Several American museums have dropped admission fees in the past few years. “To varying degrees, all have experienced a swell of new and more-diverse visitors. Attendance at the Walters, which is counted at the door by security personnel, has grown by 50 percent since admission became free, and the visitors are increasingly diverse: Three times as many black patrons and four times as many children are coming since the fees were dropped, according to informal visitor surveys.”
Tag: 09.05.07
Pop Moves – What Matters
“As any good choreographer for pop stars would tell you, the Devil is in the details: a funky hip thrust or a confident stroll across the stage.”
Young Frankenstein At $450 A Ticket?
“At $450 the Premier ticket is, in fact, $30 less than the top $480 ticket for The Producers six years ago! That’s not all. There are next-best Premium seats for our convenience at a mere $375 each–or $75 less than The Producers’ original Premium ticket! And the really good news is that all the remaining orchestra and dress circle seats are obviously a bargain at only $120 each.”
Seattle’s Most Hated Public Art
“Part of a decade-old ‘integrated streetscape’ called Second Avenue Project, this art bench, between Blanchard and Bell, has become a magnet for an astonishing array of depraved activities. People smoke crack on it. Sell drugs from it. Fight around it. Pee or have bowel movements near it.”
BBC Cancels Climate Show: “Not Our Job To Save Planet”
The BBC has scrapped plans to air a special program on climate change which would have involved viewers in a mass “switch-off” to save energy. Executives are concerned that the show might violate impartiallity guidelines. “It is absolutely not the BBC’s job to save the planet,” warned Newsnight editor Peter Barron at the Edinburgh Festival last month.
The Dictator And The Movies
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is obsessed with movies. He’s taken personal interest in production, and there’s even a museum dedicated to his movie activities. “His infatuation with film is obvious from the museum’s first room, where an entire wall is covered with a massive list of every occasion when Mr. Kim gave an order to North Korean movie producers. It turns out Mr. Kim has issued an incredible total of 11,890 instructions to North Korean filmmakers since the 1960s.”
Coming: Games You Control By Thinking
“Several makers of brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs — devices that facilitate operating a computer by thought alone — claim the technology is poised to jump from the medical sector into the consumer gaming world in 2008.”
Asia Society Decides To Collect
After decades of operating without a large permanent collection, New York’s Asia Society is opening a drive to collect contemporary Asian and Asian-American art.