Plagued By Politeness?
This sort of thing is everywhere. Children and adults will often say “no offence” before or after saying something crushingly offensive, or introduce a nasty remark with a phrase along the lines of “I wouldn’t want you to think I’m nasty, but…” Politicians sometimes say “with respect” to interviewers before making clear their contempt for the question. There’s nothing new about rhetorical devices that let you have your cake and eat it—“not to mention the weather” gives speakers the chance both to mention that blasted weather and to leave it out. But the subgenre of such remarks that tries to dictate in advance how its targets might categorise it, and by extension the character of whoever might be saying it, does seem to be a recent and peculiar development. … Read More
Study: Hollywood Is Getting Less Diverse
The results of the annual study show that in 2017, just 16% of films were directed by women and only 10% came from film-makers of color, the latter statistic at the lowest it’s been since the DGA started reporting in 2013. The figures emerge in a year that saw notable successes for minority directors, including Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird. … Read More
How Opera Philadelphia Became The Most Forward-Thinking Company In America
Opera Philadelphia has steadily built its reputation over the last decade as one of the top-tier companies in the world for commissioning (and co-commissioning) new works. In 2017, the nonprofit company launched its new programming model, with an ambitious—and wildly successful—fall festival called O17. … Read More
How Music Gets Into Our Brain And Messes With It
Understanding the mechanisms of violated expectations in music elucidates some of the basic functions of learning, memory, and our perception of time. Along with enhancing our understanding of music, the study of how we process expectations, and learn to revel in ambiguity and uncertainty, is important in understanding how we appreciate many aspects of art and life that involve solving puzzles and deciphering codes, from poetry to painting, science to math. … Read More
Why Has American Theatre Declined In The Past 30 Years?
In America, nothing sucks the oxygen out of the room with more deadly force than financial success. Musicals are booming, so that is where all the attention and money is streaming, a sweet spot that magically unites commerce, branding, and universities. This is not to say there have not been terrific songfests over the past 25 years. Just that it explains why our most talented stage practitioners are not writing plays, but working hard at scoring with the latest lucrative singing/dancing sensation. … Read More
Martin Amis: Writers Have To Expect Something Different From Readers
"I think most writers are wedded to social realism, these days — social realism is the only genre left. And there’s been a contraction, as I was saying, of what you can expect from the reader. It’s not a conscious decision to cease to be as complex as you might once have been; it’s just going with the flow of things. It was Trilling, wasn’t it, who said we like complex books? The truth is, we may once have liked them, but we don’t anymore." … Read More
Who And What Are The ‘Angel Shadows’ In Broadway’s ‘Angels In America’?
"The Angel Shadows — three dancers and two puppeteers — are one of the most remarkable elements about this Tony Award-winning production, directed by Marianne Elliott. Through intricate choreography and cues, the Shadows are responsible for propelling the Angel into the air and operating her heavy wings." Gia Kourlas talks to the designers who came up with the idea and some of the performers who enact it. … Read More
The Indie Movies That Dealt With The AIDS Crisis Back Before Tom Hanks Won That Oscar
Benjamin Lee looks at the making of the mid-1980s titles Buddies (shot in nine days in 1985), the TV movie An Early Frost (on which NBC lost $500,000 after advertisers fled; it went on to win four Emmys), Parting Glances, and Longtime Companion. … Read More
Why Oprah Winfrey Has Mattered For 35 Years
Wesley Morris: "The more she empowered us to speak, the better she got at knowing how her emotional algorithm could supply us with books and feelings and tools for betterment. And she took real risks to better understand this country, too. ... Oprah didn't do this work alone. She helped us do it. She was a platform. She was Facebook. Forget the presidency. She was the facilitator in chief." … Read More
‘I Accuse, Therefore I Am’ – John Cameron Mitchell On How Queer Culture Has Changed In The 20 Years Since He Created Hedwig
"In the US, people have turned their energies to each other because they can't do much about who is on top of the power structure. ... [There's an] oppression olympics [in which] outrage becomes proof of existence. ... [The] grievances are real and our intentions are good, [but we are] looking for flaws, instead of looking for things in common." … Read More
Dance/NYC’s Harwell Joins Ford Foundation
Executive Director Lane Harwell will transition from Dance/NYC this summer to join the Ford Foundation as Program Officer, Creativity and Free Expression, where he will support the foundation’s explorations of how the arts can contribute to fairer and more just societies. … Read More
Here’s Some Real Dish About Simon Rattle’s Relationship With The Berlin Philharmonic
"At the end of Rattle's 16-year tenure as music director of the orchestra, their relationship is not unlike a couple that’s been married for too long. ... 'The orchestra doesn't look at him anymore,” one string player familiar with the situation in the orchestra said. ... Rattle is 'the nicest and most diplomatic guy on the planet,' [a] former member of the Karajan Academy said. 'But particularly with this orchestra, if the conductor isn't demanding something bigger than themselves, it's a free-for-all.'" … Read More
It’s Time For Miami To Get A Real, Full-Time Professional Orchestra
"Local cynics will contend that Miami can never support a professional symphony orchestra, either financially or in terms of a regular audience. Yet ... Miami today is a very different place than the city was when the Florida Philharmonic ceased operations nearly fifteen years ago. ... There is clearly a new audience in place for concerts in downtown Miami as the Cleveland performances have proved. Unlike in past decades, Miami now has a first-class performing arts facility." … Read More
PBS And Member Stations Working On New Subscription Streaming Model
"PBS is strategizing with stations on how to package national and local content into an over-the-top 'skinny bundle,' potentially creating an entirely new channel for the younger viewers who are willing to pay for live streaming services. That partnership deal, a first for PBS, could come within the next six months." … Read More
Did They Just Find The Oldest Surviving Work By Leonardo Da Vinci?
