“It has been eight years in the making, come in more than $15.8 million over budget, and been mired in litigation throughout its construction, but Rafael Viñoly’s $44.3 million arts center in Colchester, England, will finally open its doors on September 25.”
Tag: 09.22.11
Merce Cunningham’s Company May Dissolve, But His Technique Will Live On
“Merce Cunningham’s artistic heirs plan to offer classes in his technique after his dance company ceases operations at the end of the year.”
Cheap Shots: What Ever Happened To The Nineties’ Microbudget Filmmakers?
“In 1991 two films changed the landscape of indie cinema by making the frugality of the budget a selling point. Where are the microbudget film directors now?”
Gaudí’s Sagrada Família Gets A Completion Date
The fantastical Barcelona church “finally has a completion date – 2026 or 2028, more than 140 years after it was started. Joan Rigol, president of the committee charged with finishing the building by Antoni Gaudí, said it should be finished in time for the centenary for the architect’s death – or, if not, two years later.”
Scotland’s Arts To Suffer Relatively Mild Budget Cuts
“Scotland’s cultural sector is to receive lower than average financial cuts from the Scottish government, with a 3.49% cut to the draft cultural budget for 2012/13 announced today at Holyrood.”
Are The British Now A Nation Of Cinephiles?
A report from the British Film Institute “claimed that the British public regards film as more important than, in diminishing order: world news, restaurants, the countryside, pop and rock music, literature, politics, museums, pubs and clubs, watching and playing sport, theatre, art, celebrities and religion.”
United States National Slavery Museum Files For Bankruptcy
The yet-unbuilt museum in Fredericksburg, Va. – led by Douglas Wilder, Virginia’s first black governor – “has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The action Wednesday would … put an end, at least temporarily, to the possibility that [the museum’s] land will be sold.”
Christianity’s Original Sin: Fear And Loathing Of The Human Body
Jonathan Jones: “Why did Christianity, alone among the great world religions, lead eventually to the birth of a secular society by the 20th century? Because it is the only one that so fiercely condemns a basic human biological drive.”
What’s It Take To Be A Great West End Musical?
“If new musicals are to find the large, popular audience required for a sustained West End run, they need to engage with popular forms of music, not sounds and forms that hark back to a long-distant golden era.”
A Portrait Of The Modern Impressario
“Raven-haired and reportedly unflappable, Beth Morrison may be immortalized one day as a 21st-century Diaghilev, known for her ability to assemble memorable collaborations among artists. But unlike Sergei Diaghilev, renowned for his legendary Ballets Russes productions, her métier is experimental music-theater–“indie” opera and multimedia concert works.”