local, national, and international arts news
Welcome to Arts News where Americans for the Arts brings you the relevant arts news from around the world.
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For more about national issues for arts leaders looking at the big picture below is our timely scan of news articles from ArtsJournal.com.
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12/19/2008
Live Nation to end Ticketmaster's Monopoly
January could be the start of a new era for concert-ticket buyers fed up with exorbitant prices, extraneous service charges and a lack of competition in the marketplace. That's when Live Nation will start taking on Ticketmaster in the United States. "We still believe the venue, the artist and the fan would love an alternative ticketing company," said Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino during a recent conference call. "I think it's probably the only industry in the world ... that doesn't have a good No. 2 or No. 3 (competitor)." Live Nation's foray into the concert market will be limited at first, and fans won't have the choice of selecting which company to buy from. Live Nation will sell tickets for venues it owns or operates; it also has the rights to limited sales for the all-star artists it works with.
Toronto Star 12/19/2008
12/18/2008
Virginia Symphony Kept Alive by Loan
Musicians and patrons were relieved Wednesday to learn that the Virginia Symphony Orchestra received a $500,000 loan from the Norfolk Economic Development Authority. The loan will be effective once an agreement is signed by all parties, perhaps this week. Then, the symphony can draw money as needed. The terms include repayment with 6 percent interest over five years. The loan will enable the symphony to get through the remainder of this fiscal year without declaring bankruptcy. Loan funds will come from administrative fees that the authority collects from companies for which it issues industrial revenue bonds. The authority is a political subdivision of the state.
PilotOnline 12/18/2008
12/18/2008
LA Museum Accepts Rescue Deal
The board of this Los Angeles’s financially troubled Museum of Contemporary Art reached a preliminary agreement on Thursday to accept a financial rescue offer from Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who was a founding trustee of the museum and is one of this city’s largest arts patrons. The agreement, which the board voted on at a long meeting Thursday afternoon, is not final and is subject to numerous conditions, including Mr. Broad’s examinations of the museum’s financial accounts. The museum’s executive committee was continuing to meet Thursday night to hammer out details of the deal. A competing offer from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a merger of the two institutions had not been completely dismissed.
The New York Times 12/18/2008
12/23/2008
NY Reverses Course on Deaccessions
You helped focus everyone in the field on this," Dewey Blanton, head of media relations for the American Association of Museums, told me this morning about the decision of the NY State Board of Regent's Cultural Education Committee to withdraw its Emergency Amendment that would have allowed museums and historical societies to sell objects from their collections "for purposes of obtaining funds to pay outstanding debt."
Blanton credited my emergency post last week about this amendment with helping to spur AAM (which sent its comments to the Regents on Friday) and other concerned members of the museum community to send statements objecting to the state government's proposed validation of desperation deaccessions.
Arts Journal 12/23/2008
12/14/2008
NY May Let Museums Pay Debt With Art
The state board that oversees New York museums may consider allowing them to sell artwork, artifacts and other works to pay back debt, a change of policy some museum backers say would threaten quality collections. The state Board of Regents started working on an "emergency amendment" to the rules governing how museums can manage collections. Currently, state rules require museums to use the money from such sales only to buy other works or enhance their collections. The emergency amendment would allow museums to sell off works to pay down debt if they can show that they have no other way to raise the money and would otherwise go bankrupt. The museums also would only be allowed to sell the works to another museum or historical society in New York.
Newsday 12/13/2008
12/14/2008
Task Force Releases Report on the Arts
A concerted effort should be made to put the arts at Harvard University on par with the study of the humanities and sciences, according to a report released today by the University. The report calls for an ambitious re-thinking of Harvard’s approach to the arts. It asks that the University place an increased emphasis on the arts in the curriculum both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It asks for greater visibility and accessibility for the arts on campus through the creation and renovation of physical spaces dedicated to the arts and the addition to campus of a greater number of practicing artists as faculty members or in extended residencies. The report arrives at a time when the University is examining operations in response to a challenging economic climate.
