Architecturally speaking, big box retailers are a blight on the American landscape. So when they fail, should the shells simply be left to rot? Maybe not – a new book argues that “those who gaze at the big-box stores…and fail to see future cathedrals, museums or artists’ communities have no sense of history. Or imagination.”
Tag: 11.16.08
Jazz Biographer Peter Levinson, 74
“Peter J. Levinson, a music publicist who parlayed his close familiarity with jazz personalities into rich and sometimes intimate biographies of them, died on Oct. 21 at his home in Malibu… He eventually started his own publicity firm in New York and later expanded it to Los Angeles.”
Is Balanchine’s Legacy Ill-Served In New York?
25 years after his death, George Balanchine remains a giant of the dance world. But the company that made him famous, New York City Ballet, “has become less incisive, more lightweight, less disturbing” in presenting his work, says Alistair Macaulay.
MN Opera Makes Major Commitment To New Rep
“The Minnesota Opera will commit $5.5 million over seven years to contemporary repertoire under a new program just announced. Minnesota OperaWorks envisions three commissions, three revivals of American works and an international co-production.”
Measuring The Arts’ Rate Of Return
“Houston is an economic powerhouse in energy, technology, international trade and medical research… But Houston is also an economic powerhouse in the arts. When you compare this to the city of Houston’s $10 million public investment in the arts and the state’s symbolic $3.9 million investment, the citizens of Houston are getting a fifty-four percent rate of return on their tax investment.”
Major Cuts At OBT
Oregon Ballet Theatre is dumping its live orchestra for all but a few performances of The Nutcracker to save money. In addition, “nine senior staffers took a 5 percent pay cut, and salaries were frozen across the rest of the staff. The company also made production cuts for a total savings of a little more than $300,000, or about 5 percent of its $6.7 million budget.”
St. Louis Arts Feeling The Pinch
“Theaters, museums and cultural centers across [St. Louis] have cut budgets, jobs and programs in response to the economic downturn. Box office numbers are off only slightly — for now. But ticket sales only cover part of nonprofit groups’ costs… The downturn has had an immediate impact on arts programming, capital improvements and fundraising.”