“Once upon a time, the rules were clear. The critic, employed full-time at a major newspaper, attended a show on opening night with tickets paid for by the publications, then ran into a smoky, booze-soaked writing room to pound out an analysis before a 10:30pm deadline, dictating copy over the telephone to a waiting stenographer.”
Archives for November 2015
A Ballet School In Rio De Janeiro’s Favela Gives Girls A Chance
“‘For the girls here, ballet is a life experience,’ said 20-year-old instructor Tuany Nascimento, who started the ‘Na Ponta dos Pés’ project in 2012. … ‘Every plié and jump they make is a step closer to entering college, or getting their dream job.'”
The Gentrification Of D.C. Is Killing A Longtime Go-Go Tradition
“For almost 40 years, go-go has musically defined the nation’s capital. The beat has provided a proud cultural and musical tradition attracting generations of fans. But in recent years, gentrification has threatened the musical genre’s hold over the city. ‘The state of D.C. is not D.C. anymore, it’s not Chocolate City,’ says Anwan ‘Big G’ Glover of Backyard Band.”
The Man Who Makes ‘Hamilton’ Sound Good
“You would never expect to find a banjo in a hip-hop band, but ‘The Room Where it Happens’ just cried for it. That to me is probably my single greatest idea in the whole show, only because it’s so quirky and is so of the style of the music. It’s so Kander and Ebb-y, Dixieland, so I just sat down to orchestrate it, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘What can the guitar do?’ And literally in a flash of light, I’m like, ‘Oh my god, it could be a banjo!'”
Tehran Symphony Orchestra Banned From Event 15 Minutes Before Performance Because Organizers Suddenly Didn’t Want Women Onstage
“‘I was offended and said it was impossible for me to accept such an insult,’ Rahbari added. ‘We either play all together or we leave.'”
Why Is ‘Macbeth’ So Great Onscreen When It Often Bombs Onstage?
“Film’s ability to glide from the supernatural panorama to the eyes of the protagonist is a boon for a play in which the outer world uncannily mirrors the unconscious life of the protagonist.”
What It Costs To Run A (New York) Gallery
“Veteran art dealers report that some big things have changed to make it more difficult, and less profitable, to run an art gallery—even in what’s been, at least for the past few years, a booming market for Contemporary art. Basic expenses are way up, from the proliferation of far-flung art fairs (a slew begin this week in Miami) and rising rent, to climbing insurance and storage costs. A lot else is different, too.”
How Freeways Destroyed American Cities
Urban freeways displaced communities and created air and noise pollution in downtown areas. They made it easier for suburban commuters to “zip to their suburban homes at the end of the work day, encouraging those with means to abandon the urban core.”
Renowned Artist: Digital Images Lie
“Don McCullin, one of the world’s finest photographers of war and disaster, said the digital revolution meant viewers could no longer trust the truthfulness of images they see.”
The 50 Most Exciting Artists Of 2015?
Artnet makes a list.
How Adele Got Millions Of People To Buy Her New Album
Adele appears to have activated millions of customers for whom making a purchase is viewed as a sign of devotion and support for the artist they love.
Safety Issue: Portland School Cancels Dance
A Portland Public Schools official says dancing has made some students feel unsafe.
Lack Of Diversity: Women Playwrights
In San Diego last summer, at the national conference of the Dramatists Guild, the results of a major research project called “The Count” found that of some 2,500 productions sampled nationwide, only about 22 percent were of works by female writers.
How Many Books In The NY Public Library?
In just the past decade, vexingly different figures have been reported — 1.8 million in The New York Times in 2009, four million by The Associated Press in 2013.
The Precarious Lot Of Museum Education Workers
“Perhaps the most glaring incongruity to educators’ employment is that while they are crucial to the museums’ long-term public engagement, these are freelancers, hourly waged workers-for-hire who lack the job security of a full-time, salaried position.”
When Will TV Get Terrorism Right?
“There’s been no shortage of writers and actors who have been willing to go to difficult places and wrestle with moral quandaries in the past decade or two, but when will TV begin to robustly confront the evils that ideological struggles have brought us in recent months and years?”
Project Aims To Recreate Famous Art In 3D For Blind People
The Unseen Art project aims to approach 3D artists to contribute interpretations of famous artworks, which could then be downloaded for free and printed out anywhere there is a 3D printer.
Membership Has Its Advantages: Modigliani Buyer Charges $170M Painting On His Amex Card
“Liu was the winning bidder for Amedeo Modigliani’s Reclining Nude at a Christie’s auction earlier this month, offering $170.4 million — and when the sale closes, he’ll be putting it on his American Express card.”
Why Are People Paying For Adele’s New Album?
“Album sales are profitable, but they are not the future of the music business—streaming is. Could it be possible that the record business, pursuing a strategy of inflating sales by keeping an album off Spotify, Apple Music, or Deezer, is choosing short-term profits over long-term growth?”
Hating On Holiday Music? Why? (A Defense)
“Unlike December’s retail madness, the music is divorced from commercial machinations and chaos; it’s about slowing down and homing in on what matters. In this way, seasonal tunes have an almost childlike outlook.”
Funding Shift: UK Arts Orgs Now Raising Almost As Much From Donations As From Government
Fundraising income is catching up with public funding as a source of income for Arts Council England’s (ACE) National Portfolio Organisations.
Leading Saudi Artist Sentenced To Death. Why?
“In May last year, Ashraf Fayadh was sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes. But on 17 November, another judge in the court of Abha in southern Saudi Arabia ruled that Fayadh be executed for apostasy.”
Do Arts Workers Need A Union?
“When the choice comes down to sacrificing the quality of a product, or sacrificing the physical and mental well-being of the laborers who make that product, there needs to be someone looking out for the workers.”
Feeling Complacent? Here’s Why
Information is now prized more than wisdom; journalistic punditry has ousted authentic thought. And today “nothing, it seems, is more conducive to the love of one’s neighbor than the sharing of identically branded products.”
Reinventing A Venerable Venue For Musicals
Although the organization is financially stable (thanks in no small part to a $23 million endowment, one of the largest for a regional theater in America), the size of the main theater (398 seats) severely limits how much the theater can generate in ticket sales, even though it has the largest subscription base in the state at 15,000. So it has to depend on other revenue streams.
Subscribers Deserting Disney TV Networks
“Disney’s cable TV channels in general have been losing subscribers for two years running, presumably as consumers cord-cut or cord-shave, taking much of their viewing online with Hulu, Netflix and others.”
Met Museum Reconcieves The Whitney’s Old Home
“On March 18, the museum will unveil the Met Breuer, better known as the former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art. The Met’s annexation of the building prompted an initial burst of skepticism.”
Canadian TV Is Screwed
“For now. The old advertising model has been shattered and nobody knows what the looming pick-and-pay change is going to do to the specialty channel menu.”
Privacy On The Internet? What’s The Reasonable Expectation?
“In reality, the internet is more like a bustling city than a hydra. There are glitzy neighbourhoods: safe, family-friendly and with well-lit streets. But there also are seedy underbellies to be navigated only by those in the know, as well as plenty of dark alleys, forgotten corners and hidden haunts.”
One Of The Largest English-Language Bookstores In The World Is… In Islamabad
With his passion for books, Saeed Jan Qureshi built one of the biggest bookstores in the world — mostly selling books in English, in a country where that is a second language for most people.