“Again and again, when black artists adapt street work to the stage, the critics say it’s terrific. When it’s framed as black history, it’s more than terrific.” writes Joan Acocella. Rennie Harris comes out of a Hip Hop tradition. In his new piece “Facing Mekka” the “moral vision is broader, and, despite the videos, the means are largely abstract: music, dance. This makes it encompassing—a story not just of African-American memory but of memory itself.”
Tag: 05.26.03
The New Architecture – Look To Smaller Cities
“With buildings by Peter Eisenman in Columbus and Cincinnati, and by Frank Gehry in Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, the state of Ohio is beginning to seem as hospitable to cutting-edge architecture as the Netherlands. But avant-garde architects are getting commissions from small cities and institutions all over the country, not only because such places are eager to use architecture as a way of establishing their cultural credentials. Smaller cities are less likely to be encumbered by the political and economic pressures that affect projects in big cities, and, these days, they are more likely to take risks.” As in two new buildings from Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry…
Scotland’s Funding Crisis
Scotland’s major cultural groups are warning that “without a substantial cash injection in the autumn, national companies and some of the country’s best-loved theatres will be forced to cut productions and could even face the prospect of closure. ‘Inevitably you come to a point where certain organisations – including the national companies – are forced to cut back on the number of productions’.”
Timid New Report Fails To Address Canadian TV Woes
Canadian TV is in a crisis, but you’d never know it from a new report on Canadian television. The McQueen Report “smacks of a contrived and unworkable pseudo-solution to a crisis. ACTRA, the organization that represents Canadian actors and performers, has already dismissed McQueen’s report as ‘all carrot and no stick’ for private broadcasters. The time for intricate therapy is long gone. In the past four years, the number of continuing drama series airing on Canadian TV has dropped from 12 to 4. That figure screams for action now, not for the prolonged prodding and nudging of broadcasters.”
Some Brain Disorders Might Improve Artistic Abilities
New research suggests that “some types of dementia may release new areas of creativity, which grow and develop as language skills decline.” An artist in her early fifties was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a rare type of inherited dementia, but though some of her other abilities declined, her work as an artist got markedly better. “Whatever the mechanism, our patient represents a remarkable example of how a truly talented individual can continue to evolve and create in the face of a degenerative brain disease.”
Royal Ballet Beams To The Great Outdoors
London’s Royal Ballet is broadcasting a performance of “Manon” to a giant outdoor screen in Liverpool. Viewers will be able to watch for free. “Throughout the summer, other opera and ballet performances will be relayed live to Liverpool and four other UK cities.”
Boston Ballet Fires Ballet Mistress
Eva Evdokimova, brought to Boston Ballet last year by new Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen as ballet mistress, has been fired for “economic reasons.” “Undisputedly one of the world’s finest ballet teachers, Evdokimova is also one of the most acclaimed performers in recent history. Born in 1948, she was the first American to win a gold medal at the 1970 International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. She went on to dance with such prominent companies as the Royal Danish Ballet, The Kirov, Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theater and National Ballet of Canada, to mention only a few.”
Canada Announces New Political Museum
The Canadian government plans to “turn a near century-old train station in downtown Ottawa into a museum on Canadian history and politics. ‘Our political history is a rich one that needs to be told. This centre will be a meeting place where academics, students and visitors will be able to learn how Canada came about’.” The project is expected to cost $90 million, and museum critics are complaining that the money coule be better spent helping museums that are already struggling for funding.
Moving San Francisco Across Europe
What does it take to move the San Francisco Symphony across Europe on its $1.8 million tour? “In between transatlantic flights on commercial airliners, the tour schedule includes six chartered flights, two train rides (including one on Eurostar, the new high-speed train that runs from London to Brussels through the Channel Tunnel) and three bus trips for short run-outs to cities such as Brighton and Dusseldorf. But that’s just the humans. Running in tandem, in two climate-controlled trucks, is the cargo – almost 11 tons of evening clothes, cellos and basses, trombones and bassoons and harps and cymbals.”
Artist Thrown In Jail Over Bush Comment
A Bay Area artist upset about George Bush’s war on Iraq got into a heated political argument in an Emeryville furniture store. When he mentioned the words “kill Bush” it was the “wrong move in a place filled with American flags and run by military veterans who support the president. Store employees called police, who alerted the Secret Service. Hours after entering the furniture store to buy cubicle partitions for a fellow artist’s project, Barry Schwartz was sitting in a small room in the Emeryville police station, being interrogated by two Secret Service agents.” He spent the next two days in jail.