Study: How Our Creativity Changes As We Get Older
"How does the ability to come up with unusual ideas change as we grow older? Does it begin to flag in adolescence? Before then? To investigate these questions, we and our colleagues recently conducted several experiments, which we relate in a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." … [Read More]
How To Encourage And Support Canadian Content? Cut Budgets?
"As streaming services erode the broadcasting business model and render Canadian content regulations less effective, critics have accused the industry of fighting over who gets the best deck chair on the Titanic... But cutting the money that TV producers can get from broadcasters for their best work seems an odd way to encourage them." … [Read More]
Are We Really In A Time Of “Post-Truth”? That Presumes A Lot
Post-truth’s stations of the cross are pretty familiar. Most if not all of them are given some attention in each of the books under review. In terms of contemporary evidence, any journalistic book on the subject will do what all three of the ones here do at some length. They pick over the global warming “debate”; over claims made in the Brexit referendum – especially the notorious £350 million figure on the side of the Vote Leave bus; and the various lies of the great orange elephant in the room, the forty-fifth President of the United States. The row over the crowd size at the Presidential inauguration, the “birther” conspiracy, “alternative facts”, “fake news” – it’s all here. Where they differ a little in their approaches is in how they unpick what led us here, and in their more or less … [Read More]
Instrument Designed By Leonardo da Vinci Is Built For The First Time
"The unusual instrument is a hybrid of elements from a harpsichord, an organ and a viola da gamba. It looks like a harpsichord and has a set of strings, but rather than being plucked, the strings press against rotating wheels covered in horse hair – the same mechanism that produces sound in string instruments." … [Read More]
You Want Diversity In The Arts? What About Political Diversity?
Should we care if art doesn’t reach the people who might learn something, reconsider a point of view, or see the dangers of a current value or belief? … [Read More]
The Kennedy Center Honors Have Been Politicized. It May Be Difficult To Restore Their Place
"The Honors may be governed and selected by a nonprofit institution occupying a national memorial, but they are what passes in this country for knighthoods for the performing arts: the highest-profile awards bestowed for lifetime achievement in popular and high culture. Now that the culture wars have intervened, stoked by a president who has alienated many artists throughout the nation, one wonders whether the political taint will be so easily removed." … [Read More]
Venezuela Cancels Dudamel Tour
The cancellation was first reported by El Nacional, which reported that the decision came from the office of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. It came days after Mr. Maduro openly mocked Mr. Dudamel, who is arguably Venezuela’s most important cultural export — and who, as the product of the El Sistema music program, has been an international symbol of the power of the nation’s government-supported social programs. … [Read More]
Study: Millennials Don’t Watch, Don’t Like, Classic Movies
A new study finds that less than a quarter of millennials have watched a film from start to finish that was made back in the 1940s or 50s and only a third have seen one from the 1960s. Thirty percent of young people also admit to never having watched a black and white film all the way through – as opposed to 85 percent of those over 50 – with 20 percent branding the films “boring.” … [Read More]
Museum Visitor Steps On, Damages Yves Klein Artwork
“Even though we have several safety measures (warning signs, a partial barrier and a guard), the man was too fascinated [with the other work] to notice all of that,” a museum spokeswoman tells The Art Newspaper. … [Read More]
In The Age Of The Internet, Is There Any Point To Protests And Demonstrations?
"What has protest done for us lately? Smartphones and social media are supposed to have made organizing easier, and activists today speak more about numbers and reach than about lasting results. Is protest a productive use of our political attention? Or is it just a bit of social theatre we perform to make ourselves feel virtuous, useful, and in the right?" … [Read More]
How Statistics Have Lost Their Ability To Pursuade
"Rather than diffusing controversy and polarisation, it seems as if statistics are actually stoking them. Antipathy to statistics has become one of the hallmarks of the populist right, with statisticians and economists chief among the various “experts” that were ostensibly rejected by voters in 2016. Not only are statistics viewed by many as untrustworthy, there appears to be something almost insulting or arrogant about them. Reducing social and economic issues to numerical aggregates and averages seems to violate some people’s sense of political decency." … [Read More]
Turkey Sues Wealthy Art Collector And Christie’s Over 5000-Year-Old Stone Idol
The dispute has cast an awkward spotlight on a closely held company better known for its discretion as well as on a hedge-fund pioneer -- and a member of Christie's advisory board -- who has repeatedly been caught up in disputes about the provenance of antiquities linked to him. … [Read More]
Richard Florida’s Creative Class Problem
After fifteen years of development plans tailored to the creative classes, Florida surveys an urban landscape in ruins. The story of London is the story of Austin, the Bay Area, Chicago, New York, Toronto, and Sydney. When the rich, the young, and the (mostly) white rediscovered the city, they created rampant property speculation, soaring home prices, and mass displacement. The “creative class” were just the rich all along, or at least the college-educated children of the rich. … [Read More]
Can Arizona Theatre Company’s New Director Make It More Diverse?
