Controversial: Where Our Speech Patterns Come From
Tracing the linguistic path of mmhmm, and many other words commonly used today, from West Africa to the U.S. South is difficult, is riddled with controversy — and experts say it has lingering effects on how the speech of African-Americans is perceived. … Read More
London’s National Theatre Commits To Telling Actors If They Haven’t Been Cast
“It is vital that we pay respect to the actors we meet by always acknowledging their work and contribution to the casting process, which is why the NT wholly supports the #YesOrNo initiative.” He added that while the NT is not always able to make decisions right away, it will let actors know if they have been successful as soon as possible. The #YesOrNo campaign was started after actors criticised the practice of not telling auditionees if that had been unsuccessful. … Read More
Closing Down UK Ticket Reselling Sites Won’t Stop Ticket Reselling
"Live music is the one part of the music industry generating sustained profits, which has meant that the balance of power has swung from record labels and artists to promoters such as Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster. The defence offered until now by Ticketmaster is that Seatwave existed to facilitate fans – both those wishing to offload tickets for an event they could not longer attend and anyone who’d missed out when a concert went on sale initially. It was undeniable, however, that professional resellers were milking the service for easy profits." … Read More
Aretha Is A Shooting Star (No, Really – They Named An Asteroid After Her)
249516 Aretha measures two to three kilometers, or less than two miles, across. It orbits between Mars and Jupiter, one of hundreds of thousands of known asteroids that reside between the two planets. It takes about five and a half years to make one trip around the sun. … Read More
Morality And US Higher Education, A (Fascinating) History
The transformation of American colleges and universities into corporate concerns is particularly evident in the maze of offices, departments and agencies that manage the moral lives of students. When they appeal to administrators with demands that speakers not be invited, that particular policies be implemented, or that certain individuals be institutionally sanctioned, students are doing what our institutions have formed them to do. They are following procedure, appealing to the institution to manage moral problems, and relying on the administrators who oversee the system. … Read More
3D Images Of The Uffizi’s Sculptures Are Now Online
The newly launched website, which was introduced at a ceremony in Florence last Tuesday, allows anyone with internet access to see and study the Uffizi’s world-class collection. Since the project was first announced in 2016, the Indiana University team recorded 3D scans of more than 300 artifacts, fragments, and sculptures under the direction of Indiana University informatics professor and virtual-archaeology expert Bernhard Frischer. … Read More
A Rock Critic Has His First Experience With Near-Total Silence
In the final entry of his 18-year column "Resonant Frequency," Mark Richardson writes about the joys of a life lived with music blasting through headphones (and for him, those joys are very real), and his middle-age exploration of silence, culminating in a visit to an anechoic chamber. … Read More
Clues To How Max Hollein Will Run The Met Museum?
Hollein, who as of this August is the Met’s tenth director, strikes many people as being preposterously well qualified for the position. Forty-nine years old and armed with degrees in art history and business administration, he has already directed five museums and overseen the fund-raising and building of a new wing for one of them. He’s curated shows that range from old-master art to Pablo Picasso and Jeff Koons, and delivered excellent admissions. He gets along equally well with artists, curators, board members, donors, and scholars. The only downside to his appointment is that he’s not a woman. … Read More
Time For Asian-Americans To Forgive ‘The Joy Luck Club’?
"If you want to see a community turn against an artwork that depicts them, make it the only one. If that artwork is by a woman, about women, and openly feminist, half the job's already done. ... [The Joy Luck Club's] greatest achievement — becoming the most prominent example of Asian-American representation on screen for a quarter century — is also what has relegated it to being a relic and, for many Asians, an embarrassment." Well, argues Inkoo Kang, it's time to get over all that. … Read More
Why Is Chinese Art Around The World Being Stolen?
In the face of China's repatriation campaign—and the recent robberies—museums are now scrambling. Some have stood their ground, arguing the legitimacy of their acquisitions or touting the value to the Chinese of sharing their culture abroad. Others have quietly shipped crates of art back to China, in hopes of avoiding trouble with either the thieves or the government. … Read More
A Color-Blind – Make That ‘Color-Inclusive’ – Film Of ‘David Copperfield’
In the upcoming adaptation by Armando Ianucci (Veep, The Death of Stalin), Dev Patel takes the title role, with black, Asian, and white actors spread throughout. Says producer Kevin Loader, "I think we felt this was how you'd get the best cast more than anything else. And suddenly you can have Benedict Wong coming in to play Mr. Wickfield, and he's hilarious. He wouldn't have been cast in the BBC version of David Copperfield." … Read More
Fifty Years After An Earthquake In Italy: A Radical Public Art Experiment
While such “Concrete Utopias” are now getting attention in museums, it was actually the concrete Utopian city of Gibellina Nuova that became an open-air laboratory for assessing the healing capabilities of public art. Today, 50 years since the earthquake struck, many look back on Carrao’s radical experiment in civic engagement, rehabilitation, and unification as a cautionary tale. But new efforts are now underway to realize a more pragmatic version of that utopian dream. … Read More
If There Can Be A Single Book That Defines Iran And Iranians, It’s This One
The 11th-century verse epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings), the longest poem ever written by a single author (Abolqasem Ferdowsi) is perhaps the single most important source of the history and lore of pre-Islamic Persian civilization. It's also considered the founding work of the modern Persian language, and some give it credit for the language's survival. … Read More
Banksy Protests A “Banksy” Show In Russia In Banksian Fashion
When Banksy’s correspondent implores the artist to put out a press release expressing his displeasure, he replies with appropriate irony: “Hmm—not sure I’m the best person to complain about people putting up pictures without getting permission.” Instead, it seems, he just chooses to post the text exchange as a dig at the Russian “Banksy” show. … Read More
Was This Woman The ‘Dark Lady’ Of Shakespeare’s Sonnets?
