Eli Broad, whose foundation is down 18 percent in value, put it bluntly: “‘It can’t be business as usual for the next several years.’ Arts organizations throughout Southern California are scrambling in the face of declining ticket sales and donor contributions. This week brought news of layoffs and concert cancellations by the Pasadena Symphony and of the possible collapse of Opera Pacific, Orange County’s only professional opera company.”
Tag: 11.07.08
Comedians: Nope, The Election Didn’t Wreck Our Jobs
“[T]he shifting political landscape is … a perilous one to make fun of, and many questions remain unsettled, even for those who are paid to do the mockery. What’s funny, and what’s fair game, about a President Barack Obama? Is it too soon to start ridiculing his achievement? Can blacks make fun of him? Can whites? No two comedians seemed to have the same answers to any of these questions.”
Eduardo Diaz Named To Lead Smithsonian Latino Center
“Eduardo Diaz, executive director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, was appointed yesterday to lead the Smithsonian Latino Center. Diaz replaces Pilar O’Leary, who resigned in February after an internal investigation showed that she violated ethics policies by trying to steer a contract to a friend and abusing her expense account.”
Hot Market For Asian Art Cools Substantially In London
“Buyers were reluctant to make expensive purchases at this week’s Asian Art in London promotion, dealers said, after a 2.5 million-pound ($3.95 million) Buddha was withdrawn on the morning of Sotheby’s Nov. 5 auction of Chinese works of art.”
At Fall Auctions, Things Aren’t Looking Any Better
“French billionaire Francois Pinault attended his company Christie’s International’s New York auction of impressionist and modern art last night, and watched from a sky box as almost half the lots failed to sell. Buyers passed on 44 percent of the 82 pieces offered. Sales tallied $146.7 million, against the low estimate of $240.7 million. It’s the week’s third evening auction that missed estimates and a sign the global financial crisis continues to undermine demand for the most-expensive art.”
We Can Save Ugly Old Buildings, Too
“English Heritage yesterday announced a grant to save arguably the most horrible building it has ever attempted to rescue, the sprawling Victorian hulk of Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, which housed the equally ramshackle geniuses who broke Germany’s second world war codes.”
For Russell Crowe, Acting Is Not Complicated
“The process is learning a lot of dialogue and jumping up and down on the furniture.” How did he prepare for his role in Body of Lies (besides gaining a lot of weight)? “Preparation? I picked up a bag, I put a pair of underwear in it and I got on a plane. There you go – preparation done.” And by the way, “I can assure you that I’m not an angry man.”
Ben-Hur Live!
A £5 million arena production of the epic will open next September at London’s O2 Arena (formerly the Millennium Dome), “complete with live chariot race, massed gladiatorial combat, sea battle, heaving bazaar, crucifixion and, for good measure, an orgy.”
The World’s Poshest Squat
A group of artists and anarchists called the Da! collective have started squatting in an unoccupied six-story townhouse in London’s exclusive Mayfair district. What’s more, the new inhabitants can’t be evicted without a complaint by the building’s owners – and they don’t appear to have noticed.
Thinking Big As The Money Gets Tight
Mark Swed observes that the giant city-wide festival that Los Angeles Opera, the Getty, LACMA and other institutions are staging around Wagner’s Ring in 2010 is risky in the current financial climate, but that “[t]aking bold artistic chances always opens new avenues.” Meanwhile, the teetering Orchestras of Pasadena and all-but-dead Opera Pacific “represent failures of imagination.”