Nielsen Research released results of a test of its new people meters that show “increased viewership for many programs popular with blacks and Hispanics. The release of the results was intended to counter complaints that by adopting the electronic system, known as local people meters, Nielsen will undercount the viewership for programs watched by blacks and Hispanics.”
Tag: 05.12.04
US Congress Revising Copyright Act?
A US Congressional sub-committee is working on a bill to amend and declaw the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. “Called the Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act, the amendments are backed by librarians, liberal consumer groups and some technology firms. But they’re bitterly opposed by the entertainment industry, including Hollywood, major record labels and the Business Software Alliance.”
Nova Scotia Arts Chief Quits: Council A Sham
“The chair of Nova Scotia’s Arts and Culture Partnership Council has resigned, claiming that the purpose behind the newly established group was simply to placate the arts sector and to allow the government to make major arts-funding decisions without any consultation. In March 2002, the Nova Scotia government shut down the provincial arts council, which was responsible for distributing up to $1.2 million in grant money to the arts community annually. At the end of the year, the province announced it was creating a similar agency but one that would be more financially accountable.”
A Challenger To Chicago Lyric Opera Emerges
Chicago Opera Theatre was founded 30 years ago as n alternative to the Chicago Lyric Opera. But “with the appointment five years ago of former Glyndebourne chief Brian Dickie as general director, it has begun to offer productions with musical and theatrical qualities worthy of international attention. In its first season in the new, acoustically splendid, Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater, Chicago Opera fulfils its new promise with the much-belated Chicago premiere of Benjamin Britten’s 1973 Death in Venice.”
An Arts Budget Cut For New York
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed his $46.9 billion executive budget. The Department of Cultural Affairs would get $104.03 million. That’s $10 million more than the mayor had proposed in January for his FY05 preliminary budget; but it’s $15.7 million less than cultural funding for the present fiscal year.
Movie Industry Rejects Smoking Ratings
The Motion Picture Association of America has rejected a suggestion to give movies an adult rating if they feature people smoking. “The industry is facing political pressure, following research last year which suggested teenagers who watched smoking on screen were more likely to take up the habit. A further report in March, issued by the University of California, suggested smoking should be treated in the same way as swearing.”
NYT Gets New Culture Editor
Steve Erlanger leaves his job as cultural editor of the New York Times. And to replace him? Jon Landsman, about whom editor Bill Keller writer: “Jon will be the first to tell you that he does not bring to the job a thick portfolio of cultural expertise, but he more than compensates for that with a deep and wide-ranging curiosity, a gift for managing big undertakings.”
AGO Looks For An Image Makeover
“The troubled and besieged Art Gallery of Ontario is about to get some major help fixing its tarnished image. To mastermind a turnaround, the AGO has hired Susan Bloch-Nevitte — one of the behind-the-scenes stars of the University of Toronto’s [$1 billion fundraising] success story. During the past year, the AGO has endured every plague a museum could have: falling attendance; budget-slashing; labour strife; a security problem that surfaced with the theft of Ken Thomson’s miniature ivories; a public uproar over the closing of the Group of Seven galleries; conflict with residents of its neighbourhood, and, most sensationally, the defection of major benefactor and board member Joey Tanenbaum over Frank Gehry’s makeover design.”
Minnesota Mayor Wants More $$ For Arts
The mayor of St. Paul has responded to a study which showed the city’s arts groups stuck in a cycle of deficits by proposing a new annual infusion of cash into the arts scene. Mayor Randy Kelly’s proposal, which was crafted in consultation with several arts leaders, calls for a $25 million bump in annual support for St. Paul’s cultural sector, including $6.5 million in new public subsidies. St. Paul arts groups have been struggling in comparison wth those across the Mississippi River in larger, more cosmopolitan Minneapolis.
Coach House vs. Student Housing
Coach House Books, an icon of countercultural Canadian literature, is in danger of being taken over by a University of Toronto student coop, unless it can negotiate a lease soon. “It’s the first formal lease that the pioneer of small presses will have had since Coach House sprang up in 1965 as part of the wild cultural experiment that characterized Toronto’s literary sixties. It’s a lease that will likely sign off on the historic literary landmark where the early careers of writers such as Michael Ondaatje and bpNichol were nurtured, in the name of creating new residence space for students… Even if a lease is signed, the precise fate of the Coach House building, now rickety due to years of absorbing vibrations from the printing presses, is up for speculation.”