“Hit with cut after cut in city funding, a steep decrease in corporate and foundation giving, and rising security and insurance costs, the city’s cultural leaders are expressing the lowest level of confidence in the future of their industry since Sept. 11. Museums and performing arts organizations are scaling back on visiting exhibitions and productions, and canceling long-term expansion plans altogether.”
Tag: 05.12.03
Comic Book Nation
“Today, students who come to a campus with Spider-Man on their minds may have trouble believing it, but they share the superhero with middle-aged professors. For, in our scholarly lives, many of us are not just harking back to distant memories of the Marvel comics of our childhoods, but creating a new scholarship on the comic book and the comic strip. The scholarly part is an odd experience and, for the most part, a recent one.”
We Owe Our Success To BatBoy
You would expect a small Boston theatre that presents edgy works to be struggling as funding goes down. But the enterprising SpeakEasy Stage Company found itself unexpectedly blessed when “an improbable musical comedy about a charismatic but bloodthirsty freak of nature who longs to be a normal boy” sold so well earlier this season that the company brought it back for a second run. Its success at the box office has put the company in the black.
Reality Takes Over
In the UK, as in America, reality TV has taken over the small screen. “Drama, lifestyle and documentary programmes have all been crushed by the alluring mix of multi-camera, multi-star TV. Reality TV, it could be argued, has now established itself as a mainstream format, alongside drama and sitcoms, and if anything, is going through a mature phase. Perhaps the enduring appeal of reality TV, whether in celebrity or ‘ordinary people’ guise, has nothing to do with our appetite for the formula but more to do with gossip columns and the need for showbiz news.”
TiVo For Radio
TiVo has been a big hit with TV viewers. So why not a TiVo for radio? “These digital radio recorders, which can be preset to record a program at a certain time, enable customers to record any radio program they want and have it converted into a digital format. They then can listen to the program or upload it onto a PC in a transferable file. Like TiVo, the audio recorders will let customers fast-forward over commercials – although this isn’t a feature the industry is actively promoting.”
Special Effects For The Little Screen
“The glamor of special effects technology may still lie in cinematic spectacles like ‘Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones,’ created by celebrated houses like the Industrial Light and Magic unit of Lucas Digital, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Digital Domain. But television is where much of the business of special effects takes place these days, saving considerable money for the studios.”
FCC Close To Deregulating Media Ownership
It’s looking more and more like the Federal Communications Commission is going to further ease restrictions on media ownership, allowing companies to own TV, radio and newspapers in the same market. Critics are upset: “We’re going to have a handful of people providing the news for the entire country. We will be losing the diversity of intellect and ideas and opinions. We’ll be cutting off minority opinions and dissent, and it’s not our founding fathers intended.”
As Canadian Dollar Rises, American Movie Production Leaves Canada
Canada has been able to attract lots of film and TV production from south of the border because of a cheap dollar and government tax incentives. But the Canadian dollar has been on the rise compared to the US. “After the dollar climbed to 71.80 cents (U.S.) last week, industry and provincial officials are worried that U.S. film makers will look to other locations such as Australia and New Zealand.”
How To survive In Publishing
To compete with other media vying for consumers’ attention, publishers need to promote themselves more and cut prices, says a consultant. “Although the combination of lowering prices while spending more on marketing may seem a recipe for shrinking already slim profit margins, it is the best way for the industry to fight to get its share of consumer spending in an entertainment marketplace that is glutted with products.”
Decline Of A Chicago Classic
Chicago classical music fans recall the time not so long ago when radio station WFMT was “the most cultured radio station in North America.” But “much of what made WFMT truly distinctive seems to be eroding in slow but perceptible degrees, a decline driven by the difficulties of making classical radio commercially viable but also by economic reverses suffered by the fine-arts station’s corporate parent, Window to the World Communications, which also owns and operates public broadcasting station WTTW-Channel 11. The Arbitron ratings evidence a decline of another sort…