How has the internet changed the way artists do their work? “The first large-scale surveys of the internet’s impact on artists and musicians reveal that they are embracing the Web as a tool to improve how they make, market, and sell their creative works. They eagerly welcome new opportunities that are provided by digital technology and the internet.”
Tag: 12.05.04
Better Times For South Florida Arts
Arts funding is looking up in South Florida. “Here in South Florida, the Miami-Dade County populace voted on Nov. 2 to spend nearly $553 million for arts and culture. That was just one of eight categories on a $2.9 billion bond issue, each of which passed ballot muster.”
Branding Dali In Philly
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is hosting the first SWalvador Dali retrospective in the US since 1941. “The exhibition will comprise 200 works, including some of Dalí’s famous surrealist canvases. It will showcase the artist’s works as a painter, sculptor, writer, designer of ballets, filmmaker, theorist and publicist. If you don’t know Salvador Dalí, you will. Philadelphia will have Dalí banners, Dalí bus-wraps, Dalí window displays, a Dalí trolley, and lots else Dalí. The plan is to spread the excitement and economic impact citywide, creating an event people can participate in – and spend dollars on – even if they never set foot in the show.”
Caryl Churchill – Plays That Speak For Themselves
“In a world where serious playwrights constantly sit on panels, hold forth at academic conferences and appear on behalf of institutions like the British Council, Caryl Churchill remains a rare thing, a hugely successful playwright who lets her work speak entirely for itself.”
When Museum Trustees Collect Art
For trustees of museums, “a reward of investing time and money is gaining proximity to art and artists. Critics say that can translate into financial advantage when the art is contemporary – if, for example, insiders buy pieces before they gain museum cachet, thus becoming more valuable.”
The Mortier Era Begins In Paris
“All of Paris had turned out to see the debut offering of the Paris Opera’s new director, Gérard Mortier, and their curiosity was not entirely friendly. Operagoers are a conservative bunch, and the Belgian-born Mortier, who was appointed just a few months before, is widely regarded as a high-modernist provocateur. In an astonishingly short time, he had assembled his own repertory.”
Five Years After The Millennium Dome
London’s Millennium Dome was one big spectacular failure. Five years later, the fortunes of those who were associated with the project are mixed. And the Dome itself is getting new life. It’s being redeveloped into a “26,000- capacity venue that it promises will ‘provide international acts and sports teams with arena facilities of a standard currently unseen in Europe’ by 2007. The arena is also part of London’s official bid for the Olympics in 2012.
Why Cambridge Is Getting Out Of The Architecture Business
Cambridge is trying to close its architecture program. It’s one of the top three in Britain, so the idea’s perverse. And yet, changing requirements for how university schools must behave puts it in danger. “Architects have spent the best part of a century trying to be taken seriously and now the subject is being pushed into the second- or even the third-tier universities, as if it was catering or windsurfing. That is bad for architecture, bad for education and terrible for the quality of Britain’s cities.”
Leading By A $10 Million Example
The chairman of Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center has donated $10 million to the arts complex, with all the money to be earmarked for theatre programming. Stephen Schwarzman’s gift, which was intended partly to spur other contributions, is the largest the Kennedy Center has receieved 2004.
Reviving A City, The Boring Way
When Ed Rendell became mayor of Philadelphia in the early 1990s, the city was at a civic and cultural low point, having seen its national reputation plummet in the previous two decades. Over his two terms as mayor, Rendell spearheaded a relentless drive to revive his city, and championed arts initiatives and building projects which he saw as essential to Philadelphia’s future. But while the city’s comeback has been remarkable, the buildings used to accomplish the feat are somewhat disappointing from an architectural standpoint. “Given a once-in-a-generation chance to distinguish itself with design, Philadelphia instead showed a preference for the prosaic.”