Denver has a new opera house and a new museum. Now the city is trying to raise $100 million to overhaul its concert hall. “The Boettcher overhaul would include an addition of a wrap-around, multistory glass lobby on its Speer Boulevard side and a reconfiguration of the 2,634-seat facility, reducing its seating to about 2,100 and enhancing its acoustics.”
Tag: 11.12.06
The New Path To Success
“There was a time, not long ago, when, if you wanted to edit your homemade movie, you’d need two VHS players or a pair of scissors. You could add a soundtrack by walking your VHS cassette over to that friend with a $50,000 Avid editing system. Then you could mail that homemade movie to a few hundred film festivals around the world, or save the postage and throw it in the garbage. Now who needs film festivals? YouTube videos are viewed 100 million times a day.”
Eric Bentley At 90
“Bentley won early and intense fame with his 1946 book ‘The Playwright as Thinker,’ which made the study of drama intellectually respectable for the first time. He then published several other ambitious and penetrating books, including ‘Bernard Shaw’ (1947), ‘The Life of the Drama’ (1964) and three collections of theater criticism, that fixed his place in the tiny pantheon of permanently interesting drama critics.”
The Odd Case Of Ivo Pogorelich
The pianist’s “once-moody temperament and unconventional dress gave him rock-star appeal during the peak of his popularity in the 1980s, but he has since devolved into a kind of keyboard oddity and largely disappeared from the scene.”
Scottish Politicians Plan To Direct Their Own Arts Policy
Scottish cultural policy is undergoing a major change in direction. The Scottish executive plans to abolish the national arts council and direct arts policy itself.
Change Roils Scotland’s Biggest Art Fair
The head of the Glasgow Art Fair may step down after criticism. “Pete Irvine was criticised by some Glasgow galleries for deselecting them in favour of more high-profile London and international collections. And following this year’s annual event in April, two of the Scottish galleries excluded called for a public consultation over the event’s future.”
What Sunk Empty Space
Seattle’s Empty Space Theatre recently shut its doors after a 36 year run. “One wonders how a vital company went from announcing a next season one day, to closing up shop a couple weeks later. And why the recent emergency-funding drive didn’t save it.”
S. Cal Indian Tribes Become Big-Time Arts Funders
“California has 108 Indian tribes, of which 56 operate casinos that rake in hundreds of millions of dollars annually. With eight tribal casinos, San Diego County is regarded as the gaming casino capital of California. Among county arts groups, San Diego Opera and San Diego Symphony currently receive the most Indian gaming casino support.”
How Downloading Is Reinventing TV’s Business Model
“It’s not just TV ratings anymore that affect network decisions, and shows aren’t being produced just to appear on the air. Soon – probably very soon – everything that runs on the networks will just be the simple, economy versions of shows.”
Too Much Stage Disney?
“Whether you live in New York or Newport Beach, Berlin or Shanghai, you’re likely to be within driving distance of at least one Disney musical in the next 12 months. All that competing Disney product has some observers predicting trouble. There is that question of whether the Disney (musicals) will cannibalize each other.”