Curators Jump To The Business World

Several curators have left the museum world for the commercial sector. There was a time this would have provoked debate. “There is a blurring of what used to be clear boundaries between the museum and the trade. What has been surprising with Lisa Dennison is that the museum world is saying ‘how interesting’, not that it traduces the values of the museum.”

LA’s Endangered Artists

“To hear them tell it, downtown L.A. circa 1998 was like Montmartre, the epicenter of bohemian Paris, in 1898. And if downtown L.A. was Montmartre, the Canadian was Le Bateau-Lavoir, the squalid tenement that housed the likes of Pablo Picasso and Amadeo Modigliani in the late 1890s. Before the current attempts to turn it into a yuppie playground, downtown’s Main Street was the kind of petri dish of hunger and humanity that artists crave and thrive on. Right in the middle of it all was the Canadian, where crack and abuelas became absinthe and courtesans, and the party never ended.”

Toronto Film Fest Divides Critics

“Any description of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival undoubtedly will depend on which part of the festival got sampled. Even looking at the reviews of some high-profile pictures, a reader can only conclude that the festival played a dirty trick on poor critics by screening entirely different films with exactly the same titles.”

The Curse Of The Community Theatre Critic

What’s a theatre critic to do in a city without much in the way of professional-caliber theatre? Assuming he wants to keep collecting a paycheck, he’ll start seeking out shows anywhere they can be found, of course. But reviewing those who have no realistic dreams of the big time presents special challenges. “This is not a gig for the weak of heart. It’s for the eternal optimist, the dead-end journalist who doesn’t believe in dead ends. It’s for the tolerant, the cheerful, the brave and gratuitously creative. It’s a job for someone who doesn’t have a lot to do on weekends.”

Who Needs The Networks?

“The award-winning producers of TV shows Thirtysomething and My So-Called Life are taking their latest project online, citing ‘frustration’ at US TV networks.” The show, which was rejected by ABC, will debut later this fall on MySpace, where producers believe it will find a wide audience.