Tag: 12.05.06

Royal Ballet Lands An Outsider Choreographer

The company named Wayne McGregor as its new resident choreographer, and it’s an oddly inspired choice. “The world as seen by Wayne McGregor is a world apart from the warm, centrally heated classrooms of the Royal Ballet School and the dainty interval sandwiches of Covent Garden. It is a mindset that engages with the real world of conflict and abandonment, of cruelty and technological revolution, of commonality and infinite human difference. It is a new world for the Royal Ballet, a renaissance by any other name.”

Art In The Schools? (Or Money In The Bank)

“Three years ago, the Philadelphia School District went on a treasure hunt to gather up about 1,200 artworks. There were paintings, sculptures and tapestries from more than 260 schools. A Chicago art consultant brought in to catalogue the works said the entire collection could be worth $30 million. But now that the School Reform Commission is struggling to resolve a $73.3 million budget deficit, art experts, along with members of various school communities, are worried that district officials could be tempted to sell the artworks.”

Gay Themes, Boulevard Forms: Where New York Bests Britain

“Whatever its faults, New York theatre has virtually patented a new form: the gay comedy of manners. Its origins lie in Mart Crowley’s 1968 play The Boys in the Band, dealing with a surprise hetero visitor to a gay birthday bash. Crowley’s work launched a series of plays that combined a gay agenda with mass audience appeal. In Britain, leaving aside Joe Orton’s taboo-breaking farces, the only real equivalent is Kevin Elyot’s My Night With Reg (1994). When will our own writers wake up to the fact that there is now a big market for gay boulevard comedy?”

Grants Program Names First $50,000 Recipients

“United States Artists, a new nonprofit organization that makes grants directly to artists, made its first awards yesterday, distributing $2.7 million in unrestricted grants to artists working in fields ranging from architecture and design to the visual arts. Among the 50 artists receiving $50,000 were Chris Ware, a young cartoonist from Illinois; Basil Twist, a puppeteer in New York; and Anna Brown Ehlers of Alaska, who weaves blankets in the tradition of her Northern Tlingit family.” (third item)

In Silicon Valley, The Maestros Are Momentary

“In San Jose, instead of hiring a big-name, resident conductor to build a brand — think Michael Tilson Thomas at the San Francisco Symphony — Symphony Silicon Valley employs guest conductors only. The players have a new musical boss for every program — at least seven new conductors at the podium each season. From a musician’s seat, not to mention a concertgoer’s, there is plenty of peril in the arrangement. … But in San Jose, it turns out, it’s working just fine, so far.”

Group Requests Columnist’s Removal From Holocaust Memorial Council

“An Islamic civil rights group wants a columnist removed from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council for criticizing Rep.-elect Keith Ellison’s decision to use the Koran during the Minnesota Democrat’s ceremonial swearing-in next month. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said yesterday that comments by Dennis Prager, a columnist and conservative talk radio host, displayed an intolerance toward Islam that makes him inappropriate to serve on the council, which oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.”

99 Tubists Play For Their Fallen King

“You have likely never heard of Tommy Johnson, but it turns out that Johnson was, and still is, according to everyone who would know, ‘the most heard tubist on the planet.’ A first-chair studio musician in Hollywood for 50 years, Johnson played on thousands of recordings”; his was the breath behind those ominous shark-attack notes in “Jaws.” After Johnson’s death in October, a memorial concert was in order, and so on Sunday in Los Angeles, 99 tubists took the stage. “They came to honor their fallen tuba king.”

Why An Art Professional Is A Better Choice (Do We Really Have To Explain?)

More applause for the appointment of James N. Wood to lead the Getty Trust. “Despite fulsome Getty rhetoric about art collecting, scholarship, conservation and public service both here and abroad — indeed, despite demonstrable successes in all those areas — the tacit focus of a hugely rich art institution entrusted to corporate leadership could be characterized in three disappointing words: Protect the money. With the unprecedented appointment of a distinguished art professional, four challenging words describe the charge: Spend the money well. The appointment represents nothing less than a sea change for the Getty.”