“Total ticket sales for live shows in Australia fell by 13.6% last year in a trend that Aussie producers say reflects Oz’s faltering economy during the period. … In the five years the survey has been undertaken, overall figures appear to have grown and then slumped in line with the broader economy. (Individual show grosses are a tightly guarded secret in Oz.)”
Tag: 07.27.09
Rose Museum Benefactors Sue To Stop Closure, Sale
“Three top Rose Art Museum benefactors are suing to stop Brandeis University from closing the Waltham cultural site and selling off more than $200 million of art. ‘We’re trying to say: “Look, Brandeis, (the museum’s artwork) is not yours to sell. It belongs to future generations of students and the public,” ‘ said Jonathan Lee, one of three donors who today sued Brandeis.”
Teaching Kids To Dance Teaches Them Healthy Living, Too
Michael Kaiser: “[D]ance is a powerful educational tool for several reasons,” among them that it “teaches a love of body. Children who dance are far more likely to appreciate their own physical selves. Dance training helps address the obesity problem currently facing our nation,” and it makes it less likely that children will endanger their bodies in other ways.
Zoe Wanamaker Joins Call For Equal Pay For Actresses
“Zoë Wanamaker, the actress, has joined the chorus of female performers demanding more money to match the pay packets of their male counterparts. Wanamaker, who stars in the popular BBC sitcom My Family, revealed she had to fight the Corporation for equal pay with her co-star Robert Lindsay and said women were ‘always at the bottom as far as pay is concerned.'”
Now More Than Ever, We Need Cultural Entrepreneurs
“Our greatest playwright was a commercial playwright working for a commercial management. Yet the idea that commercial is a dirty word persists in the theatre. So, too, does the notion that somehow it is nobler for everyone to survive on crumbs of funding rather than nurturing the best possible environment for artists to create work.”
Advocates To Amazon: Hands Off Our Kindle Content
“A growing number of civil libertarians and customer advocates wants Amazon to fundamentally alter its method for selling Kindle books, lest it be forced to one day change or recall books, perhaps by a judge ruling in a defamation case — or by a government deciding a particular work is politically damaging or embarrassing.” A petition to be presented to the company this week asks it “to give up control over the books people load on their Kindles.”
Opera, Where Non-Acting Gets Applause
“Why are audiences, artists, and production teams ready to jettison their usual sense of drama when it comes to opera? … [W]hy is it that we tend to be indulgent of opera not meeting the same standards as a stage play?”
Film Fest’s Political Controversies Par For Artistic Course
“The Melbourne International Film Festival has it all: dramas involving officials from foreign governments, larger than life characters sticking to matters of principles whatever the consequences and the struggles for liberation.” And all of that is off-screen. “In some respects, the most surprising thing about these kerfuffles is not that they have happened, but that they don’t happen more often. While most of us think of film festivals as cultural events, the truth is that they are also deeply political events.”
Where Collectors Are Selling: Out Of The Auction Spotlight
“With prices in flux, many collectors prefer the discretion and flexibility of a private sale over the auction room’s risk and visibility. ‘If it doesn’t sell, it’s not a public event,’ said Michael Findlay, director at Acquavella Galleries Inc. in New York. ‘However, if your painting is on the cover of an auction catalog and it’s been marketed globally and then doesn’t sell — ouch!'”
Suicide Bomber Kills 6 Outside Chechen Theatre
“Six people were killed in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, on Sunday when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a theater as a crowd gathered for a performance.” Prevented by police from entering the building, “the man exploded his explosives beside benches and a fountain in front of the theater.”