseph Brown, one of Australia’s biggest art collectors has decided to donate his collection to the National Gallery of Victoria. “The fate of the highly-prized collection — renowned in art circles for its quality and quantity — has been a 20-year saga. A succession of state governments have failed to take up Dr Brown’s offer of the works, which was once valued by art experts at more than $60 million. The historic value of the works, by many famous artists including Streeton, von Guerard, Drysdale and Whiteley, is immense. The collection has been in storage since 2002, at a cost of about $650-a-week insurance and $300-a-week storage.”
Images Of War, And Of A National Disgrace
The photos that emerged from Iraq last week – showing American soldiers exulting next to naked Iraqi prisoners forced to adopt humiliating poses – are a disturbing piece of visual evidence that America is its own worst enemy, says Philip Kennicott, and only the stark reality of a photograph was able to bring that fact home to us. “These photos, we insist, are not us. But these photos are us. Yes, they are the acts of individuals… [but] great national crimes begin with the acts of misguided individuals… Every errant smart bomb, every dead civilian, every sodomized prisoner, is ours.”
Banner Year For Opera in Toronto
The Canadian Opera Company has released the numbers on its just-completed season, declaring 2003-04 to be one of the company’s best years ever. 114,000 people attended COC productions during the season, bringing in $8 million of gross revenue, a 14% jump over 2002-03. Additionally, subscription sales were up 24%, and are already strong for next season.
New Zealanders Building Their Own Stone Henge
“The aim of the project, funded by a grant of NZ$56,500 from the Royal Society of New Zealand, is to generate interest in science among people who might not normally be keen on the subject. We came up with the idea of Stonehenge because it doesn’t matter who you are — everyone looks at the Pyramids and Stonehenge and structures like that (and asks) who built them, why did they build them?”
Toronto Music School Raising Money By The Bushel
Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music is more than halfway to its $60 million fundraising goal after announcing a new round of $12 million in donations. The money will go towards a major expansion of the school, including a 1000-seat concert hall. Another announcement is expected in June, which should bring the RCM to 75-80% of goal. The campaign has been so successful that the school recently added $10 million to its goal, and redrew the expansion plans to include more studio and rehearsal space.