From RSS feeds to podcasting, portable content on demand seems to be the newest wave of the information revolution, and AJ Blogger Andrew Taylor sees serious potential for arts organizations willing to step up to the technological plate. “Imagine a community-wide Podcasting site, where arts organizations could post audio interviews and discussions relating to their coming performances. Imagine a whole new branch of public-broadcasting-like content, that doesn’t rely on the narrow and jam-packed broadcast frequencies.”
Tag: 12.08.04
St. Louis Symphony Managers Seeking Musician Pay Cuts
There’s still one U.S. orchestra without a new musicians’ contract, and talks seem to have bogged down at the St. Louis Symphony, where the current agreement runs out on January 2. “Management has made one financial proposal to the union. That suffered an ‘overwhelming rejection’ at a union meeting on Nov. 8. Management, according to the memo, has refused to make a counterproposal to the union’s last offer… Management sources, speaking anonymously, have said that given the Symphony’s commitment to a balanced budget, it cannot commit to higher salaries without a larger income. Management’s current proposal would reduce musician salaries, reportedly to $61,000 a year.”
Up In The Sky! It’s A Billboard! It’s A Beer Ad! No! It’s Art!
When Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center closed for a full year in order to renovate and expand, it launched “Walker Without Walls”, a series of events and installations intended to keep the museum’s name on everyone’s lips. The most constantly visible example of the museum’s efforts has been a large billboard on one of the city’s main downtown streets, which has featured a new specially created artwork by a different artist each month. But what is the public actually getting out of the billboard, which offers no explanation of what it is or why it’s there? One passer-by mistook the latest billboard for a beer ad – “Red Stripe, I think. Definitely not Budweiser” – and another thinks she sees “dried-up death on one side.”
Bombay Dreams To Close
The musical Bombay Dreams is closing on Broadway eight months after opening. “The musical opened to negative reviews in April and has been playing at half-full capacity in the Broadway Theatre.”
Brain To Computer: Go Left
Scientists have found that it is possible to control a computer by thinking. “Brain activity produces electrical signals that can be read by electrodes. Complex algorithms then translate those signals into instructions to direct the computer. Such brain activity does not require the use of any nerves or muscles, so people with stroke or spinal cord injuries could use the cap effectively.”
Rachmaninoff Manuscript Sale Halted
The sale of an important Rachmaninoff manuscript was halted this week. “The annotated manuscript of his famous Second Symphony was due to be sold at Sotheby’s in London, with an estimated price of £300,000-£500,000. But it was withdrawn just before the sale after Rachmaninov’s estate claimed to be the true owners. It was found in a cellar in Switzerland after being lost for almost a century.”
UK’s Isle Of Operatic Woe
“One cannot ignore the woes of three national companies, or their common origin. Devolution, the 1997 mantra of victorious New Labour, has reverted large parts of the island to a dreary provincialism where parish pump functionaries lord it over public entertainments. Anti-elitism, the lip service that Labour rulers pay to their grass roots, has fostered a class war against high culture. And the disavowing of responsibility that is the hallmark of this governmenthas allowed successive culture secretaries and arts council chairmen to escape Scot-free – in the Caledonian sense – for demolishing two generations’ worth of artistic growth in the very regions where it was most needed.”
Stratford Fest Loses Audiences
Ontario’s Stratford Festival managed to balance its books for the year. “But attendance continues to fall, dropping nearly 40,000 compared with the previous season — to 568,715 from 608,080. Average paid attendance at the Festival’s four theatres was 68 per cent of capacity.”
Movie Soundtracks Sans Movie
A new generation of movie “soundtrack” albums is likely as not to include music that was not in the movie but might have been “inspired” by it. “Things first got complicated when filmmakers began using pop songs as product placements in their films, and the resulting soundtrack albums with those songs were released separately from the film’s original soundtrack.”
Plan For New Plays In Denver
The Denver Center Theatre Company’s new director Kent Thompson has a plan to position the company as a champion of new plays. “One of my first priorities will be a major expansion of the new-play program here. With the help of the board and the community, I know we will find a way to support some of the great new voices of the American theater.”