- America's Top Arts Cities Which American city is tops in the arts? If you said New York, you're wrong. At least according to AmericanStyle magazine. The Magazine ranks America's best arts cities. "The survey - something less than scientific, since its results are based on reader votes - purports to show that the Midwest is emerging as a new area of artistic influence. Chicago, for example, moved up to No. 1 from its No. 5 position in 2002. And newcomers in the top 25 include Milwaukee and Columbus, with Cleveland returning to the list for the first time since 1998." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 06/02/03
- Creativity - An Overused And Abused Idea Everyone seems to talk about creativity as if it were this force innate to every person, and that some sort of spigot is all that is required to cause it to gush forth. Barbican director John Tusa's new book explores what it means to be creative. "Creative, creation, creativity, as Tusa says in his introduction, 'are some of the most overused and ultimately debased words in the language', which are liberally applied by everybody from bureaucrats to politicians to thinktanks..." spiked-culture 06/04/03
-
Classical Music: Reports Of My Death...Are WRONG! Stories abound about how classical music is sinking into obscurity - death, even. But "in the things that matter most, classical music is actually healthier than for decades." The evidence, writes one critic, is compelling. "For a start, London is more than ever the uncontested classical capital of the world, with some 20 professional orchestras and five music colleges. Many of the world's great soloists choose to make their home there, as do home-grown musicians in great quantity and quality. In 1985, for example, the Association of British Orchestras had just 12 members; now it has 50. Up to half of this growth has come from new orchestras." The Economist 05/30/03
-
How To Be A Critic So what makes art good? How about music? Or movies, or books? Most anyone who reads a newspaper spends a fair amount of time being told what's good and what isn't by supposed experts in the field, but how do the critics draw their conclusions? What's the frame of reference? The Denver Post's critics get together to offer readers a look into their world, and the results are as diverse as the writers themselves. TV critic Joanne Ostrow sees occasional quality as a welcome relief from the broadcast wasteland. Art critic Kyle MacMillan says that all great art, even the topical kind, can withstand the test of time. And rock critic G. Brown thinks that, in an industry dominated by fakes and puffery, real quality is found by looking for the musicians who make you believe what they're singing. Denver Post 06/01/03
-
Why Government Is Bailing Out Of The Arts In America state governments are getting out of the arts business. State after state is slashing arts funding. Why now? ArtsJournal editor Douglas McLennan suggests that in trying to recover from the culture wars of the early 1990s, arts leaders may have unintentionally pursued an endgame strategy. "As the current arts-funding crisis suggests—the survival strategy might have topped itself out and ultimately killed public arts funding." Newsweek 05/29/03
