“A Nigerian writer, SA Afolabi, has won the sixth annual Caine prize, known as the African Booker, with his story ‘Monday Morning’.”
Tag: 07.06.05
A West End Check Up – How To Keep It Healthy
London’s West End is doing well right now. But how to keep it thriving? How might it have to change to stay succesful in 20 years time? Herewith some strong opinions…
A Tax Break For Performing Arts Radio?
A proposal before the US Congress would give tax incentives to a commercial radio station that gave over its license to performing arts groups. “The Cultural Radio Tax Credit Act of 2005 (or HR 2904) was introduced June 15 and would provide a tax credit to the owner of a radio broadcasting station that “donates the license and other assets of said station to a nonprofit corporation for purposes of supporting nonprofit fine arts and performing arts organizations.”
How Computers Decide Where You’ll Shop
Wondering how companies decide where to locate stores? Now computers decide. “High tech has given a new twist to the old real estate mantra: location, location, location. Ever wonder why sometimes you see two Starbucks coffee shops located within the same block — or right across the street from each other? It’s not by chance. Site selection has been fine-tuned to a digital art. A retailer can now closely analyze all of the sales information that it has to understand the lifestyles and preferences of its customers. Then, companies can combine that info with mapping and demographic software to decide whether it’s worthwhile to open a store at a given location.”
UK’s Australian Invasion
Why are Australians running some of the UK’s biggest arts institutions? “Little in their sunkissed insularity has equipped them for the ethnic and economic diversity of British arts and their focus is so short-term that only the most desperate of boards would, it seems to me, choose a second-string Aussie above a locally experienced, lifelong committed Brit. It makes no sense at all. More alarming still is the effect of their mass defection on the morale and infrastructure of Australian culture.”
Ringing Effort – A New Handbell Record
A Canadian man sets a record for continuous handbell ringing. “While bell-ringing is usually performed by choirs of 11 people, Devries played solo for close to 28 hours, drawing from the roughly 1,300 songs he had prepared. He began at 8 a.m. local time Tuesday and stopped at approximately 11:45 a.m. Wednesday.”
Half of Jujamcyn Theaters Up For Sale
“The owner of Broadway’s third largest theater chain is looking for a partner. Rocco Landesman, the colorful Broadway producer who bought Jujamcyn Theaters last year for $30 million, is trying to sell a 50 percent stake in the company for about $50 million.” But Landesman, who is pursuing some of Broadway’s richest financiers for the partnership, could get more than he bargained for, given Broadway’s long history of political and financial squabbles.
Is LACMA Losing Its Artistic Soul?
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is certainly not the only American museum to recognize the economic potential of blockbuster exhibitions that come with massive corporate sponsorship, but Holly Myers worries about the museum’s soul, and wonders where all its curators have gone. “LACMA’s flirtation with corporate production is lamentable in relation to Tut. More distressing, however, is the fact that many of the same problems also plague… a comparatively low-profile exhibition that doesn’t involve extraordinarily precious artifacts and isn’t likely to draw record-breaking crowds — suggesting that LACMA’s problem goes deeper than the necessary indulgence of an occasional blockbuster.”
Lesson: Ask Before You Demolish
A sculpture by Canadian artist Haydn Davies was torn down and dumped in a field last week by an Ontario college, infuriating the sculptor and his family, who were not consulted before demolition. “Officials said the sculpture, commissioned by the college in the early 1970s for $10,000, had deteriorated so much that its lack of stability made it a safety hazard, especially to young children who liked to play around and under it.” But the family disputes the safety claim, and says that the rough manner in which the removal was conducted (a bulldozer was involved) damaged the sculpture beyond repair.
The Language of Empire
Over the last half-century or so, English has risen to become the dominant global language of the era, spoken as the default in everything from international business transactions to air travel. But achieving a global reach doesn’t necessarily give a language long-term staying power, as the Assyrians and the Silk Road traders found out centuries ago. Then again, some languages are kept alive past their political and economic prime by a powerful religious influence. Linguist Nicholas Ostler’s new book delves into all of these factors, and aims to sort out what gives a language its power, and what can take that power away in a heartbeat.