“The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Nonprofit Finance Fund will hand out $15.1 million to 10 performing arts nonprofits to fund the exploration of new business practices and models. Gotham’s Wooster Group, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater and Los Angeles’ Center Theater Group are among the orgs to receive coin during the five-year program, called ‘Leading for the Future: Innovative Support for Artistic Excellence.'”
Tag: 10.14.08
Oh, This Is Much Better Than American Idol
“Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister, a competition in which young Canadians discuss political issues in a bid to be named a great political leader, has earned a nomination for an international Emmy Award.”
Wait Till This Hits the Commuter Trains
“A Japanese game maker has teamed up with the nation’s leading mobile phone network carrier to enable users to play an orchestra with their fingertips.”
Hollywood, Having Come to the Banlieue, Turns Around and Leaves
“Filming for a new John Travolta movie in a troubled suburb of Paris has been cancelled after ten stunt cars were destroyed by fire.” So much for that initiative by Luc Besson.
Guillaume Depardieu Dies at 37
The tempestuous actor son of France’s most famous tempestuous actor died of a sudden case of acute pneumonia. “[His] health had never fully recovered from a life of drug addiction, a road crash and a hospital infection which forced the amputation of his right leg five years ago.”
Christopher Buckley Says He’s Been ‘Fatwahed’
The son of ur-conservative William F. Buckley has resigned his freelance gig with the magazine his father founded, National Review, after publishing (elsewhere) a column endorsing Barack Obama and receiving a ferocious backlash. “In fact, the only thing the Right can’t quite decide is whether I should be boiled in oil or just put up against the wall and shot. Lethal injection would be too painless.”
This Is Much More Intellectual Than Break-Dancing
Over the past 16 years, in the gritty suburbs of Paris, a group of young dancers who call themselves traceurs have been interacting with the urban environment through movement – “they can be seen pulling off anything from gutsy leaps from roof tops to sublime balancing acts on metal railings.”
Anthony Hopkins, Composer
The man who has played Hannibal Lecter, Titus Andronicus and Richard M. Nixon has been writing music for 50 years, and the Dallas Symphony is giving him a world premiere concert this week.
Zubin Mehta Proposes Kashmir Peace Concert
“I would love, if I had the time and the sponsors available, to just do music to bring the people of Kashmir – the Hindus and the Muslims, who are at odds with one another – together,” says the Indian-born conductor, doubtless keeping in mind the similar efforts of his colleague Daniel Barenboim in the Mideast.
The Ten Types of Booker Prize Winner
The Guardian‘s blog breaks down the 40 years of the award into such categories as “the literary ‘Long Service Good Conduct’ medal,” “This is Britain’s premier fiction prize, but let’s show how ‘post-British’ we are,” “A Star Is Born” and “Let’s give it to a f***ing good f***ing novel that isn’t afraid to use the word f***.” Where does this year’s victor fall?