The museum business is thriving in the UK, where 42 million people visited museums last year. “The real seeds of change were sown in previous decades, when many museums split from outside authorities and set up as independent trusts. This gave them control over management and fund-raising, leaving them ideally placed to benefit from the great millennium giveaway of millions of pounds. The best of the schemes that survived have changed the whole landscape of the arts.”
Tag: 12.26.06
James Brown, 73
“Mr. Brown sold millions of records in a career that lasted half a century. In the 1960s and 1970s he regularly topped the rhythm-and-blues charts, although he never had a No. 1 pop hit. Yet his music proved far more durable and influential than countless chart-toppers. His funk provides the sophisticated rhythms that are the basis of hip-hop and a wide swath of current pop.”
Do-It-Yourself Publishing Leaves Home-made Behind
“Now, if mainstream publishers reject their work as too specialized, even the most Beatles-obsessed authors are finding audiences for their books by publishing them themselves. But don’t even think the phrase ‘vanity press.’ Many of these self-published books are lavishly produced and packed with original research that makes them invaluable to Beatles scholars and collectors, and some have been startlingly successful through online sales.”
Dancing With The Stars
To what extent should a dance company should market its stars? “How much should the company leadership single out individual performers, cast them in leading roles and plaster their pictures all over advertising? Is this just common sense, the audience having always been lured by stars, or is it unfair to other fine performers and destructive to company morale?”
France v America – A Culture Driven By…
A new book compares the free market-driven culture of the United States with the government-supported model of France. “Americans defend cultural diversity at home and deny it abroad, while France defends cultural diversity around the world and refuses it at home.”
(Oakland Ballet) Nutcracker Revived From Ashes
“Ron Guidi and the company were one and the same until his retirement in 1998, after which things began to fall apart, for a variety of reasons, and Oakland Ballet officially died. Last year, Guidi purchased the entire treasure trove of costumes and sets from the company he founded in 1965, raised the money to hire dancers, musicians from the Oakland East Bay Symphony and rent the Paramount, and even found a corporate sponsor, Chevron, which offered to help fill the house with hundreds of local families.”
Reading Your Way Through The Movies
Subtitles are back in at American movie theatres. “Historically, Hollywood has shunned subtitles. It assumed most moviegoers wouldn’t sit still for dialogue that had to be translated onscreen; subtitles were left to foreign films with limited appeal to smaller, more upscale audiences. But then films like 2000’s sumptuous martial arts movie ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ — which grossed a whopping $128.1 million domestically — proved that you could have your subtitles and a broad-based audience, too. This year has seen a proliferation of subtitled fare.”