Tag: 06.10.04

Selling Inside Your Brain

It was probably inevitable – marketers want to see inside your brain to see what products you like. “Using the tools of neuroscientists are trying to learn more about the mental processes behind purchasing decisions. The resulting fusion of neuroscience and marketing is, inevitably, being called ‘neuromarketing’.”

A Festival That Asks: What Is Theatre?

What, exactly is theatre? A festival sets up the question by inviting a diverse bunch of testifiers. “Connected in diverse ways to the performing arts, the Enquirers are an intriguingly mixed bunch, ranging from the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company to a 14-year-old pupil at Holland Park School, and from a Buddhist monk who is the caretaker of the London Peace Pagoda to the chair of the British Council. Groups as well as individuals have been recruited. The liberating twist is that testimony need not be given as a conventional talk. It can be presented as a performance piece, or an installation, or however the testifier sees fit.”

BBC Needs More Money, But Doesn’t Dare Ask

A former BBC chairman is complaining that the license fee which the government collects from every UK household with a television set in order to fund the public broadcaster is insufficient. But Gavyn Davies doubts that the BBC will dare ask for an increase when its charter comes up for renewal in 2006, for fear of running afoul of public sentiment regarding the license fee.

Avenue Q, Direct To Vegas

Avenue Q, which cleaned up at this year’s Tonys, is buying the typically lucrative national tours that follow Broadway success, and taking up residence in Las Vegas. “Working with the Las Vegas impressario Steve Wynn, the producers of “Q” plan to open around Labor Day 2005 in a new $40-million theater built especially for the show. The production had planned to follow the lucrative tradition of touring nationally, hitting major markets like Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.”

Those Riots Just Aren’t Drawing ‘Em In Like They Used To

With widescreen TV making sporting events ever more enticing to view from your couch or your barstool rather than in person, the people who market soccer in Europe are turning to stadium architects to help draw the cheering crowds and create a unique sense of place. “The aim has been to maximise roof spans and minimise obstructed views and the basic problem is that there are only so many solutions for big roofs, most of which have been used.”

Jacksonville Breaks Even

The Jacksonville Symphony, which has been running massive deficits in recent years, rode an 18% rise in single ticket sales and a 23% uptick in donations to a break-even season for 2003-04. The orchestra’s endowment also performed better than expected, allowing the organization to begin digging out from under the multi-million dollar debt it had amassed.

Maybe He Wants To Spend More Time With His Family?

Buffalo Philharmonic CEO Larry Ribits has apparently been fired, only days before the conclusion of the orchestra’s season. Official word from the Philharmonic’s board chairman is that the abrupt departure was Ribits’s own decision, but the head of the musicians’ union is publicly questioning that stance, and is also pointing out that no musicians, even those who serve on the board, were informed of the decision until Wednesday morning. Ribits’s fate may have been decided this past weekend, while he and the BPO were in New York City for a concert at Carnegie Hall.

The Right To Boo (It’s Essential)

“Freedom to express opinions is a cornerstone of our liberties, and if one has the right to bravo noisily, one must stand up for the right to boo noisily too. In any case, as a critic, I suppose I rank as a professional booer (and cheerer too, on occasion), so it would be hypocritical of me to argue on the side of politesse. Nevertheless, there are complexities and contradictions in our attitude to booing.”