Last week’s NEA study that reported the decline of reading in America suggested that an amazing number of people still read. “For example, if one were to ask most of my conservative friends to name the percentage of Americans who read fiction, poetry or plays, they’d likely have guessed 25% at most, not the actual 46.7%. Extrapolating its data to actual readers, the Endowment finds the number of people reading or listening to poetry in 2002 was 30 million. Thirty million! What are they reading? If only 20,000 of them read John Donne, Wallace Stevens or Yeats just for the pleasure of their company, the nation’s mental health is more certain than we imagined. Seven million read plays. That seven million Americans would read a play for pleasure is astonishing.”
Tag: 07.16.04
O’Neill Theatre Director Resigns
“In an unexpected move, J Ranelli has resigned as artistic director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center a little more than half a year after he was named to the post at the 40-year-old Waterford, Conn., institution.”
Informing The Public, Or Forcing A Strike?
AJ Blogger Drew McManus says that the Philadelphia Orchestra’s new web page offering a supposedly impartial “informational update” on contract negotiations with the orchestra’s musicians is full of hypocrisy and hyperbole. “It’s almost as though [board chairman Richard] Smoot wants to force the musicians to go on strike. And when that happens, no one wins. Yes, changes need to occur, but this is the absolutely worst possible way to draw them out. This is a clear sign that the Philadelphia community and the classical music community at large should call for the resignation of Richard Smoot as Chairman of the Board and Joe Kluger as President.”
Liverpool Orchestra Decides Not To Renew Music Director’s Contract
The Liverpool Philharmonic has decided not to renew music director Gerard Schwarz’s co ntract. “The Philharmonic board’s decision to terminate the existing contract two years before Liverpool becoming Capital of Culture has been condemned by politicians and funders.” A few months ago the orchestra’s musicians voted not to renew the contract.
Looking Forward To Days Of Yesteryear
ABC’s new drama, “The Days,” has the potential to revolutionize the television industry, but not because of anything that happens to the characters. Instead, ABC is using the miniseries to test out the next generation of product-placement techniques, and is taking a page from the golden age of the medium, when companies sponsored entire programs rather than simpy buying 30-second spots. To advertisers, it’s a way to get value for their ad-buying dollar at a time when most viewers click away from ad blocks. To the network, they hope it’s a way to keep the money rolling in without angering viewers with blatant commercialism.
Moscow To Stage First Art Biennale
“The month-long event is scheduled to open January 18, 2005, in a range of state-owned art venues, including the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Central House of Artists, the Shchusev Architecture Musem and the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art.”
Bobby Fischer Arrested
Former chess champion Bobby Fischer has been arrested and detained in Japan by the request of US authorities. “The arrest capped a cat-and-mouse game between U.S. authorities and Fischer, who shuttled among several nations, including Japan, the Philippines and Hungary, to avoid arrest. A grand jury in Washington charged him with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by going to Yugoslavia for the chess match against Boris Spassky.”
The Actors Contract
Details are emerging about the new contract between actors and producers. “The pact includes an annual 3% wage increase over the contract’s four-year life, along with “meaningful increases in health-fund contributions” to stabilize the fund “for the foreseeable future.” The two sides have also agreed to experiment with a new tiered salary system for national tours. The current weekly minimums under the old Production pact are $1,354 for actors in a musical or play. For stage managers the minimum stands at $2,225 for a musical and $1,913 for a play.”
Tonight – A New Millennium In Chicago
Design critics have been raving about Chicago’s new Millennium Park. But tonight is the real tes, when the first concert is given in the Frank Gehry-designed structure. “The pavilion’s most distinctive features are the curled, stainless steel panels that frame the stage like a bank of gray, shimmering clouds. The stage itself, ample enough for a 100-member orchestra and 150-member chorus, is lined with light reddish-brown Douglas fir. Fixed seating for 4,000 stretches back from the stage, and Millennium Park officials estimate that the lawn, crisscrossed by a metal trellis that holds the amplification system, can hold up to 7,000 more listeners.”
Globalism… Hold The Cliches
“As a result of cultural and economic shifts in the art world, exploding globalism, and the high costs of more traditional shows, a growing number of exhibitions both in the US and abroad are devoted to replacing clichéd preconceptions with the vital, modern work of contemporary artists from a wide variety of cultures.”