Wednesday's Art Notes

_People visit Chinese artist Huang Yongping's installation art work named 'Leviathanation' at Tang Contemporary Art of 798 Art District on March 29, 2011 in Beijing, China. The exhibition named 'Tracing The Milky Way' is on show through May 14. Photo by Feng Li/ Getty Images_ * Stressing lagging theater attendance, movie piracy and different promotional strategies, former Sen. Christopher Dodd made his first speech as the head of MPAA on Tuesday at a conference in Las Vegas, via the "Los Angeles Times":http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/03/new-mpaa-chief-christoper-dodd-delivers-first-formal-address-to-hollywood.html. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times "looks closely":http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-fi-ct-cinemacon-20110330,0,3942556.story at the 20 percent drop in movie attendance so far this year. * The UK will cut funding completely for about 200 arts organizations this year, and reduce budgets for more than 300, via "AFP":http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jCnHIlZPy268Ici5xFUkh-IqKM_g?docId=CNG.bfb8229dcf908f07a113483065bb30aa.781. The Telegraph "has a roundup":http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/8416336/Arts-cuts-winners-and-losers.html of some of the worst hit groups, as well as some organizations who will actually get a boost. * France's culture ministry has put the brakes on an early April exhibit of French impressionist works from going on display in Hiroshima, Japan, via "The Art Newspaper":http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Nuclear+scare+halts+major+French+show/23415. * The prosecutor in a drug charge against Willie Nelson joked that the country singer would have to sing in court as part of a guilty plea, and media outlets took it seriously, via "The Wall Street Journal":http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/30/willie-nelson-wont-have-to-sing-in-court/. * George Tooker, a figurative painter who captured the edgy, urban postwar atmosphere, has died at the age of 90, via "ArtDaily":http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=46129. The Boston Globe "profiled Tooker":http://www.boston.com/ae/specials/culturedesk/2011/03/george_tooker_1920-2011.html in 2009.