“The reopening of Russia’s famed Bolshoi Theatre has been pushed back to 2011 due to delays in a costly renovation project, a spokeswoman for Russia’s culture ministry said Monday. … Located near Red Square, the theatre closed in 2005 for a 700-million-dollar renovation project that was originally expected to be finished this year, but the end date was later pushed back to 2009.”
Tag: 12.01.02
Branding Miami
”This is the most important branding event that has happened in Miami in the last 10 years.”
Destination Portland
While the number of 20-34 year-olds decreased in America through the 1990s, Portland, Oregon saw a gain of 45,000 young people in that demographic. The infux has helped transform the city. “The result has been a cultural flowering for the Rose City. Young visual artists, Web designers, filmmakers and animators, musicians, media specialists and entrepreneurs are starting a new generation of companies, organizations and events, not to mention clubs, lounges, coffeehouses and restaurants. What has lured this active, inventive age group to Portland?”
Calgary Cancels Christmas
Something short of a massive, wailing public outcry greeted September’s news that the Calgary Philharmonic was suspending operations, and efforts since the shutdown to revive the troubled orchestra have achieved mixed results. Now, the CPO is being forced to cancel four of its five holiday concerts, traditionally some of the ensemble’s biggest money-makers of the year. On the plus side, officials expect to unveil a full scale restructuring plan tomorrow.
A Distinct Pleasure (Not)
“In the era of customized consumer capitalism, distinction is mass-produced, and connoisseurship has been democratized. The wide availability of a variety of beautiful, unusual things – at Pottery Barn, on eBay, at stores that turn the junk of earlier eras into today’s collectibles – increases the pressure, the sense of responsibility, that attends every purchase. Like the food revolution, the design revolution is built on the lovely paradox that what is special should be available for everyone’s enjoyment and that good taste can at last shed its residue of invidious social differences. Which means that indifference is unacceptable.”
The New Cultural Entrepreneurs
A group of English artists travels to China and discovers the business of culture is big business there. “Britain now is as insular as I’ve ever known it. It is not as vibrant or as young feeling as somewhere like Beijing. It is going to be an interesting century for them and for us. But one thing is for sure, if anywhere gets left behind, it won’t be Beijing.”
Projecting The Arts Outside
“In an unconventional scheme to bring opera and ballet to the masses,” the Royal Opera House plans to set up giant open-air screens in locations around Britain to show live ballet and opera performances direct from the Opera House.
Redoing Boston’s Opera House
The Boston Opera House, fallen into disrepair since closing in the early-90s, is getting a $31 million makeover. “It’s a pet project of Mayor Thomas Menino, who has been pushing for the renovation since 1996 as part of his effort to revitalize the old theater district along Washington Street in the heart of downtown Boston, just a few blocks north from what used to be the ‘Combat Zone,’a once sleazy collection of sex-oriented shops, bars and porno movie houses.”
Mother Sues Harlem Boys Choir
The mother of a former student at the Boys Choir of Harlem is suing the organization, claiming one of the choir’s counselors “had an improper relationship with her teenage son and at least one other student.” She says the school did nothing to stop it.
Britart’s New Palaces
BritArt is hot, and the Britartists are getting wealthy. So they’re building. Studios. Homes. Architecture that expresses their sensibilities. Judging by their projects, “this is the most affluent generation of British artists since millionaire Royal Academicians took over Holland Park and Chelsea a century and a half ago.”