Art at Lincoln Center isn’t just about performances. Forty-five years ago the center set up the “List Poster and Print program, which was established in 1962 to bring world-class contemporary poster art to the new performing arts center.” Artists who have created work for the program include Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, and Gerhard Richter.
Tag: 09.21.06
Scrappiness Only Takes You So Far
One of the original “indie” companies in the now-bustling Twin Cities theatre scene will take its last bows next month. “Fifty Foot Penguin was never afraid to poke a finger in the eye of convention… But, lacking a season subscription base or a cadre of supportive donors, a small theater has to prove itself and its mission with every show.”
Smithsonian Art Museums Gain Attendance
Overall Smithsonian attendance is down. But “the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have drawn nearly a quarter-million people to the Reynolds Center since it reopened in early July. That is a dramatic upturn; the museums had never drawn more than 450,000 a year.”
Canada Council Awards Rare Fiddles
Every three years the Canada Council holds a competition for string players to use rare instruments for three years. “For the second time, Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, a 28-year-old violinist raised in Mississauga, Ont., has won first prize in the violin competition. That gave her first pick of instruments, and for the second time she has chosen a 1729 ex-Heath Guarneri del Gesu violin.”
Mpls Libraries On The Brink
Minneapolis recently spent millions to build a new central library, designed by architect Cesar Pelli. But the city’s library system as a whole is woefully underfunded, and the board that governs it has presented a stark choice between closing 2/3 of the libraries in the system and drastically reducing open hours. “Those choices ought to make the stewards of Minneapolis blush. A solution that better befits a city reputed to be the most literate in America must be found.”
Hugo Chavez Spurs Sales Of Chomsky Book
In his incendiary speech at the UN Wednesday, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez held up a copy of Noam Chomsky’s “Hegemony or Survival”. Immediately the book made a huge jump in sales. Originally published in 2003, the book “had jumped into the top 10 of Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com as of Thursday afternoon.”
SoCal’s K-Jazz To Live On
Los Angeles’s only full-time jazz radio station, which was in danger of leaving the air, has gotten a reprieve courtesy of the California foundation which created it two decades ago. KKJZ is one of only two remaining full-time “classic jazz” stations in the U.S.
Long List Gets Short Shrift
Last week, Canada’s $40,000 Giller Prize for Literature attempted to amp up the amount of attention it receives from press and public by announcing its first-ever “long list” of nominees. Unfortunately, they chose to release the list while a huge group of Hollywood stars was in town for Toronto’s celebrated film festival, and the Giller barely made the back pages. Moreover, some observers are asking why the Giller needs a long list at all.
Sven Nykvist, 83
The Oscar-winning filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was Ingmar Bergman’s cinematographer of choice, died in Sweden on Wednesday… Mr. Nykvist won Oscars for cinematography for Bergman’s Cries and Whispers in 1973 and Fanny and Alexander in 1983.”
SNL Loses Five Players In Network Cut
Saturday Night Live has been forced to drop five of its sixteen cast members by NBC, with some of the biggest names among those leaving the show. The onetime jewel in NBC’s crown has lost audience in recent years, and the network as a whole has plummeted in the ratings, precipitating budget cuts across the board.