“According to the Primary Review researchers, kids are no better at reading now than they were in the 1950s. This is despite the £500m the government has spent on introducing its national literacy strategy.”
Tag: 11.02.07
BBC Chief: BBC Needs To Change
“Audiences are telling us the BBC is too London-centric, and that has to change.” The chairman also “voiced worries that sums paid to stars were out of control because the BBC was bidding too much.”
In These Troubled Times – Theatre, More Than Ever
“In a time when we are saturated by political messages I think theatre needs to realise that the form in which we say something can be as political as what it is that’s being said. And this is where theatre can be a more effective vehicle for change than film or television.”
America’s “Hidden” Music Is Wildly Popular
String bands might not be featured on mainstream American radio, “but the ‘old-time’ music they play now outperforms many more mainstream forms in the US.”
The Man Who Can Keep Broadway Working
Tom Short is the head of Broadway’s biggest union and a key figure in labor negotiations that might lead to a strike. Short was a critical figure in helping to save Broadway after 9/11 “Tom Short was the guy who really and truly defied the other union leaders and saved this industry.”
All You Need To Know About Chicago Dance
“Beginning its 13th installment Friday, Dance Chicago will feature some 450 dancers in 30 performances spread out over the next five weeks — easily the most diverse and compact showcase of local dance.”
Out Of The Closet – Art Institute Makes Huge Loan
Chicago’s Art Institute is renovating galleries. But instead of packing away some of its most important paintings, it will loan them to Fort Worth’s Kimbell Museum. “All the pieces — which range from 26 Claude Monets and 12 Renoirs to seven Paul Gauguins, seven Paul Cezannes and six works by Edgar Degas — previously had been loaned to other institutions. But never before have so many works central to the museum’s most famous collection (several from the institute’s earliest and largest bequests) left the museum at once.”
Claim: The Oregon Symphony Is Broken
The Oregon Symphony sounds better in recent years. But “swimming in debt, hemorrhaging audiences and supporters, and lacking any innovative programming ideas, the Oregon Symphony could be at one of the lowest points in recent history. Last fiscal year, the Symphony ended $2 million in the red, on an annual budget of about $14 million.”
Hollywood Writers Rally Round Strike
“Thursday night’s rally of about 3,000 film and TV writers occurred a day after talks with their employers broke down amid disputes over DVD residuals and pay for programs distributed over the Internet. The writers’ employment agreement expired at midnight Wednesday. The union’s board of directors is set to formally ratify the strike plans at a 10 a.m. meeting today .”
Adapting The War (Difficult)
“When studios adapt books into films, there is always a risk: No matter how compelling a literary property may be, producers must find financing, create a high-quality film and succeed at the box office. Yet all these hurdles loom even larger when it comes to adapting for the screen books about the Iraq war — and there are already many, including more than 40 being published just this fall.”