"A small square tile with the profile image of a beautiful angel has been claimed not only as the earliest surviving work by Leonardo da Vinci, but as his own self-portrait as the Archangel Gabriel. If genuine the tile has survived miraculously unbroken for more than 500 years, since the 18-year-old artist made it in 1471. The claim – dismissed out of hand by the world renowned Leonardo expert Martin Kemp – is certain to spark academic debate." … Read More
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Director of Development, Arts Everywhere at UNC-Chapel Hill
UNC’s Arts Everywhere Initiative seeks Dir. of Development to lead efforts to secure external funding from individual & institutional donors to advance Arts Everywhere’s campus-wide mission – to … [Read More]
Five-Year-Old Knocks Over And Breaks $132K Sculpture In Museum, And Insurer Says Parents Must Pay For It
"Surveillance video recorded last week at the Tomahawk Ridge Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas, shows two young boys running around and playing with each other while a group of adults sat and chatted nearby. It was all fun and games until one 5-year-old decided to stop and admire the art." … [Read More]
Audiobooks Get Stronger Physiological Response Than Movies Do: Study
"UCL, in collaboration with audiobook giant Audible, measured the physical reactions of 102 participants aged between 18 and 67 to audio and video depictions of scenes from [well-known] books ... According to the study, while the participants reported that the videos were “more engaging” than the audiobooks by about 15% on average, their physiological responses told a different story, with heart rates higher by about two beats a minute, and body temperatures raised by roughly two degrees when listening to audiobooks." … [Read More]
Audiobook Sales Up By More Than 20% In Past Year
"Based on information from responding publishers, the [Audio Publishers] Association estimates that audiobook sales in 2017 totaled more than US$2.5 billion, up 22.7 percent over 2016, and with a corresponding 21.5-percent increase in units. This continues a six-year audiobook trend of double-digit growth year-over-year." And the accompanying consumer study explores the advantages listeners find in the format. … [Read More]
Pasadena Museum Of California Art’s Board Votes To Close Down (Can It Be Saved?)
"The Pasadena Museum of California Art, that Modernist beacon that has swooped above East Union Street since 2002, will close its doors at the end of the current exhibition," according to a slightly odd vote by the institution's directors. Columnist Larry Wilson looks at the PMCA's unusual situation and wonders if some individuals or institution might step in. … [Read More]
Miami City Ballet Hires New Executive Director
Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, a Miami native who has spent the last two years at the helm of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, will take the reins at MCB later this summer. "Thursday's announcement noted that under Castroverde Moskalenko’s leadership the Auditorium 'experienced a significant financial turnaround ... and is projected to end Fiscal Year 2018 in August with a surplus." … [Read More]
Tom Hanks Improvises As Falstaff While Medics Deal With Emergency In Audience
Last week, during a Los Angeles performance of Shakespeare's Henry IV starring Hamish Linklater as Prince Hal and Hanks as Falstaff, an audience member passed out from dehydration. As paramedics were stabilizing the patient under the seating risers, "never breaking from his tragicomic role of Falstaff, Hanks addressed the crowd and even started pulling people on stage." (includes video) … [Read More]
How Bollywood Broke The Shackles Of Silliness And Started Addressing Serious Women’s Issues
"This is the summer the vibrator arrives in Bollywood. No woman in the 105-year history of the Hindi film industry has ever pleasured herself. But this month, in the blockbuster Veere Di Wedding and Netflix's Lust Stories, no fewer than three women are featured in onanistic embrace. It is one sign of the rapid change under way in India's most prolific cultural industry. The past decade has seen Bollywood's first gay kiss, a hit film about sanitary towels and the industry's highest-ever grossing film – about the lives of two female wrestlers." … [Read More]
After Tumultuous Year, Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Executive Director Resigns
"[Frances] Turner's two and a half years at the head of New Zealand's national ballet company were marred by trouble at the end of last year, when the board commissioned an independent review to investigate claims of workplace bullying and foreign dancers being preferred over New Zealanders. The review eventually cleared RNZB of those allegations but did make some recommendations for how [things] could be improved." … [Read More]
New EU Copyright Law Could Block Legitimate Legal Content
The effect would be similar to how YouTube tries to detect and block copyrighted audio and video from being posted on its site, but it would be applied to all types of content, including text, images, and software, as well as audio and video. Critics say this section of the proposal, Article 13, would lead to legitimate content, such as satire or short excerpts, being blocked even outside the EU. … [Read More]
Live Nation Wired Up Fans At A Concert With Biometrics. Here’s What They Discovered
At a Cannes Lions presentation this week, Live Nation unveiled the results of the experiment and, unfortunately for music-loving homebodies, they show that dragging yourself to a concert on a Friday will result in three times more emotional intensity than listening to a recorded album alone in your bedroom, wearing sweatpants and eating Wheaties. … [Read More]