- How Do You Manage Creativity? A number of big media companies have been ousting top executives and replacing them with money guys. "This trooping of grey faces into the unruly media world marks a distinct change of mood. Talk of 'vision', 'synergy' or 'new paradigms' is out; the daily grind of evaluating and improving operating performance is paramount. Show business doesn't attract leaders who know how to listen properly or leave people alone. But when you manage creative people, you must intrude carefully."
The Economist 01/17/03
- How Scotland Yard Recovered "The Scream" The colorful story of the recovery of Edvard Munch's painting "the Scream" back in 1994 is just now coming to light. "While it is known that the £50 million painting was eventually returned to the National Gallery in May 1994, following a trap set by Scotland Yard, it has emerged that the British strategy for finding 'The Scream' stretched the limits of international law and involved meticulous research, false identities and high risks for two unarmed officers. Twice, the operation was put in peril by the unlucky intervention of other police forces. Twice, the swift action of the undercover officers averted disaster." The Observer (UK) 01/19/03
- The Myths Of Dying Orchestras Yeah, there are gloomy stories about symphony orchestras these days. But "as we enter this new age of musical anxiety, let's not lose sight of the many signs of health in the orchestra world - the surprisingly widespread commitment to developing new repertoire, the sense of ownership listeners feel, the renewed awareness of the value of arts education. We've been down this road many times before: expansion, contraction, repeat. So let's equip ourselves for the coming neurotic convulsions by shooting down some oft-recited but mistaken beliefs." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/19/03
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Everybody's Gay! (Everybody Famous, That Is) A new film claims Hitler was gay, based on evidence sketchy enough that historians (even gay ones) are laughing it off. A yet-to-be-released book claims that Abe Lincoln was gay, and the book's author insists that he has evidence that George Washington, General Custer, and either Lewis or Clark (he forgets which) all were, as well. All of which begs the question: isn't this 2003? Haven't we gotten past the breathless whispering over men sleeping with men that dominated the gossip sheets of the 1980s? Or is there still something so exotic about homosexuality that even the suspicion of it in a historical figure warrants an entire cottage industry? The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 01/23/03
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Art Or Junk? Who Gets To Decide? "When art changes because of elemental forces, becoming what some would call an 'eyesore,' is it no longer art? Should it be removed? When the land on which a work sits, and for which it was designed, is needed for other purposes and the art is moved, is it the same work of art?" A dispute between a Florida temple that wants to remove a piece of art and the the artist who created it is forcing some answers to these questions. St. Petersburg Times 01/18/03
