Was Michael Kinsley unethical as a judge for not reading all the nominees for this year’s National Book Awards? “The job of a book-awards judge starts with bookicide. Once you’ve decided a nonfiction book could not possibly win – because, say, its first 50 pages stink – you’re free to toss it. There’s no further reporting obligation. Kinsley appears to have leaped way over the line if he didn’t read even the opening pages of many nominated books…
Tag: 12.03.02
Scottish Actors Heading South?
Is Scottish theatre underfunded? The union Actors Equity says yes, theatre people are paid better in England than in Scotland. “This is going to mean a serious talent drain. Scottish theatres are not going to be competitive enough to retain the best actors or the best directors, technical staff and administrators. Theatres across the Border will be able to offer better resources and working conditions.”
NY Dance Builds Up
New York dance companies are in a building boom. Alvin Ailey and Trisha Brown are both building new homes, and Mark Morris built one last year. “It speaks to their ability to reach an audience that they are stable enough to afford their own homes. There’s a moment in the development of nonprofits where they institutionalize. It’s wonderful to know where your next rehearsal space is and what kind of amenities—showers and lockers—you’re going to have.”
Why Do Books Cost So Much?
“Consumers are often baffled at the price tag attached to what appears to be little more than a mass of paper, cardboard and ink. A whole host of factors, including the size of the book, the quality of paper, the quantity of books printed, whether it contains illustrations, what sort of deal the publisher can make with the printer and the cost of warehouse space, all affect the production costs of a book. But, roughly speaking, only about 20 percent of a publisher’s budget for each book pays for paper, printing and binding, the trinity that determines the physical cost.”
You Have To Leave To Get Respect?
Canadian writers are hot these days – all over the world. But why does it take international acclaim before the folks at home pay you any respect? “We parade our multiculturalism – but our posturing cannot camouflage our grudging embrace of the best our culture produces.”
Study Say Arts Better Students
Canadian researchers studying the effect of arts education on overall learning in students, discover that “the 10- to 12-year-olds who spent three years in the Learning Through the Arts program scored as many as 11 percentile points higher on standardized math tests than their peers in the study’s control schools. ‘It certainly makes us wonder why there isn’t more arts in the classroom. Many people assume that the arts somehow detract from the learning of other subjects, but this study shows that that isn’t the case’.”
Headed For A Showdown In Houston
It simply is not possible to be further apart in negotiating stands than the musicians and management of the Houston Symphony are at the moment. Musicians want a five-year-deal, a salary jump to the level of the nation’s major orchestras, and more benefits, while management wants to cut 6 or 7 weeks off the season in order to bring costs under control. The scene is familiar to orchestras across the country, but unlike most symphonic negotiations, which take place under closely guarded secrecy, this conflict has exploded into the open.
Best/Worst Of Times For LACMA Fundraising
The LA County Museum of Art just got $10 million for its education programs. But fundraising for the museum’s new Rem Koolhaas-designed building (estimated to cost between $200 and $300 million) has stalled out in the bad economy. “That fund-raising campaign, still in its “quiet phase,” suffered a setback in last month’s general election when a $250-million bond measure for improvements at county museums failed to pass. The bond would have given $98 million to LACMA, provided that the museum raised $112.5 million on its own.”
Troupe Forced To Resign
Quincy Troupe, who was forced out of his appointment as California’s first Poet Laureate this fall after it was discovered he had misrepresented his credentials on his resume, has had to resign his teaching post at the University of California, San Diego. “I very much regret my lapse in judgment and the problems it has created for my department and the broader UCSD community,” Troupe said.
Troupe Forced To Resign
Quincy Troupe, who was forced out of his appointment as California’s first Poet Laureate this fall after it was discovered he had misrepresented his credentials on his resume, has had to resign his teaching post at the University of California, San Diego. “I very much regret my lapse in judgment and the problems it has created for my department and the broader UCSD community,” Troupe said.