As the state’s only member of the elite-tier League of Resident Theatres, with a $7 million budget and audiences in both Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona Theatre Company is better equipped than any other Valley company to be a leader on the issues of equity and representation for women and people of color — which, ironically enough, makes Ivers, who formerly led the Utah Shakespeare Festival, something of a “great white hope” for theater diversity here. … [Read More]
The Dramatic Courage Of Taking Artistic Selfies (OK, Self-Portraits) During The Cultural Revolution
This was a move against erasure. "'For me and my generational peers, this period of history is unforgettable, almost beyond belief,' Mr. Wang, now 67, said in an interview. 'Our entire youth was taken away. We didn’t fight a war, we didn’t learn anything, and when we came home, many of us couldn’t find jobs. We had nothing to show for ourselves.'" … [Read More]
Premium Classifieds
Director of Programming – The Joyce Theater, New York City
The Joyce Theater, located in the heart of Chelsea in New York City, is among the world’s best presentation venues for dance. With a 472-seat house, the theater was established by dancers for dance in … [Read More]
Banff Centre Leadership Programs | Register Today
Step into your creative potential. Banff Centre Leadership programs prepare and empower leaders to make an impact in a rapidly shifting world. Our programs integrate the power of the arts, the wisdom … [Read More]
Executive Director – West Michigan Symphony
West Michigan Symphony seeks an Executive Director with proven leadership and development abilities who holds a passion for music and music education, embraces a collaborative management style and has … [Read More]
Does British Theatre Have A Toilet Problem? Let’s Do A Survey…
Yes, seriously: "A nationwide survey on access to toilets in theatres has been launched. The Association of British Theatre Technicians, which is running the survey, hopes it will help to address 'issues of accessibility and inclusivity.'" … [Read More]
In Venezuela’s Turmoil, Gustavo Dudamel Has Become A Target – And Helped Win A Release For An Imprisoned Violinist…
Los Angeles' "Dudamel was involved in the talks to release Wuilly Arteaga, a Venezuelan violinist who gained a following on social media for playing music in the middle of violent street protests against President Nicolas Maduro. National guard forces arrested Arteaga during a demonstration last month; he was released Tuesday." … [Read More]
Leslie Jones (Or Maybe Society) Has Come A Long Way Since Last Year’s Twitter Debacle…
Jones on making fun of getting hacked by racist, sexist haters after Ghostbusters came out: "That’s what comics do. You’re not a good comic if you don’t face your pain right off. That’s like the No. 1 rule on a comic’s list. You help a lot of people when you do that. You can’t ignore the elephant — you’ve got to make the elephant laugh. Me and the elephant are friends." … [Read More]
What’s It Like Being A Black Female Millennial Composer At The BBC Proms?…
Hannah Kendall: "I’m a millennial composer! I have to make money to survive financially in London. I realised early on you need a range of skills for that. As a composer it’s incredibly helpful for me to understand press and marketing and fundraising, as I’m likely to have to do it for myself. It’s not so easy juggling working in an office with teaching composition at the Junior Royal Academy of Music and then trying to write your own stuff." … [Read More]
When Sue Grafton Started Her Series With ‘A Is For Alibi,’ Few People Knew She’d Get To The End Of The Alphabet…
How did this all get started? Grafton says, "I was reading an Edward Gorey cartoon book called 'The Gashlycrumb Tinies.' And that's little pen-and-ink drawings of Victorian children being done in in various ways. A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs. B is for Basil, assaulted by bears. C for Claire, who - you know, and on down the alphabet. I thought, what a keen idea." … [Read More]
A Long-Lost Banksy Is Rediscovered After Being Vandalized And Boarded Up…
Wow: "Known as the Snorting Copper and considered an exemplary image by the elusive graffiti artist, it shows a uniformed policeman on his hands and knees snorting a line of cocaine." … [Read More]
Songs For The Eclipse…
Yes, there's an obvious number one. And then a few more. (Each song lasts longer than the totality in most of the totality zone, but never mind that.) … [Read More]
Cambridge University Press Knuckles Under To Pressure From The Chinese Government…
This is not great: "In a letter made public on social media on Friday, the editor of the journal, Tim Pringle, said Cambridge University Press had informed him that the authorities had ordered it to censor more than 300 articles related to issues like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the Cultural Revolution. The publishing house’s site risked being shut down if it did not comply with the request, the letter said." … [Read More]
The NYT’s Holland Cotter: Don’t Destroy Confederate Monuments…
The resident art critic says to move them instead. "My reasons are pragmatic. When you find yourself at a crime scene, you don’t destroy evidence. You preserve it for the prosecution. In the case of images like this, the prosecutor is history, and the trial may be a long one, stretching far into the future, with many witnesses called. Rush to judgment and drastic action should be resisted." … [Read More]
Here’s An Artist Building Colorful Bungalows To Highlight The Housing Crisis In The UK…
Richard Woods: "There’s one house in the harbour, floating around – somebody heard through gossip in the town that it was going to be floated to Calais and back again. Some people are genuinely interested in whether “boat people” will move into the houses. But then lots of people in the town completely get the project." … [Read More]