The Morning Read
Dunkirk NY – Two things from this morning’s read. The first has to do with the downsizing (PDF link to save you the hassle of registering at the Globe) of Boston’s Shakespeare on Boston Common. Free Shakespeare is really taking a hit this summer. In Buffalo we play for 22 performances over 3.5 weeks, and someone whispered in my ear that our “pass the hat donation” take averaged $1.50/person for All’s Well. Of all the festivals I’ve ever seen or participated in, ours here in Buffalo is about as bare-bones as you can get, and even with that, it squeaks by year after year. In the past two or three seasons it even had to do without Erie County’s or the city of Buffalo’s contributions, as they are both under the restraints of a financial control board and zeroed out the arts in the previous three years. Funding was restored for this year. Crowds this year were OK, but they are nothing like they were 15 or more years ago.
On the technology front, I found this interesting as a parallel to the notion that artists seem to have lost touch with the larger culture. I read (skim, really) a lot of tech blogs, and judging from the looks of this it seems geeks have the same issues. The guy who writes this blog loves the Everun, but in taking it to the Helsinki public and getting some direct feedback, it looks like he may have to re-think his position. -twl
