University presses are essential for academics who need to publish to advance their careers. Yet university presses are underfunded and endangered. “One proposed solution now gaining ground is that universities and other institutions that support academic research create a pool of money to provide subsidies for authors to help offset the costs of publishing.”
Tag: 08.09.04
Cleveland Seeks Funds For An Arts Festival
The city of Cleveland does not have a large, annual, tourist-attracting arts festival. It would like to have one. And plans are well underway for the launch of the “Festival of Arts and Technology”. And all it will take to start it up is $1 million from the Cuyahoga County general fund. But that’s not chump change in a metro area of Cleveland’s size, and the county authorities are taking a close look at the plans before signing on.
Short Films Gaining Traction
A decade-old London film festival devoted exclusively to short films has begun to have a real impact on the prominence of a frequently neglected corner of the film industry. “When the inaugural festival was held nine years ago, it attracted around 1,000 viewers. This month’s event will screen almost 400 shorts to an estimated total audience of 13,000.”
Apathetic For a Reason
Today’s twenty-somethings are constantly tagged with the ‘apathetic’ label, due in large part to their disdain for traditional activism and their embrace of an overtly cynical worldview. But could the apathy and cynicism stem from the devastating reality that a small but vocal band of activists can no longer have the world-changing impact they once did? Anyone who sits and watches a film like “Fahrenheit 9/11” or “The Corporation” will be angry at the world afterwards, but if you don’t believe that you can do anything about it, what’s the point of trying?
Cirque du Soleil Scouting Olympians
“The Cirque du Soleil is reassuring coaches and athletes that it will not be poaching Olympians in the prime of their career, as acrobatic talent scouts head to Athens next week to scope out the scene. But despite Cirque’s best efforts, some coaches still resent its presence… Cirque recruiters routinely attend gymnastic championships, as well as dance and theatre festivals. Cirque has been sending scouts to the Olympic Games since 1996. Coaches are also scouted, and he knows of three top Canadian coaches who are working for Cirque.”
Independence Pays Off
A year ago, Detroit’s Meadow Brook Theatre severed its ties with Oakland University after the university tried to shut it down, determined to make it as an independent company. Not many observers gave the perennially money-losing troupe much of a chance. But “under its new management, [Meadow Brook] stopped losing money… [and] the organization finished in the black for the first time in seven years.”
Thoreau the Survivor
“Survivor” was not the first reality TV series. And it wasn’t “The Real World,” either. No, the first individual to conceive of the idea of performing ridiculous stunts in public in order to prove a point (or just amuse the neighbors) was Henry David Thoreau, says Julia Keller. But in all seriousness, the importance of Thoreau’s little stunt – abandoning city life to live like a hermit in the middle of nowhere – has been twisted and misconstrued over the years since “Walden” was written. And just as in most reality shows, Thoreau wasn’t above a slight varnishing of the truth if the editing process could help out the narrative flow.
Tired Of Playing Second Fiddle
The Boston Theatre Conference, going on in the Hub this week, is partly a chance for the theater crowd to reassure each other that their medium is still relevant. But more importantly, it’s the first time that so many in the local scene have gathered to assess their position in Boston. “Noting that theater has often been the “stepchild” in the Boston arts scene, taking a back seat to such renowned institutions as the Boston Symphony Orchestra or the Museum of Fine Arts, [one moderator] asked the six panelists from a range of local companies to look at Boston’s current position in the theater world and to talk about how it might develop.”
Looking For The Next Generation of Writers
Australia’s theater scene is thriving in many cities, but at least one veteran of the industry says that the country is lagging far behind in the art of creating new plays. What would help is some sort of national program to encourage and instruct young playwrights…
TiVo The Mighty, TiVo The Vulnerable
Television was changed forever when TiVo arrived on the scene. In fact, it’s not going too far to suggest that the digital recorder/on-demand video machine is a bona fide cultural touchstone. But even as TiVo, the concept, continues to captivate the world, TiVo, the company, is floundering in the face of increased competition from other, more flexible, companies.