The biggest complaint of artists about the society around them is usually that the people holding the pursestrings just don’t “get it.” Arts administrators, for their part, are continually frustrated by what they see as an unwillingness on the part of creative types to accept basic fiscal realities. But at a small liberal arts school in New England, Katy Davy is trying to change the paradigm, with an approach to education that stresses critical thinking across multiple disciplines, and promotes fiscal responsibility as the friend of the arts and academia, rather than as an unpleasant complicating factor to be stepped around.
Tag: 05.21.03
Disposable DVDs: Instant Waste, or Cynical Cash-Grab?
Disney is preparing to release a new disposable technology: DVDs, available for sale for around the cost of a rental, which self-destruct after 48 hours. So far, the idea isn’t garnering much positive response. Viewers don’t see the point; environmentalists are furious about the unnecessary waste material; and at some point, you’ve got to figure that consumers are going to wonder why a DVD with a chemical erasing agent embedded in it is less than half as expensive as the exact same DVD without a self-destruct mechanism.
Might Regulators Approve Giant Recording Company Merger?
Recording execs are convinced that courts might approve a merger between recording giants AOL Time Warner and Bertelsman, even though the idea was rejected two years ago. “A combination of the labels would shrink the number of global record distributors from the current five, providing new muscle and cost-saving opportunity for some players in an ailing music industry — while potentially threatening others. But the executives believe that recent legal rulings and the industry’s weak condition would bolster their cause in persuading regulators, particularly in Europe, to greenlight a deal.”
Should The Barnes Audit Be Made Public?
Lincoln University, which has a major role in the oversight of the Barnes Foundation, has petitioned a judge to make public an audit of the Barnes that has been depicted in the media and in a book as being very critical of the Foundation’s management. “Keeping the audit confidential does a disservice to the public because the information contained therein in numerous instances reveals diligent and persistent efforts to improve the administration of the foundation.” The Barnes is seeking to lessen Lincoln’s influence and make a move to Philadelphia.
Cutting Out The Middleman
The recording industry is going after a website based in Spain, which claims that it has found a legal way to offer downloadable music without the consent of the labels which control its distribution. Puretunes, which plans to offer unlimited downloads for a much lower price than many comparable services, says that it will pay royalties directly to the artists, and will take advantage of a loophole in Spanish copyright law to bypass the corporate side of the industry. Not surprisingly, the industry has a very different interpretation of Spanish law.
James Wins Jerwood
“An Australian-born artist based in Wales has won this year’s £30,000 Jerwood Painting Prize. Shani Rhys James, best known for her colourful self portraits, beat fierce competition to receive the honour – the UK’s biggest single award for painters… Ms James was up against shortlist of established and talented artists – John Hoyland, John Wonnacott, Marc Vaux, Alison Watt and Suzanne Holtom.”
Are Yank TV Stars Good For London’s West End?
The West End’s thirst for American TV and movie actors seems insatiable. But are they good for London theatre? “Some months, it seems that any Yank with their TV or film career on the skids can come over here without a by-your-leave and grab worthless showbiz headlines with the revival of some hoary play that only serves to confirm Richard Eyre’s thought that London’s West End has all the appeal of a yawning grave. Worse yet, many of the West End plays in which American actors have starred have been by US playwrights exploring US themes.”
Texaco Pulls Out Of Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts
After 63 years, ChevronTexaco says it is withdrawing its radio sponsorship of Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. Texaco’s sponsorship was the longest in commercial broadcast history. “Beginning in 1940 Texaco was the sole sponsor of the broadcasts, which are now heard live from the Met stage at Lincoln Center 20 times a year on 360 stations at an annual cost of about $7 million. Broadcast December through April, the broadcasts reach an estimated 10 million listeners in 42 countries.”
The Art Of Venice
“Considered in the cold light of reason, a visit to Venice might sound pretty grim. It is underpopulated (except by pigeons), overvisited, chronically polluted and notoriously expensive. Subsiding inexorably into theme-park status, the city that built its reputation on hard-nosed mercantile pragmatism has turned to fleecing foreign tourists for a living. But there’s no point in taking a down-to-earth view of Venice. This is a city which seems, quite literally, out of this world. Drifting like a mirage upon the surface of its lagoon, it could almost be set, as one early medieval visitor put it, ‘between the star Arcturus and the shining Pleiades’.?
Singing The Legal Blues
“Over the past five decades, singers, bands, record labels, managers and songwriters have formed a special bond with the judicial system, particularly in the US where they breed ’em litigious. Given music is such a volatile, mollycoddling, temperamental, creative, high-stakes business, it’s not surprising the lawyers are laughing all the way to the bank.”