“Last year’s box-office earnings topped $1.5 billion, a 64 percent increase from 2009, making China’s movie market on target to be the world’s second-largest by 2015. Sometimes dubbed “Chollywood,” China’s movie industry pumped out 526 films in 2010 (versus 754 in the U.S.), and the government has announced plans to more than double the size of the entertainment industries, including movies and television, over the next five years.”
Tag: 08.09.11
Montreal Symphony, Musicians, Far Apart On New Contract
“The orchestra notes the union has barely budged from its initial demand of a 10 per cent increase over two years. The orchestra says even an 8.5 per cent hike is far beyond the symphony’s capacity, saying it is proposing four per cent over two years.”
Music Festivals In UK Failing Because Of “Oversupply”
“A total of 31 festivals have been cancelled or postponed this year so far and many more are struggling to sell out. Financial results compiled by PRS For Music released last week showed there was huge growth in the festival industry last year with income up by 20% from 2009.”
Fire Set In UK Riots Destroys Indie Recording Distribution Warehouse
The warehouse housed stock of more than 150 independent record labels. One of them, Memphis Industries, tweeted: “All the stock we got left is sitting in our office. Devastated is the word.”
Math By “Mental Abacus”
“Studies on a group of children trained to use a ‘mental abacus’ suggest the technique frees mathematics from its usual dependence on language.”
TV Star Salaries Take A Big Hit (Who’s Making What)
“The general rule across the TV business is to keep lead performers on new network prime-time series to $125,000 an episode.”
To Escape London Rioters, Bystanders Barricade Themselves Inside Historic Theatre
“A small group of people said they had barricaded themselves inside the 110-year-old Hackney Empire theatre to escape the violence. ‘We are stuck inside,’ said one person … ‘It’s very scary. We are in the back of the building, staying away from the front. We have barricaded the doors and put chains on the doors.”
Broadway Casting Directors Turn To Online Video
“While some casting directors have looked at audition tapes here and there over the years, the advent of YouTube, Skype, Facebook, Flip cameras and widely available video equipment has recently given technology a greater role in theater casting, providing a foot in the stage door for the technically savvy.”
Arts Advocacy Groups Struggle To Survive Through Recession
“The advocacy groups find themselves competing for financing against the very cultural organizations they were created to support, which in turn can no longer afford the dues required by some of the groups that advocate for them.”
‘Milk Glass’ – When Europe Tried To Reverse-Engineer Chinese Porcelain
“When Chinese porcelains made their way to Europe via the Silk Road, Europeans quickly began trying to make their own. But they assumed porcelain was vitreous, not clay-based. After 15th-century Italian alchemists developed an opaque, white glass they called ‘lattimo’ (from latte, meaning milk), others refined the process.”