Emilia Bassano, five years younger than the playwright, the daughter of one of Queen Elizabeth's court musicians and the wife of another, ultimately became a published poet in her own right. Here's a look at what we actually know about her - and at the (circumstantial) evidence for her Dark Ladyhood. … Read More
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Chief Financial Officer
Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the American theatre, seeks a dynamic and entrepreneurial Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to assume a pivotal role in the overall management … [Read More]
V.S. Naipaul Remembered By Diana Athill, His (Twice-) Ex-Publisher
"The first time he left, I remember saying to André [Deutsch]: 'It's such a relief I don't have to make myself like him any more.' André roared with laughter and I realised he felt just the same. He was so moody and depressive. You only had to look at his face to see that he was genuinely suffering a lot of the time." … [Read More]
Cleveland Orchestra Begins Formal Investigation Of Harassment Claims Against Concertmaster
"The Cleveland Orchestra released a statement Thursday detailing the group it has appointed to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against suspended concertmaster William Preucil." … [Read More]
New York Times And Guardian Theatre Critics Get Together And Compare Their Greatest-Play Lists
Earlier this summer, the Times critics got together and hashed out their choices for the 25 best plays of the last 25 years; a month later, Guardian senior critic Michael Billington assembled his own list of Britain's best scripts from the last decade. And on "one very sticky afternoon last month," Brantley invited Billington over to his (un-air-conditioned) temporary London flat for a chat. … [Read More]
USC’s New Kaufman School Aims To Be A Harvard Of Dance
"In 2015, [the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance] opened its studios to its inaugural class, now poised to graduate. Their accomplishments are a testament to (and test of) Kaufman's unique approach: Grads will have studied a vast array of styles, spearheaded interdisciplinary projects, and completed a rigorous liberal arts education." And getting in isn't much easier than it is at Harvard, either. … [Read More]
Empty The Museums – Most Of What’s There Belongs Elsewhere
Simon Jenkins argues for the return not just of artifacts looted from other countries, but pretty much any art not created for a museum or gallery: "I want to see the Parthenon marbles as Phidias intended, even if recarved by a computerised jig. ... Sensible people would long ago have replicated them and sent the old ones back to Greece. ... So many great works – not all of them – derive meaning from where they originated. Malraux was right: a museum is without walls, a place of the imagination." … [Read More]
New York International Fringe Festival Splits Itself In Two
"One, FringeNYC will present over 80 staged productions in the West Village from Oct. 12-28, while FringeBYOV (bring your own venue) will involve venues in the boroughs outside Manhattan like the Irondale Center in Brooklyn and the Secret Theater in Queens selecting their own performers and shows (Oct. 1-31)." … [Read More]
The Ballet Stars In ‘Carousel’ Talk About How Different Being On Broadway Really Is
Brittany Pollack, Amar Ramasar, and choreographer Justin Peck are all members of New York City Ballet; Craig Salstein is a recent retiree from ABT. The four talk to Gia Kourlas about what they like about Broadway and what they find hard. ("Just the repetition of doing the same thing on my body — you have no recovery time. ... I land on the same knee every night.") … [Read More]
Philadelphia Orchestra Starts Program To Read New Scores By Women Composers
"The [Sept. 6] reading session in Verizon Hall isn't open to the public. But by inviting select decision-makers such as conductors and artistic administrators from other orchestras, the organizers aim to encourage further exposure and opportunities for these composers." What's more they'll each get to keep a recording of the reading, and a sample recording played by the Philadelphia Orchestra will make quite a calling card. … [Read More]
Being An Artist In Berlin Is A Bigger Struggle Than You Think: Survey
"Artists in Berlin, the most important contemporary art production centre worldwide after New York, are facing poverty, tiny pensions and a gender pay gap of 28%, a survey of 1,745 artists has shown." … [Read More]
Banksy Disavows First Show Of His Work In Russia; Organizer Says That Means Show’s A Success
Told of the show via his Instagram page, Banksy replied, "You know it's got nothing to do with me, right? I don't charge people to see my art unless there's a fairground wheel." On the other hand, he allowed, "[I'm] not sure I'm the best person to complain about people putting up pictures without getting permission." … [Read More]