A study on arts participation released at the National Performing Arts Convention in Pittsburgh echoes previous reports. “Once again, as in studies past, more people reported attending a live performing arts event at least once in the past year than reported attending a professional sporting event. Eight out of 10 acknowledging that the performing arts improve the quality of life in their communities. More than that, between 58 and 71 per cent of those interviewed agreed that attending live arts events encouraged them to be more creative. This has traditionally been an argument used to support arts education in schools. It was interesting to find, in this era of diminished arts education, that so many people still subscribe to the belief.”
Tag: 06.20.04
Reinventing The TV Schedule, Part II
American TV networks are changing their schedules in fundamental ways. “Giving new meaning to mind-numbing, phony “reality” and other unscripted shows occupy 20 percent of the lineup. This season, five new phonality shows are on the card. Last year, there were zero. An addict will be able to watch cow-eyed love seekers; rapacious, amoral yuppies; and psychologically damaged females seven days a week, in 13 of the 15 prime-time hours before 10 p.m. It’s part of a youth-crazed, bottom-line mentality that also finds reruns written into the start of the schedule for the first time, helping to bump every trace of first-run scripted series TV from Saturday nights.”
Who Was Mona Lisa? (Now We Know?)
Who was the woman known to the world as Leonardo’s Mona Lisa? “Seventeen years of research, beginning in Germany, have led the Adelaide historian Maike Vogt- Luerssen to believe that the Mona Lisa is the lovesick former Duchess of Milan, Isabella of Aragon, and not the wife of a florentine silk merchant, as has been believed.”
Arts as Essential Service
Why is the city of Philadelphia cutting its arts funding, when investment in the arts has returned major benefits? “Why, given all of the studies showing how much the arts contribute to a city and region’s health, have we not figured out how to fund the arts in a way that they don’t have to go begging every year for mere survival. Why is it that we can support transit, education, health and human services, recreation and other line items with the understanding that they are necessary to our existence, but still treat dance, music, theater and art as if they are luxury items – nice if you can find the money, but not essential?”
Are Happy People Evil?
New research suggests that happy people are not all they’re presented to be. “Researchers found that angry people are more likely to make negative evaluations when judging members of other social groups. That, perhaps, will not come as a great surprise. But the same seems to be true of happy people, the researchers noted. The happier your mood, the more liable you are to make bigoted judgments — like deciding that someone is guilty of a crime simply because he’s a member of a minority group. Why?”
Scottish Opera: Director Quits, Chorus Axed
Scottish Opera’s woes mount. The director of the company’s “La Boheme” has quit over a dispute about scenery. And “the opera’s own tragedy reached a new low yesterday. After 34 chorus members singing in La Bohème were told minutes before the curtain went up on Thursday that they faced redundancy, the rest of the 88 staff facing the axe were formally informed by the company yesterday.”
Scottish Opera Resignation
A vice president of Scottish Opera has resigned in protest of the government’s funding decisions. “I believe the company has been treated in an appalling way and as I predicted it is now being put about that the plan to diminish the company is the Opera’s choice. The Scottish Executive has made a serious mistake in not providing the necessary additional funding. However, as I have always believed that additional funding is necessary it would be inconsistent for my formal association to continue with the reduced Scottish opera that is envisaged. In these dark times the only light is the near unanimous voice in Scotland against the Executive’s actions.”
Up And Down On The Library Steps
Dancing in the Streets brings a program to the steps of the New York City Library. “”The thing about a staircase, though, is that, once you’ve gone down, there’s no place to go but up, and so the dancers stood and did so, which was something of an anti-climax. Apart from a repeat of the lava-pouring-down-the-mountainside roll (compelling even the second time around), the balance of the dance consisted largely of the figures’ grouping and regrouping in formal clusters and making semaphoring sorts of gestures with their arms.”
A New Choreography Program In California
“This is the first National Choreographers Initiative and it’s unclear if it will continue beyond this year. The initiative is a duplicate of Ballet Pacifica’s Pacifica Choreographic Project, founded by former director Molly Lynch, who resigned last October. When Ballet Pacifica’s Board of Directors canceled the project for this July, a number of local dance lovers approached Lynch about running the initiative as an independent entity for one year. They got the go-ahead from Ballet Pacifica’s board president, and Lynch invited choreographers whom she knew and respected. The project has a $100,000 budget, and the community members have raised almost the full amount.”
State Largesse For Long Wharf
New Haven Connecticut’s Long Wharf Theatre got a stunning surprise from the state, in the form of major capital funding for a new home. The “$30 million to Long Wharf on the day of its 40th anniversary gala stunned even the most seasoned arts leader. It’s not just that the figure is the largest singular grant to a capital arts project in state history (as best that anyone can determine anyway). It’s that the state subsidy is expected to make up about two-thirds of the capital project. Estimates for the new theater has it costing anywhere from $35 million to $45 million, depending on the year the question was asked. The final price is yet to be determined.”