Harvard Gazette 12/10/2008
12/07/2008
Obama Speaks in Support of the Arts
In his first television interview since winning the election, President-elect Barack Obama joined Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press to discuss the economy, foreign policy and the upcoming transition of power. Among the topics President-elect Barack Obama showed his support for the arts. Read an excerpt from the transcript below, read the full transcripts or view the netcast (skip to time code 40:27 through 42:25).
MR. BROKAW: . . . .Let me ask you as we conclude this program this morning about whether you and Michelle have had any discussions about the impact that you're going to have on this country in other ways besides international and domestic policies. You're going to have a huge impact, culturally, in terms of the tone of the country.
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right.
MR. BROKAW: Who are the kinds of artists that you would like to bring to the White House?
PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Oh, well, you know, we have thought about this because part of what we want to do is to open up the White House and, and remind people this is, this is the people's house. There is an incredible bully pulpit to be used when it comes to, for example, education. Yes, we're going to have an education policy. Yes, we're going to be putting more money into school construction. But, ultimately, we want to talk about parents reading to their kids. We want to invite kids from local schools into the White House. When it comes to science, elevating science once again, and having lectures in the White House where people are talking about traveling to the stars or breaking down atoms, inspiring our youth to get a sense of what discovery is all about. Thinking about the diversity of our culture and, and inviting jazz musicians and classical musicians and poetry readings in the White House so that, once again, we appreciate this incredible tapestry that's America. I—you know, that, I think, it is going to be incredibly important, particularly because we're going through hard times. And, historically, what has always brought us through hard times is that national character, that sense of optimism, that willingness to look forward, that, that sense that better days are ahead. I think that our art and our culture, our science, you know, that's the essence of what makes America special, and, and we want to project that as much as possible in the White House. December 9, 2008—President and CEO Bob Lynch's letter to President Elect Obama thanking him for his support of the arts and culture during the Meet the Press interview.
Meet The Press 12/07/2008
12/04/2008
Army turns dictator's palace into museum
The British Army is offering to help create a museum in Basra, which would be set up by the Iraqi authorities in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces. British military planners have codenamed the project Operation Bell, after Gertrude Bell, the archaeologist who helped establish the Baghdad Museum in 1926. Assistance is also being offered by the British Museum, but all parties stress that this is an Iraqi venture. The museum project was initiated by Major-General Barney White-Spunner, who commanded the IIIrd Division. On the Iraqi side, it is supported by Dr Mufid al-Jazairi, chairman of the cultural committee of the Iraqi parliament. The project has already been approved by the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, and has now gone to prime minister Nouri al-Maliki for a final decision.
The Arts Newspaper 12/01/2008
12/04/2008
NEA study shows gender pay gap in arts
The National Endowment for the Arts has released a study on gender pay gap between men and women artists. The gap is wider for artists working in the competitive big-city arts capitals such as greater Los Angeles and New York City. The gender pay gap increases with age and varies by occupation. Other findings: women artists are as likely to be married as other women, but less likely to have children; the percentage of women photographers and architects has increased since 1990; architects rank as the most highly-paid category of artists in the survey.
The LA Times 12/01/2008
12/04/2008
BSO launches music download service
The Boston Symphony Orchestra launched a download service yesterday that will allow customers to buy new and historical recordings through the organization's website, www.bso.org. The service made immediately available 179 previously released tracks by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. But listeners must wait until February for a recording created under the baton of music director James Levine. Other orchestras have moved faster to create download options. The New York Philharmonic, for example, launched its own service in 2006, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra followed suit early in 2007. The BSO said it needed more time because it wanted to create a system that could operate without signing on with an outside distributor. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for example, uses an outside company to place downloads on iTunes, Amazon.com, and Rhapsody.
The Boston Globe 12/02/2008
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