AJBlogs

Carlos Simon, Composer-in-Residence of the Kennedy Center, shares the ethos behind his composing process that impacts communities.

"The media wants you to believe he was some saint of free speech, cut down in his prime. They're already sanding down the edges, turning a man who spent his career spewing bile into a martyr. But here's the truth: Kirk wasn't about dialogue, he was about domination. He wasn't about protecting liberty, he was laying the rhetorical groundwork for fascism." — Samuel Thompson

My just-published story Trucks and Tanks, runner-up in JerryJazzMusician.com‘s 69th short fiction contest and written three months ago, is all too timely in Chicago, DC, Boston today. “Trucks and Tanks” – a short story by Howard Mandel Trucks and tanks rolled down our leafy-treed, bungalow-lined street at dawn. I was already up, as usual, in my robe, t-shirt, sweaty...

It’s expensive, lazy, and a process rife with community red flags. But at least there are no money-back guarantees. ...

Terri Lyne Carrington (drummer, Inst. of Jazz & Gender Justice), Orbert Davis (trumpeter, “Immigrant Stories“) and Marc Ribot (guitarist, Music Workers Alliance) talked with me on The Buzz, podcast of the Jazz Journalists Association about their engagement with social issues. Long transcript posted for those who read faster than they listen. HOST : Hello and welcome to The Buzz, the podcast...

Leading an arts organization isn’t about luck—it’s about judgment. Hold when trust matters, fold when the model’s busted, and when the casino’s rigged? Start your own game in the parking lot.

Loki Karuna, Executive Director of American Composers Forum, shares his vision for ACF and the timely role of their “Recomposing America” initiative.

In May 2024 I wrote about the town of Vail, Colorado cancelling the artist-in-residency agreement with Danielle SeeWalker, before it even began, over complaints not of her planned art for Vail, but over other art previously made that she had reposted on social media, regarding Gaza. My post concluded with this: First, the cancellation of her artist-in-residency was not about any art...

The arts might be great for inspiration, but Sartre had it wrong. The ...

Felecia Kanney, VP of Marketing, Communications & Digital Media of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, shares the power of strategic storytelling and its impact on community.

It’s a game of chicken. If your arts organization yields, everyone loses. Wanna ...

Esa-Pekka Salonen Among my most-read blogs is “What’s An Orchestra For?” – Mulling Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Resignation from the San

David Stout, Professor of Composition Studies and Coordinator of the Initiative for Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts at the University of North Texas, shares how to utilize AI to generate extraordinary artistic outcomes.

As Kate Larsen so brilliantly puts it, a strategic planning session is not the same thing as a strategic plan ...

I felt impelled to write the long essay that follows after discovering Frank Costigliola’s acclaimed new biography of George Kennan.