Local and Industry News

Unlike in Broward county, Palm Beach County schools have given the fine arts priority status, and schools will be receiving their full allocation for electives. Research shows that students who participate in the arts do better in school, and Palm Beach magnet schools Bak Middle School of the Arts and Dreyfoos School of the Arts prove this to be true by consistently ranking as two of the county's top schools.

Community members are fighting to maintain local programming on Palm Beach county's WXEL radio station. The station was recently sold by Barry University to Classical South Florida, which operates classical music station WKCP in Miami. The sale is subject to approval by the Florida Board of Education and the FCC.

According to the Giving USA Foundation, donations to the arts and culture fell 2.4 percent in 2009, to $12.3 billion. The decline is less than was expected, and less than the 6.4 percent decline in 2008.

The Broward Cultural Division has received $42,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its Investing in Leadership Series. The series of professional development programs and workshops have included workshops on marketing, building success, and the Artist as Entrepreneur Institute.

Recording

Fewer albums were sold during the week of May 30 than at any time since Soundscan began compiling sales data in 1994. The 4.98 million albums sold were over .75 million fewer than were sold at the same time last year.

Symphonic