“Mayor Nutter kept his promise to balance the 2010-11 budget with across-the-board cuts to police, fire, arts, education, and neighborhood cleanup Wednesday, but he relieved library lovers by breaking his vow to reduce branch operations.”
Tag: 07.15.10
Critic’s Suit Vs. Cleveland Orchestra, Paper Goes To Trial
Critic Donald Rosenberg’s lawyer said that evidence would show that three Musical Arts Association “officers who had extended conductor Franz Welser-Most’s contract through 2018 … had waged a campaign to get Rosenberg removed from the orchestra beat.” He said Plain Dealer executive editor Susan Goldberg “caved in to that pressure.”
Will UK Culture Ministers Fight For The Arts?
“Their heartfelt declaration of love of the arts prior to the election won them many friends across the sector…. They also strenuously argued that they would do everything in their power to make the cuts as painless as possible, that they would fight toe-to-toe with the Treasury to ensure the arts received a fair hearing. And it is on that promise that they will be judged by the arts world.”
William Faulkner Lectures Go Online
“Faulkner spent two years as the writer-in-residence at UVA, where he gave lectures and readings and took questions from students. The lectures,” from the late 1950s, “were recorded on reel-to-reel tapes, which have now been digitized and published online.”
As West End Thrived In ’09, Subsidized Theatre Struggled
“Commercial theatres saw revenue up by 6.8% and attendances increase by 4.8% in 2009.
However, subsidised venues in full [Society of London Theatre] membership saw their revenue fall by 6.8% and attendances down by 7.3%. London’s subsidised sector also produced considerably fewer performances than in 2008….”
Appreciation: Sir Charles Mackerras
“Singers found him particularly exacting; he had no time for hissy prima donnas or big-baby tenors, and he expected even the most timid newcomers to meet his generally brisk tempi and take criticism on the nose. To work with Sir Charles was a privilege, but it wasn’t an easy ride.”
Hidden Away: UCLA’s Little-Known Rare-Book Library
“‘The Clark Library is the greatest unknown literary treasure in Los Angeles,’ said Kathleen Thompson, who with her husband owns Michael R. Thompson Booksellers, a rare bookshop that works closely with the institution. ‘The minute we saw it 40 years ago we fell in love with it, and our love has only grown.'”
UK Arts Leaders: 25% Cuts Would Have Dire Consequences
“The Arts Council has warned that such cuts over the next four years would mean dropping at least 200 arts organisations out of more than 800 they fund, with the loss of thousands of jobs. A group of major philanthropists” cautions the government “that its aspirations for a major growth in private funding giving cannot bridge the gap left by a collapse in state cash.”
Conductor Charles Mackerras, 84
The Australian conductor, for decades a mainstay of British musical life, was known for his Handel and Mozart on both period and modern instruments. His greatest renown, though, was as the world’s leading expert on Leoš Janáček, whose music.Mackerras did more than anyone else to bring into the standard repertoire.
Cities See New York High Line’s Success And Wonder If They Can Do It, Too
“Detroit is thinking big about an abandoned train station. Jersey City and Philadelphia have defunct railroad beds, and Chicago has old train tracks that don’t look like much now, but maybe they too … The High Line has become, like bagels and CompStat, another kind of New York export.”