Local and Industry News
The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, which was scheduled to break ground, is seeing further delays. The Center is already being built in stages due to funding shortfalls, and it is now expected to fall short of the amount necessary to complete even the first phase. It is unknown whether work on the center can begin before the funding deficit is resolved.Conservatives in the House of Representatives has proposed eliminating all funding for NPR. In a failed procedural gambit, they proposed prohibiting radio stations from using grant money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has a $94 million budget, to buy NPR programs.
recording
Companies including Comcast, Sony, and Disney's Paramount Pictures have launched the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR) to track movies, TV shows, and other assets. The EIDR will operate similar to ISBN for books, and will make it easier for businesses to search, track, and report revenue of assets.
SAG and AFTRA have reached an agreement with motion picture and TV producers. The new three-year agreement with AMPTP calls for ten percent increases in contributions to health and retirement benefit funds and two percent wage increases in each of the three years.
Disney has launched Disney Movies Online, which lets consumers buy or rent digital versions of Disney and Pixar films. The service includes digital storage, so consumers would be able to access their digital copies from anywhere over the Internet. A coalition including Sony, Warner, NBC, New Corp. Microsoft, and Best Buy is also creating Ultraviolet, which would also let consumers buy, store, and access content across multiple devices from anywhere over the Internet.
symphonic
The Dallas Symphony has raised over $20 million toward its $50 million Great Orchestra Campaign. Major matching grants toward the campaign have included $5 million from Margot and Ross Perot, $3.5 million from the Eugene McDermott Foundation, and $1 million from the Robinson family. Even music director Japp van Zweden has contributed $250,000 toward the challenge.
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its Center for Future Audiences, which will be funded with a leading gift of $20 million from the Maltz Family Foundation. the center will extend free admission to Blossom Music Center performances and some Severance Hall performances to all patrons under the age of 18.
The Oregon Symphony has paid off its $7 million debt and ended its 2009-10 season with a small surplus. The orchestra was able to retire its debt and balance its budget in part due to concessions from artists and vendors, and a thirteen percent cut to wages and benefits for musicians and staff.
The Houston Symphony has ratified a new four-year agreement. The agreement eliminates furlough weeks, returning the orchestra to a 52-week season, and increases wages over the term of the agreement.
The LA Phil will broadcast "LA Phil Live" to over 450 HD-equipped movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada this season. The three performances to be broadcast will feature conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and will be transmitted under an agreement with Cineplex Entertainment, which also distributes "Met Live in HD."
The Fort Worth Symphony has ratified a new two-year agreement which shortens the season from 52 to 45 weeks and reduces base pay by 13.5 percent.
The Baltimore Symphony has announced the second annual BSO Academy. The academy is an intensive summer music program for amateur adult musicians. The approximately 100 participants attend lectures and master classes and perform in lessons, rehearsals, and chamber music, all led by BSO musicians and local experts.
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