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ArtBits

Portuguese tycoon seeks public home for major art collection
LISBON -- A Portuguese tycoon, who left his modest family as a teenager to build a fortune in the mining sector in South Africa, wants to share his extensive modern art collection with the public. But Jose Berardo, 61, is growing increasingly frustrated with the red tape encircling his dream of establishing a museum to house the collection in Portugal and is considering moving it abroad. "I have been speaking with Portuguese authorities about my art collection for seven years now but the government and the ministers keep changing. My idea was to build a place to house my collection and give young artists in Portugal a chance to see what has been done in the world of art. Sadly Portugal does not share my ideas." If the Portuguese government does not approve a proposal to set up a museum to showcase his works by the end of the year, Berardo -- knicknamed "Joe Gold" -- said he will put them on display in another country. The United States, Japan and especially France have all shown interest in the collection of over 4,000 works which include paintings by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

Missing Beethoven manuscript found in Philadelphia
WASHINGTON -- An 80-page, handwritten working manuscript score of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge that went missing 115 years ago has been found by a librarian near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Turned over to Sotheby's, which will put it on display in New York on November 16 to 19 before it goes up for auction in London on December 1, the manuscript is in the composer's own hand, the auction house said. Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, among his last works from the period when he was deaf, was originally part of a string quartet, it was also transcribed for the piano by the legendary German composer. The newly discovered Beethoven manuscript is expected to fetch between $1.7 million and $2.6 million when it goes up for auction.

F-word raises questions over museum show
WARWICK, RI --An expletive in one of 25 works of art in the Warwick Museum's 19th annual exhibition and fundraiser - the Rhode Island Open - has a Warwick Neck resident questioning whether the painting should be displayed by an organization supported in part by tax dollars and in a city-owned building. Entitled "Welcome Back Martha" by Providence artist Kent Stetson, the canvas contains the F-word. Despite the controversy, the museum's executive director is opposed to taking the work down until after the art show concludes Nov. 5 - concerned such an action would be labeled censorship. But Damon A. Campagna acknowledged he took the artwork off one of the museum's walls one day when members of a musical quintet performing a concert inside the building expressed an objection, worried the language would be inappropriate for a number of children expected to attend. In essence, Campagna admitted to censorship, although he argued the museum space was not being utilized as an art gallery at the time the concert was scheduled, and the piece was returned to the same spot it had been hanging afterwards.

National Endowment for the Arts and Pensacola Opera Announce a Military Base Tour of Opera and Broadway Music
PENSACOLA, FL – The National Endowment for the Arts and Pensacola Opera announce the Great American Voices Military Base Tour: Unforgettable Melodies from Opera & Broadway, a national initiative that will celebrate the best of American arts bringing professional performances of opera and musical theater to military installations nationwide. Pensacola Opera was awarded a grant from National Endowment for the Arts to perform for neighboring Air Force Bases: Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, FL and Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, FL. Through the “Great American Voices” program, more than 20 professional opera companies will conduct performances at 39 military bases around the country, The tour, which runs from October 2005 through August 2006, will feature selections from popular operas such as Bizet’s Carmen and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as highlights from classic American musical composers including Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein. Performances will be offered at no cost to the base or to audience members. In addition to the above concerts, Pensacola Opera will also be providing educational performances through its two family operas: John Davies’ The Three Little Pigs and the original opera, (Your) Opera in a Trunk, written and directed by Dr. David Charles.

Art Center Recipient of Grant from Target Corporation
MT DORA, FL – Mount Dora Center of the Arts is pleased to announce the receipt of a grant from Target in the amount of $2,400.00. The grant, which was presented to MDCA during the opening of Target’s new store in Mount Dora, will be used to continue their highly successful “Celebrate Art!” program. “Celebrate Art!” is an educational art outreach program being presented to public schooled children currently enrolled in the city of Mount Dora’s after school program. The focus of the “Celebrate Art!” outreach program is to familiarize children with the eight basic elements of art: line, shape, color, space, form, texture, value and composition. Each child will create a personal art book displaying the concepts they have learned, which will serve as both a scrapbook of their time spent in the program and a reference book for the future.

Enhancing Education - Lockheed Martin Awards Grant to Orlando Opera
ORLANDO, FL – General Director Robert Swedberg is pleased to announce a new partnership with Lockheed Martin. The corporation has committed to an extraordinary, multi-year education sponsorship that will enable Orlando Opera to restructure, enhance, and expand its education and outreach efforts. “The Opera on Tour! in-school arts education program had been at maximum capacity, resulting in untapped audiences and unmet needs. The Lockheed Martin leadership grant creates a win-win-win situation for the artists, the community, and the Opera – and we’re grateful for the vision on the part of this great corporation to make it happen,” said Swedberg. Lockheed Martin’s leadership grant will enable Orlando Opera to expand the touring program by increasing staffing in its Education and Outreach Department, adding additional performers and subsequently more educational touring shows, enhancing curricula materials, and improving the Opera on Tour! sets, costumes, and props. The Lockheed Martin Studio Artist Program ensures that the performing artists receive regular training and perform a greater share of the education performances, allowing Orlando Opera’s Resident Artists more time to focus on their professional studies and mainstage operas. Orlando Opera will impact thousands more students annually because of the new grant.

Carl Hancock Rux Named MPAC African Diaspora Programs
Artist-In-Residence
MIAMI — Miami Performing Arts Center has selected Carl Hancock Rux, an award-winning poet, playwright, and performer, as MPAC African Diaspora programs artist-in-residence. In this role, Rux will advise on programs and create works that explore the African Diaspora and its impact on the cultures of the Americas. Recognized by The New York Times Magazine as “One of the Artists Under the Age of Thirty Most Likely to Influence Culture Over the Next Thirty Years,” Rux joins Fernando Gonzalez, MPAC jazz programming curator, and David Clarkson, MPAC physical theater artist-in-residence, as one of several artists and experts from specific disciplines who will work closely with MPAC Artistic Director Justin Macdonnell on programming the Center's indoor and outdoor stages.