“In the summer of 1940, Tennessee Williams, who was living in Provincetown, [Massachusetts,] fell hard for a young dancer named Kip Kiernan. It was the writer’s first real love affair, and his first broken heart. Williams wrote a thinly disguised theatrical version of the relationship that was lost for years. Now the world premiere of that resurrected play, The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer, will be performed in Provincetown, where it was set and written.”
Tag: 09.30.06
Big Culture Cuts Up North
Canada has a Conservative government for the first time in over a decade, and the effect of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s budget-cutting plan has been felt immediately by the country’s heavily subsidized arts organizations. “This week, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs announced that it would slash $11.8-million from its ‘public diplomacy’ budget… Canada’s spending was already pathetic, [and] foreign tourists already think of Canada as Mounties, mountains, maple syrup, Molson’s and moose. So these cuts are painfully shortsighted.”
Just Shut Up And Sign The Checks
As the major arts groups of Wales debate a change which would see the country’s arts council replaced by a system of direct funding from the government, leaders are warning that politicians will need to learn to separate their personal feelings from their funding decisions. “If politicians believe they can give artistic advice in return for handing out money, the culture industry could suffer rather than thrive.”
When Does Controversy Become Unnecessary Provocation?
The cancellation of a German production of Mozart’s Idomeneo because of fears that it could inflame Islamic fundamentalists has the arts world debating its role in an increasingly dangerous world. “Artists are raising important questions, but we as a society are a bit frightened to be open to these ideas. We need a safe place to discuss them, and it’s unfortunate that the arts are being attacked in this way, when they really are a place for exploration.”
Door Still Slightly Ajar For Idomeneo
Deutsche Oper says it would consider reinstating the cancelled production of Mozart’s Idomeneo if it receives security assurances. “At a government summit Tuesday with Islamic leaders, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble proposed that the participants go to see the opera together if it is ever staged again, [and] Berlin’s top cultural official, Thomas Flierl, said that he wanted the opera brought back.”
Mozart’s Real Anti-Islamic Operas
Joshua Kosman points out that Idomeneo is a strange opera to be causing such a storm of controversy. In fact, the scene giving such offense was inserted by a director looking to stir the pot, and has nothing to do with Mozart. “The irony is that there are a handful of familiar operas, including two that are performed regularly as part of the standard repertoire, that have anti-Muslim sentiment — or at least comedic disrespect — built into their very DNA.”
Small Market Orchestra Gets Big Time Radio Deal
The New Jersey Symphony has always had a tough time making itself heard above the roar of the high-profile New York orchestras just across the river. But thanks to a new deal with New York radio station WQXR, the NJSO will shortly be heard in concert across the country on a new weekly broadcast series. Not only that, but thanks to WQXR’s well-respected brand name, the NJSO broadcasts will debut in six of the top ten media markets in the U.S.