Why is their so little innovation in America’s public radio? Ira Glass thinks he knows: “This is exactly the problem in public broadcasting in general and public radio right now. You’ve got people, you’ve got innovative ideas, you’ve got programming executives who know what should be done next — and, literally, there’s no machinery to fund innovation. And so that’s why you get one new show every four or five years.”
Tag: 08.12.05
Edinburgh Fringe May Cut Free Sunday
Every year for 25 years, the Edinburgh Fringe has hosted a free Sunday, offering hundreds of acts and drawing 200,000 people. But costs have doubled in the past few years and organizers say they can’t afford it. “We love Fringe Sunday. It’s fantastic, a wonderfully inclusive occasion that gets a broad mix of people which you wouldn’t see in theatres. But costs have risen from £32,000 in 1998 to £65,000, and are set to rise in years ahead, while income from catering concessions was less than half that figure.”
Artists, Collectors Sue Storage Company Over London Fire
More than “50 artists, galleries and collectors are suing the art storage and shipping company Momart, following the disastrous fire in their East London warehouse on 24 May 2004. Total claims are expected to amount to around £20 million.”
How Tourism Is Killing Art
The crush of tourists is ruining the world’s great cultural monuments. “We are just now beginning to get beyond the phase of shock-horror reports about the destruction caused by tourism. There are possible solutions, some already in place, especially in the field of eco-tourism. Because this started more recently than cultural travel and is usually run by people with a greater sensitivity to issues of exploitation, it has often developed in a constructive and thoughtful way.”
Obsessed With Terror (But Why?)
What is it with the popular culture’s obsession with terrorist imaginings? “In the four years since 9/11, British culture has seemed rather ghoulishly obsessed by terrorism, and by the possibility—no, likelihood—of some terrible atrocity being visited upon us.”
A CBC Lockout?
More than 5,000 CBC staff nationwide could be locked out if a labour agreement is not reached by 12:01 a.m. Monday, an event that would severely limit the public broadcaster’s news and current affairs programming.
An International Dance Festival Goes Into Training
Toronto’s “fFIDA now calls itself the fFIDA International Dance Festival, but seems to have forsaken its origins as a festival for professional independents from Canada and abroad. Between the dancers still in training, the recent graduates of dance schools and the choreographer/teachers, much of what goes up at the festival looks like a recital.”
Big Publishing Publishes Big
“More mass-market paperbacks are still sold each day than any other type of book; last year consumers bought 535 million of them. But that number has steadily declined for a decade and is down 11 percent in the last five years, while the overall number of books sold has fallen just 7 percent.” Why the drop? “”We’ve been losing the foundation of our customer base because their eyesight is getting worse, and the books are getting harder and harder to read.” So major publishers are publishing big print editions.
Could Scotland Become A Cultural Powerhouse?
Scottish funding support for the arts has lagged behind the UK. But “Scotland could become a “new Celtic tiger” if politicians committed to boosting investment in the arts by £100m” as recommended by a recent report….
Christie Is Brooklyn Phil Music Director
The Brooklyn Philharmonic has appointed Michael Christie (recently named music director of the Phoenix Symphony) as its music director. “He takes over after a two-year search that left the orchestra leaderless after the departure of Robert Spano, who had stayed on as an adviser. Mr. Christie, who was Mr. Spano’s former student, will conduct three of the orchestra’s four subscription concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this season.”