“The Sleeping Beauty is the jewel in the classical crown of the National Ballet of Canada. It has been 34 years, and hundreds of performances, since Rudolf Nureyev first crafted this sumptuous production for the company.” Now, the production is getting a complete overhaul, with the staging at the company’s new Toronto home “reawakened, brushed up and refreshed to the tune of $700,000 — nearly twice the amount originally budgeted to stage it.”
Tag: 11.02.06
A Quiet Opening In Lake Wobegon Country
Radio megastar Garrison Keillor’s new independent bookstore in St. Paul quietly opened its doors this week, and Keillor has laid out some lofty goals for it to live up to. “In a move to distinguish his shop from the national behemoths, he and his staff are placing special focus on local and regional authors and poetry endorsed by Keillor… Works by St. Paul native son F. Scott Fitzgerald fill an entire shelf.” Still, indies have had a rough run in St. Paul recently, and Keillor’s star power may be all that stands between the new store and a similar fate.
Fractional Gifts At Risk Under New Law
“A recent change in federal tax law that was intended to curb abuses by the wealthy has museum officials grumbling that priceless art gifts could dry up… The old law allowed a collector to donate a percentage of an art object, take a tax write-off for the gift, and yet retain physical possession of the piece, often for many years. The new law caps the value of the donation, the time span of the gift and how the museum and private owner will share it. Museums say the original law enriched public art collections, cemented relationships with donors and cost taxpayers little compared with its benefits.”
Arts Losing 18-to-34 Crowd
“A new report by the National Endowment for the Arts on arts attendance and how it relates to volunteerism shows Americans 18 to 34 increasingly tuned out from the arts and the broader community.” Participation in the arts was down across the board, whether the subject was music, dance, opera, or even reading. On the plus side, those who did engage with the arts were 50% more likely to spend time volunteering.
Harper Cuts Run Afoul Of Arts Leaders
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been making good on his campaign pledge to slash government spending, and in the process, he’s been eliminating funding from cultural diplomacy projects. That’s got famed director David Cronenberg, among others, up in arms. “There is always this idea that the arts are superficial, kind of frivolous. The notion that they are fat to be trimmed from the body politic makes me nuts.”
Because We All Know What Happens When Americans Get Offended
“A French-language novel by Calgary-born Nancy Huston that was awarded France’s prestigious Prix Femina this week was expected to be published in English first — but the novelist’s Canadian publisher and New York agent held off doing that this year because they wanted Huston to change portions of her text to avoid offending U.S. readers.”
Would You Like A Side Of Fiction With That?
In an age when books are more accessible than ever, but independent booksellers are an endangered species, publishers are trying ever more innovative techniques to get their product in the hands of readers. The latest trend is books as a lifestyle accessory, sold alongside clothing, coffee, even lunch meat. “What began as a trickle of cookbooks in kitchen shops and do-it-yourself titles in hardware stores has become, in recent months, the fastest growing component in many major publishers’ retail strategies.”
Novelist William Styron, 81
“William Styron, the novelist from the American South whose explorations of difficult historical and moral questions earned him a place among the leading literary figures of the post-World War II generation, died yesterday on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where he had a home. He was 81… Critics and readers alike ranked him among the best of the generation that succeeded Hemingway and Faulkner.”
Pollock Sale May Be A New Record
Hollywood mogul David Geffen has sold a Jackson Pollock painting for a reported $140 million. The price, if accurate, is the highest ever paid for a painting, outstripping last year’s $135 million acquisition of Gustav Klimt’s “Adele Bloch-Bauer I.”
Fall Auctions Set To Make Waves
“Just when it seemed as if art auctions could not get bigger or prices go higher, along come the catalogs for this fall’s important sales of Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art. [The] evening sales have the highest estimates in auction history; they also carry the biggest risk. The auction houses have become so competitive for business that this season they have promised sellers larger and larger guarantees, undisclosed minimum sums that are paid regardless of a sale’s outcome.”