“[He] is known in the English-speaking world for his lyrical, densely descriptive novels, but as a journalist he was acerbically funny, charming, and slightly bizarre. The young García Márquez devoured what surrounded him. Everything was raw material for his newspaper columns – film adaptations of Faulkner, nudism, dancing bears, the letter X, a woman he saw in an ice cream parlor who may have been the ‘ugliest I’ve ever seen in my life, or, on the contrary, the most disconcertingly beautiful’.”
Tag: 06.24.14
Tampa Bay’s Florida Orchestra Names Next Music Director
“The global search went on for three years, but in the end it took just two key performances for Florida Orchestra leaders to know they had their conductor. On Tuesday, they named British musician Michael Francis as the orchestra’s new music director. Leaders were so wowed by Francis, they ended their hunt a full year earlier than expected.”
The Five Ingredients That Make A Great Movie Showdown
“Yet despite $200 million budgets and A-list actors and auteur-ish directors and world-class composers, editors, set designers, and writers, [the supposedly climactic scenes of big Hollywood films] rarely thrill. In fact, they generally disappoint.” T.R. Witcher looks at what’s missing – and which movies get it right. (includes video clips)
Deborah Rutter On Her Years Running The Chicago Symphony
“It is really important that we understand who our audiences are, and how they are going to participate in the music-making. We have to stay current (with respect to) programming, our use of electronic media, the experience of being in the concert hall, also the experience of hearing music outside the concert hall. My effort (has been) to sustain and nurture this institution and figure out how to make it more meaningful (to more people).” (includes video)
‘Artwashing’, Gentrification And Real Estate Development
The formerly run-down Balfron Tower public housing project in East London, where artists are being given temporary leases as the complex is being converted to higher-end apartments, is the latest high-profile example of a process that “presents regeneration not through its long-term effects – the transfer of residency from poor to rich – but as a much shorter journey from neglect to creativity.”
Why Cities Should Be More Skeptical Of New Cultural Centers And Expansions
“A new book of research reveals that civic leaders and arts patrons tend to fall prey to specific planning fallacies when it comes to building new museums, performing-arts centers, and cultural expansions.”
Report: Movie Theatre Simulcasts Of Stage Performances Don’t Cannibalize Ticket Sales
“Theatres in England have experienced no decrease in attendances from audience members living near cinemas that screen NT Live shows since NT Live was launched in 2009, data from research charity Nesta and consultancy organisation the Audience Agency has shown.”
Needed: A New, Expanded Role For Museums
“The time has come for museums to become active participants and problem solvers in the current Age of Disruption. The problems and uncertainties are unprecedented, yet the possibilities and opportunities for change and renewal have never been greater.”
When A Chicago Festival Failed To Pay Its Musicians, They Didn’t Complain. Why?
“Why were the wronged musicians and their friends still so quiet? And, come to think of it, why did we maintain silence for nine months as we awaited sums of money that, to us, make or break our ability to pay the rent? For me, the story of the Beethoven Festival is a story of vulnerability: my own individual vulnerability, that of my colleagues, and that of our entire musical community.”
How Many Museums Are There In America?
A lot. “That’s roughly one for every citizen of the country of Liechtenstein. It’s also more than double the number of museums that, back in the 1990s, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) expected to exist in this country by the year 2014.”