Timothy Potts, who resigned as director of the Kimbell Art Museum last Friday, has taken the post of director at the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge. Potts will succeed Duncan Robinson, who has been the director of the Fitzwilliam since 1995.”
Tag: 05.31.07
Way Too Many Books (Who Reads Them?)
How many book titles are published in a year? The use of a new counting methodology has increased the number of new titles released in 2005 to 282,500, and Bowker estimates that in 2006 that number hit 291,920, a 3% increase over 2005.
Amateur Theatre Tops UK Interest
“Amateurs, as the word implies, do it for pleasure – hence the cliche that am-dram is low in quality but high on winning enthusiasm. The pros get all the credibility, the part-timers get bigger audiences: 7.3 million people at 25,760 performances by Noda (the National Operatic and Dramatic Association) members in 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available. While the cultural cognoscenti sneer, am-dram gets on with being our real national theatre, beloved of the kinds of crowds the pros can only dream of attracting.”
Art Theft Heads Organized Crime List
“Art theft has turned into a global industry that experts believe now fuels everything from terrorism to drug-running. At least one art sleuth puts art crime, including stolen antiquities and traffic in forgeries, behind only drug and arms trafficking as the third-most lucrative criminal activity in the world, at $2 to $6 billion a year.”
A Minnesota Newspaper That Doesn’t Understand The Arts
The Star-Tribune is cutting its staff positions for an architecture critic and a classical music critic. The music cut is especially puzzling. “It’s a music center. It’s a capital of American music, and for the people running this newspaper not to get that and not to see it’s really important, even if they don’t understand it, is beyond my ken. What are they thinking about? They want this still to be considered an important newspaper, and they don’t really understand this part of the community.”
Henry Moore’s Restored Estate Opens To Public
“After a painstaking, two-year renovation scheme, Hoglands will open to the public for the very first time, restored to – as near as can be recreated – exactly how it was when Moore lived there at the peak of his fame in the 1960s and 70s.”
There’s Gold In Them There Lyrics
Song lyric websites are wildly popular. “Quite clearly, consumer demand for this kind of information is huge. Which makes it odd that it was not until April this year that US music publishers, with the help of digital media giant Gracenote, launched a legal alternative. Hosted by Yahoo!, the service will allow users to view lyrics from approximately 400,000 songs, and return to publishers a share of advertising revenue.”
Classical Music’s Digital Download Boom
“Even with copy protection, classical music has surprised many doomsayers with its robust sales over the past year. On Apple’s iTunes, which controls over 70 percent of the digital market, classical purchases account for 12 percent of sales, four times its share of the CD market. Last year, classical was the industry’s fastest-growing musical genre, despite the closing of Tower Records, which represented 30 percent of the total classical market share.”
Why Are We Obsessed With Box Office Numbers?
“Interest in entertainment statistics has exploded as the number of celebrity news outlets has mushroomed, but most observers say it started in earnest in 1993 when “Jurassic Park” opened with a then-record $50 million weekend. Information that once languished deep inside fusty business news has become headline worthy. Whether driven by a simple fascination with big money or the sense that anyone can be a Hollywood insider, the expanding obsession with movie statistics acts as a lens on the national psyche, magnifying America’s innate love of competition and crowning a winner.”
Have Amphitheatres Passed Their Prime?
“People who monitor the concert industry say the outdoor venues, known as ‘sheds’ in the business, aren’t as financially feasible as they once were. Arenas can bring in more revenue with tiered ticket pricing, and the land where many amphitheaters were built 20 years ago has become prime residential property with enticing real-estate values.”