“Professionals have tried to tackle social problems, meet targets and tick the right boxes, instead of concentrating on their artistic work. Trying to evaluate their results for the funding bureaucrats spawns costly and time-consuming research aiming to prove that their efforts have worked. But the long-term effect has been draining and self-defeating, as the arts bodies seem to have lost sight of the unique qualities and value of culture. Over time, the special case for the arts has been forgotten.”
Tag: 10.02.07
“Le Roi Lion” Roars: Musicals Invade Paris Stages
“Go to London for the musicals and Paris for the food, the old saying went. While the French capital excelled at dining, museums and new-wave cinema, it didn’t care for singalong shows. Now Paris’s theatre scene is braced for a revolution as big entertainment groups import Broadway and West End hits. France … seems about to embrace the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ toe-tapping style.”
The Turner Prize As Genius Contest
The Turner Prize consistently falls back on “the oldest of all western ideas about art: the belief in God-given genius. When you get rid of technical achievement, get rid of excellence in painting or sculpting as standards of comparison, you are left with a messianic belief in the inspired artist – the same belief that led Renaissance Italians to claim Michelangelo was literally a gift from heaven. This prize has abolished talent and replaced it with genius….”
Is This The Last Stop For Bookmobiles?
“It may come as no surprise, in an age defined by mouse-clicks, that bookmobiles are disappearing. Once mainstays in Massachusetts and across the country, part of an exuberant movement to evangelize the joys of reading, bookmobiles are increasingly seen as irrelevant, and have been retired one by one.”
Next For SF Opera’s Runnicles: BBC Scottish Symphony
“Donald Runnicles will return to his native Scotland to take up a new position as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2009, immediately after his tenure as music director of the San Francisco Opera concludes.”
PEN Calls For Release Of Artist Arrested In Myanmar
“Human rights organizations called for the release of Myanmar’s best-known political satirist, film star and poet, fearing he has been tortured since his arrest last week in the middle of the night. Maung Thura, 45, known by the stage and pen name Zargana, was arrested in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, site of the biggest anti-government demonstrations.”
A Blackstone Exec’s Personal Investments Are In Arts
“John Studzinski finds multiple uses for his money, be it to fund an actor’s education, a gallery’s expansion or a homeless person’s lunch. The U.S.-born philanthropist, senior managing director of Blackstone Group LP, … has pledged 5 million pounds ($10.2 million) toward Tate Modern’s expansion, and gives 1 million pounds a year to train the directors, actors, playwrights and composers of tomorrow.”
Tell Us What You Learn, Radiohead
“The results of (Radiohead’s online, pay-what-you-wish) experiment will be hard to judge unless the band reveals how many albums it sells and what people paid. It should share that information because it could be vital to the health of the music industry. There’s a wide gap between the demand for music and the public’s willingness to pay for it, yet the most popular legal outlet for music online — Apple’s iTunes store — gives artists and labels little pricing flexibility.”
First File-Sharing Case Goes To Trial
“A group of record companies says Jammie Thomas has illegally shared music files including Enya and Swedish death metal online. Today, she will become the first of 26,000 people who have been sued by the recording industry to take the case to trial.”
TV’s Trouble With Diversity: White Men Run The Show
“Race relations are taking a starring role in several new culturally-tinged series this fall. … In one respect, the new shows are different from series already on the air, such as ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ that take place in a ‘colorblind’ world, in that they will confront race, cultural pride and conflict directly. But with all five shows, it’s not a person of color who will be steering that vision — as with much of network television, the series have white male show runners.”