“According to culture minister Giancarlo Galan, Unesco has threatened to strip the ancient site of its World Heritage status if immediate, decisive action is not taken.”
Tag: 09.14.11
Arts Construction Boom Has Slowed
“More than 360 performing-arts centers were constructed in the U.S. alone from 1994 to 2008. But overall, the cultural construction boom in North America has slowed.”
Take Indie Films, Cross Netflix With Facebook, Add Curation, And You Get …
Prescreen, a new venture launched by former Groupon exec Shawn Bercuson. The service offers a library of non-studio films, with one highlighted each day in an e-mail; users can stream movies for up to 60 days and earn points for sharing the films via social networking.
Title Fight: Chinua Achebe Defeats 50 Cent Over Name of Movie
“50 Cent has been undone by one of Africa’s greatest novelists, Chinua Achebe. The rapper’s latest movie has been renamed ahead of its release, due to a conflict with Achebe’s most famous work.”
Britain’s NHS To Open Free Dance Injuries Clinic
“Dancers will be able to use the first specialist clinic within the NHS for injuries they sustain at work from next year. … Based at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, the London service will be free at the point of access for dancers and available to all.”
Why Splurge On A Blockbuster Exhibition When A Single Monet Or Vermeer Will Draw Crowds?
“There might be less money to organise exhibitions in many US museums, but by borrowing one masterpiece, putting it on display, and so turning a single work into a star attraction, several are stretching their budgets a long way.”
Video Game Revenues Fall As Consumers Buy More Virtual Items Instead
“Revenue from subscriptions to online games such as World of Warcraft fell in 2010 and are expected to continue declining over the next few years as consumers favor games that generate money by selling virtual goods.”
Is Singapore’s Art Scene Finally Taking Off? (Can It?)
There has been a flurry of successful art events in recent months, and a big new national museum in being built. “But certain exhibits, particularly when they touch on [politics or] sex, have been shut down prematurely. … [Is the island] progressive enough to develop a thriving arts scene?”
Revamped Porgy And Bess Will Go To Broadway
The controversial new version of the Gershwin-Heyward opera now playing in Cambridge, Mass – directed by Diane Paulus and starring Audra McDonald – has been approved by the Gershwin and Heyward estates, clearing the way for a New York transfer.
That Rediscovered Oscar Wilde Play? His Grandson Says It’s Bogus
“Merlin Holland [says] that his grandfather did no more than devise a ‘minimal’ scenario – just a few paragraphs – for a drama called Constance, which Wilde jotted down in a letter of 1894. ‘He never wrote a word of the play'” that London’s King’s Head Theatre is presenting as “a genuine, brand new, Oscar Wilde play.”