arts

Art Collectors Townhouse Hits The Market

Filed under: Estates

Businesspeople turned arts philanthropists Donald and Shelley Rubin take their love of the arts into the design of their living spaces. As the New York Observer's Manhattan Transfers reports the pair have listed their design-centric brick townhouse at 122 East 70th Street for $20.2 million. The house reportedly cost $5.18 million when they bought it in 1995 and was given a striking design by Samuel Botero. The home celebrates the couple's predilection for Tibetan art with details like a dragon and phoenix rug that changes color as it winds up the staircases in the home, a medallion of the horn of plenty done in semiprecious stones on the kitchen floor and one of the most startling modern fireplace mantels around, carved and polished alabaster that swirls and folds like draped fabric. More amazing pictures can be found on Botero's website.

The home includes a roof deck with a kitchen, three terraces, a backyard garden and many gorgeous rooms spread out over five stories. There is a beautiful wood paneled library, two full kitchens with a dumb waiter, a hot-tub on the fifth floor, an elevator and more. It is listed at $20.2 million.

Gallery: An Art Collector's Dream

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Tags: arts, donald and shelley rubin, DonaldAndShelleyRubin, estate, new york city, NewYorkCity, townhouse

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Orlando Opera Seeks To Avoid Being The Latest Opera Casualty

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

As I mentioned last month, opera companies across the U.S. are facing hard times. The latest is the Orlando Opera in Orlando, Florida which is facing a huge deficit caused by the recession. The company has launched a $500,000 fundraising campaign and that outcome of that campaign may determine the future health of the organization.

The company has enough money to produce Suor Angelica and Cavalleria Rusticana, a double bill planned for April 3-7. The Orlando Sentinel reports that if the organization can't raise $500,000 by the end of May it may have to find other means of survival including partnering with another arts group or shifting focus to opera training. The decision could also have an impact on the Orlando Philharmonic, which plays for the opera's full-scale productions and the plans for Orlando's performing-arts center. Orlando Opera's 2009-2010 season promises a trio of audience favorites: La Bohème, Carmen and La Traviata.

At stake here is not just opera but the message that having an opera company represents, that a city is culturally rich and cosmopolitan. It is also about keeping opera alive as an art form across the U.S. As the recession bites into people's personal budgets supporting the arts can seem almost frivolous but this is a time when arts groups are fighting for their survival.

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Tags: arts, culture, music, opera, orlando, orlando florida, OrlandoFlorida

Performing Arts Center Planned For Las Vegas

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The Las Vegas Art Museum may have closed but that's not the end of culture in Las Vegas. As the LA Times reports, Las Vegas is planning a $475-million performing arts center. The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a cultural venue designed more for the locals than for tourists. It will offer the city's residents the benefits of a cosmopolitan city venue downtown. It is possible though that a thriving cultural center could be attractive to tourists who are interested in more of Las Vegas than the Strip. Las Vegas has seen tourism rates drop dramatically over the past year and the local real estate market has also floundered.

The Nevada Ballet and the Philharmonic, which are both still doing well but have made some cuts, will join the Smith Center when it opens in 2012. The center will have a both a 300-seat cabaret theater and a 200-seat flexible black-box space. The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is giving $150 million to the project and it has also received $170 million in public funding, much of which was generated by a two percent car rental tax.

The city is also planning a mob museum but that is planned to be more of a tourist draw.

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Tags: arts, culture, las vegas, LasVegas

More Hard Times In The O.C., Opera Pacific Closes

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Charity

Another casualty of tough times in Southern California's Orange County appears to be opera. The recent staging of "The Barber of Seville" may have been the swan song for Opera Pacific, the area's professional opera company. The company was founded in 1986 and has been going strong for years but currently a limited circle of patrons has been unable to swing the $4 million to $5 million in donations needed to fund a season's budget of about $7 million to $8 million. The LA Times reports that the company has canceled its two remaining operas "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Salome" and has put its its office, set-storage and rehearsal building in Santa Ana up for sale and laid off all but two members of the staff. Donations to the arts are often first hit when people scale back their philanthropy in tough times.

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Tags: arts, california, opera, orange county, OrangeCounty

Lux Tip: Volunteer Usher!

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Lux Tips

Want to support the arts and see a great show? Volunteer usher. it's a great way to get involved in your arts community without spending a dollar.

Years ago, I went to see Eddie Izzard in Boston on his "Circle" tour, and I loved the show so much, I wanted to see it again! I contacted the theater's house management department and asked if they were looking for volunteer ushers. Result: I got to see Eddie Izzard again, and because he's such a brilliant improvisationalist, the show was totally different! I laughed till I cried all over again.

Since then, I've volunteer ushered for a number of shows. Sure, you have to take a few tickets or pass out a few programs, but the experience of seeing a live show is irreplaceable.

Seattle has its own website, volunteerusher.com, and if you search "volunteer usher" and the name of your own city, you just might be surprised by all the opportunities, especially from smaller, under-the-radar organizations it's always fashionable to support. Often times, you even get to meet the performers or the cast!

If there's a show you want to see, contact the theater's house management department and see if they're looking for volunteers. It's just another easy way to make life more lux for cheap or free.

Tags: arts, free, lux tip, LuxTip, theater, volunteer

Sundance Institute, Charity of the Day

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Charity of the Day

Although there are plenty of causes, both locally and around the world, that need money for urgent and life-saving purposes, there is something to be said for giving a little energy and money to saving the arts as well. What is the world without beauty and creativity? One such charity is the Sundance Institute, founded by Robert Redford in 1981 as a way to "discover, support, and inspire independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world," and to get those works out to audiences. Perhaps most famous for its annual "Sundance Film Festival," the Sundance Institute has many programs and different ways to get involved so get inspired and check it out.

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Tags: art, arts, music, robert redford, RobertRedford, sundance, sundance film festival, sundance institute, SundanceFilmFestival, SundanceInstitute, theater