Tag: 05.27.03

Guthrie Gets Money To Expand

After delays, the Minnesota legislature reportedly has a deal in place to provide funding for construction of a new Guthrie Theatre and the Children’s Theatre Company. “Guthrie leaders had warned that without state support the theater’s planned $125 million three-stage complex on the Mississippi riverfront, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, would be derailed. The theater has privately raised $65 million, officials said.”

Australian TV Makes Cuts In Kids Programming

The Australian Broadcasting Company has shut down two channels aimed at children, saying that the government had not funded the broadcaster sufficiently and that cuts needed to be made. “ABC managing director Russell Balding told a Senate estimates committee in Canberra that apart from the children’s channels, up to $25 million in programming or jobs would be be cut by mid-year. “I don’t cry wolf. This is very serious. The ABC needs to be properly funded, and when we put the arguments to the Government that we needed additional funding for content it was not a matter of crying wolf – it was serious.”

The Case Of The Conductor Who Stabbed Himself Onstage

“David Tilling, of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, thrust the baton through his hand while rehearsing Land of Hope and Glory, by Elgar. He finished conducting the piece but then collapsed. Some of his bandsmen feared he was having a heart attack. A few may even have been aware of a disturbing precedent: at a concert in a Parisian church in 1687, the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully stabbed himself in the foot while conducting. Gangrene set in and killed him…”

If Museums Ruled The World…

Should museums take a hand in running British schools? That’s a proposal made last week education secretary, Charles Clarke to representatives of major London museums. “Most museums already work closely with schools through outreach and education programmes. But Mr Clarke’s proposals go further, and involve giving museums, which have charitable status and receive government and local subsidies, a role in the management and running of schools.”

Lure ‘Em In With Something New

When times are tough, how do you lure in audiences? “Two theories are doing the rounds. One says the only way to lure back the crowds is by going shamelessly populist. The other, unhelpfully, states the opposite: that you are most likely to prise open wallets when money is tight if you offer them something unusual, unrepeatable and unmissable. There can be no argument as to which camp the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra belongs in. In an amazing four-day festival in Birmingham from Thursday it offers (in conjunction with its sister ensemble, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group) no fewer than 18 big, bold, bracing blasts of contemporary music, most of them composed in the past five years.”

Eurovision – Did We Not Try Hard Enough?

“We are still left with a bad song that was not as bad as some other songs, but nevertheless everyone liked the least. We are still left wondering why, with our thriving industry of schlock pop and so much prime-time telly given over to the creation of more of it, we can’t compete with Bosnia Herzogovina. I think the answer lies in the very timbre of our outrage. We know we can make good pop. Everyone else knows we can make good pop. But when it’s just for Europe, we don’t see why we should bother. We aim low, and we never field our biggest hitters.”

Australia’s Writer’s Favorite Books

The Australian Society of Authors conducts a poll of its members to decide on a list of 40 favorite Australian books. “While it includes some of the big names in our national canon – Christina Stead, Henry Handel Richardson and Patrick White all make the top 10 – there are no books by Henry Lawson and none by Banjo Paterson. Nor are there any by Les Murray, Thomas Keneally or Robert Drewe. There are some surprise inclusions…”