“Months away from its grand opening, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture is shaping up into a handsome building whose interior spaces have dramatic, panoramic views of the many historic structures in its neighborhood.” Its “signature element” will be “a four-story, metal-and-glass ‘sail’ … inspired by the Swahili trading ships that carried the culture of East Africa to distant shores.”
Tag: 05.27.09
Colin Davis Sets Example With Gift To London Symphony
“Celebrating his 50-year association with the London Symphony Orchestra,” Sir Colin Davis has “pledged what a spokesperson called a ‘significant amount of money’ towards the orchestra’s endowment fund” and challenged fans “to increase the fund by £1m. Aside from the huge personal gesture … Sir Colin’s idea makes good business sense.”
A Free Press Publishes Free Books, And There’s No Catch
“Concord Free Press just released its second free book: Wesley Brown’s novel about a ’60s radical, ‘Push Comes to Shove.’ And — get this — in October, Concord Free Press plans to release a new novel by mega-bestseller Gregory Maguire called ‘The Next Queen of Heaven.’ Again, for free. Nada. Zip. $0.00. Turns out, there is no hidden agenda, at least no nefarious one.”
Alice Munro Wins International Man Booker Prize
“Canadian Alice Munro won the third Man Booker International Prize, overcoming competition from authors including Peter Carey, Mario Vargas Llosa and Joyce Carol Oates for the cash award of 60,000 pounds ($94,900). First bestowed on Albanian writer Ismail Kadare in 2005, the prize is granted once every two years in recognition of a living author who has made an outstanding contribution to world literature.”
– And The Public Gets A Preview Of The Art Inside
France’s President and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi “officially opened an exhibition at the Emirates Palace hotel that includes 19 works of art bought over the last 18 months for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, as well as loans from the French national museums. Acquired for what is being billed as the first universal museum in the Middle East, the works range from a Greek ceramic figure from around 520 B.C. to two 1862 canvases by Edouard Manet.”
National Ballet Of Canada’s ‘Iron Butterfly’ Takes Her Leave
Chan Hon Goh, a star at the company for two decades, “never fully recovered from the injuries she sustained in [a 2006] car accident, and says it has forced her to recognize she can no longer push herself as she once did. ‘I need intensive physiotherapy and massage in order to dance,’ she says. ‘It’s a vicious circle; I push, and everything seizes up again.'”
Staff Cuts At Utah Museum Of Fine Arts
“Effective last week, the University of Utah museum cut three of its 15 full-time positions and reduced the working hours of remaining full-time staff by 20 percent, said Gretchen Dietrich, the museum’s interim director.”