As Helvetica enjoys its moment in the spotlight, “Slate asked a number of prominent writers to tell us what font they compose in and why. Courier was the clear favorite among our unscientific sample, but Times New Roman, Palatino, and something called Hoefler Text had their champions as well. (It seems to come down to whether a writer’s formative experience came on an Olivetti or an Apple.)”
Tag: 05.25.07
Small UK Museum Wins Arts’ Richest Prize
“The biggest prize in the arts, the £100,000 Gulbenkian museum prize, was awarded Friday to Pallant House in Chichester, described as ‘a jewel of a gallery’. It was a surprise victory for a comparatively small independent regional gallery, which beat one of the biggest museum projects of recent years, the £27.9m complete restoration and redisplay of the giant Kelvingrove art gallery and museum in Glasgow.”
UK Arts Orgs Appeal Funding To Gordon Brown
“Seven organisations representing the vast majority of employers, performers, artists and technical staff are pressing Brown to address as a “matter of urgency” the precarious financial situation for the arts, which is set to lose an extra £137 million to the 2012 Games. They warn that the cuts, along with an expected poor funding settlement in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review, amount to a ‘return to the stop-go approach to arts funding that proved so damaging during the nineties’.”
Elder Statesman
“His diary is packed with prestigious guest engagements on both sides of the Atlantic. But looking back over the past 30 years, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Mark Elder works best in a collaborative environment with people who know his quirks – such as his small beat, a legacy of the English choral tradition. There’s no other way to explain his long stint as English National Opera’s music director (1979-93) or his quick bedding-in at Manchester, where standards and morale have risen under his leadership.”
In Ireland – What Place Arts?
“The Irish Arts Council has launched a public debate on the value of the arts as the opening salvo in its bid for an increase in annual funding from central government to €100 million (£68 million) in 2008.”
Aussie Aboriginal Work Sets Million $ Record
“But skyrocketing prices do not guarantee a financial bonanza for indigenous artists. The sale of Earth’s Creation has again focused attention on the exploitation of indigenous artists and the vexed issue of whether they should receive royalties from secondary sales of their work.”
Remembering The Erstwhile Western Theatre Ballet
“I never saw the company perform. By all accounts, they were a talented group, based in the classical technique but coming out of a theatrical base – the Bristol Old Vic. Living a hand-to-mouth existence, WTB took to the road with very little money and no home base, performing in scout and church halls and, on one memorable occasion, a west country barn where the pigsties stood in for changing rooms.”
Where Have TV Viewers Gone?
Viewers are fleeing their TV sets. “The steepest decline was in live viewership, which fell 10% year-over-year among the four major broadcast networks. Adding in DVR viewership, which can boost shows’ ratings by as much as 25% or more, the Big Four were still down 5%.”
Pondering An Art Market Fall
“The average contemporary work cost $715,144 this year at Sotheby’s in New York, five times as much as in 1998, the auction house said.” So when will the fall come (and it will).
Lauded “Coram Boy” Closing
“Despite six Tony nominations and rave reviews in London, the wonderful ‘Coram Boy’ is set to close Sunday in New York. There’s little mercy in the world, as so many characters in this play with music can tell you.”