Classic Arts Showcase (CAS) is a
television channel
A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...
in the United States promoting the
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...
s. The
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
content includes prepared media and recorded live performances. It is a 24-hour
non-commercial
A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...
satellite channel broadcasting a mix of various
classic arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
including
animation
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
,
architectural
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
art,
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...
,
chamber
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
*Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
*Legislative chamber, in politics
*Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...
,
choral music
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...
,
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
,
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...
, museum art,
musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
,
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
, orchestral, recital,
solo
Solo or SOLO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Comics
* ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series
* Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics
Characters
* Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character
* Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
, solo vocal, and
theatrical play, as well as classic film and archival
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
.
Description
Self-described on its web site as "Classical
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
", the channel features renowned artists, both professional and amateur, as well as many rare and independent performances and videos. An 8-hour mix of
video clip
Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely ...
s is prepared weekly and broadcast three times daily. Text displayed on the screen provides details about the recording, and encourages viewers to gain inspiration and "...go out and feast from the buffet of arts available in your community." The explanation for not providing a
schedule
A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things are ...
is they feel that surprise is an effective tactic to encourage the public to see that which is not familiar to them.
CAS launched on May 3, 1994 and is completely funded by the Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation. It does not solicit any outside funding.
Lloyd Rigler died in 2003, but left at least twenty years of funding to the channel.
As of 2020, CAS states that there remains enough funding to maintain the channel "for decades to come." CAS is offered free to any broadcaster, or
public, educational, and government access
Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...
(PEG) channel on a
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
system that requests a feed, as well as direct-to-consumer via an Internet feed on the channel's Web site and through a
Roku
Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...
app. CAS is shown on more than 500 channels in the United States, as well as some in Canada. CAS does not publish information about channels in other countries.
Technical information
February 25, 2021: Classic Arts Showcase is broadcast
unencrypted
In cryptography, plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms. This usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted.
Overview
With the advent of co ...
. CAS transitioned its satellite signal from Galaxy 17 to the SES-1 satellite. The satellite move will include the HDTV program feed of Classic Arts Showcase. The SDTV program feed will no longer be available as of February 25, 2021.
The HDTV Classic Arts Showcase program feed: SES-1/ transponder #17 Upper (C-band).
Service name: Classic Arts HD. Satellite SES-1- 101º WL, Vertical Downlink, Transponder 17C Upper, Frequency 4048.4 MHz, Symbol Rate: 15.8 MS/s, Service data rate: Variable up to 8.0Mbps, MUX Data Rate**: 38.27mbps, FEC 5/6; Net ID: 3, Video PID/PCR PID: 1011 (Ox3F3) (H.264,ES descriptor type Ox1B), Audio PID: 1000 (Ox1B) (MPEG1L2, ES descriptor type 0x03), Format: DVB-S2, 8PSK, Service ID: 210.
Reception
''
The Kansas City Star
''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
'' television critic Aaron Barnhart has commented that "many of the selections are beyond the familiar –
Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
singing the
Ave Maria
The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...
,'
I Musici
I Musici (pronounced ), also known as I Musici di Roma, is an Italian chamber orchestra from Rome formed in 1951. They are well known for their interpretations of Baroque and other works, particularly Antonio Vivaldi and Tomaso Albinoni.
Among ...
belting out a
'Four Seasons' suite – but
..there are no annoying commercials or announcers to disrupt the relaxing ambiance on this TV channel." He wrote further, "Classical-music lovers will find it hard not to get roped in by the mix of ballet, operatic singing and instrumental pieces, most of them culled from old film stock or European music videos."
American art critic Alan Klevit, in a chapter of his book ''The Art Beat'', praises the programming available on Classic Arts Showcase, and, having the television channel in mind, explains that his "favorite show is not a show," but is, in fact, "a montage of videos spanning the arts." Klevit quips that CAS is "habit-forming", and confides that he is often "unwilling to turn the set off, for fear of missing a
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
vignette, or perhaps
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893February 27, 1993) was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", ...
, or
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
conducting the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosc ...
,
Rudolph Valentino
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
as ''
The Sheik'', or some other classic
ewill treasure."
Further reading
*
References
External links
*
Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation: Organizational Profile–
National Center for Charitable Statistics
The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) is a clearing house for information about the nonprofit sector of the U.S. economy. The National Center for Charitable Statistics builds national, state, and regional databases and develops sta ...
(
Urban Institute
The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that carries out economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations and pr ...
)
{{Public broadcasting in the United States
American public access television shows
Television networks in the United States
Commercial-free television networks
Cable television in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 1994
1994 establishments in California
Visual arts media