The Case For Simpler Grant-Giving

ISSUES Posted: January 26, 2021 9:29 am

“Are we giving to organizations that are actually doing the best work? Or are we giving to organizations that are giving us the best grants?” – WestWord

Lookback: on being sworn in to the National Council on the Arts

From 2005: I am now officially the Honorable Terry Teachout, having been sworn in this morning (together with Gerard Schwarz and James Ballinger) as a member of the National Council on the Arts. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-03-02
Almanac: Flannery O’Connor on inhibited families

“I come from a family where the only emotion respectable to show is irritation. In some this tendency produces hives, in others literature, in me both.” Flannery O’Connor, letter to Betty Hester,... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-03-02
Pandemic Polemics: Metropolitan Museum’s Off-Key NPR Message vs. Cleveland’s Harmonious Storage Show

The Metropolitan Museum’s premature revelation that it might take advantage of the Association of Art Museum Directors’ relaxed deaccession standards, by selling art to help pay for “care of the collection,” was... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2021-03-01
Just because: Flannery O’Connor appears in a 1932 newsreel

A five-year-old Flannery O’Connor appears in a rare 1932 Pathé newsreel segment about a chicken she taught to walk backwards: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-03-01
Almanac: Flannery O’Connor on writers and their childhood

“I think you probably collect most of your experience as a child—when you really had nothing else to do—and then transfer it to other situations when you write. Flannery O’Connor, letter to... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-03-01
Afa Dworkin Talks Diversity & Arts Leadership

Afa Dworkin, President & Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization speaks about the importance of diversity in the arts and leadership attributes that empower organizational excellence.... Read more

Source: Aaron Dworkin Published on: 2021-02-27
More on live jazz streaming, Chicago to Zurich and beyond

Saxophonist Chico Freeman, a third-generation Chicago jazzman, live-streams his new international band from Zurich on Saturday 2/27 at 2:30 pm ET, and I moderated their Zoom talk of coming together for the... Read more

Source: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published on: 2021-02-26
Joseph Brodsky on the Life of Books

On the whole, books are less finite than ourselves. Even the worst among them outlast their authors. ... Often they sit on the shelves absorbing dust long after the writer himself has... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2021-02-26
Simply splendid Sondheim

In today’s Wall Street Journal, I review Signature Theatre’s Simply Sondheim and the Mint Theater Company revival of Hazel Ellis’ Women Without Men. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Lovers of large-scale musicals have been... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-02-26
Almanac: Tennessee Williams on theatrical characters

“The theatre is a place where one has time for the problems of people to whom one would show the door if they came to one’s office for a job.” Tennessee Williams... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-02-26
What Patricia Highsmith wrought

In today’s Wall Street Journal, I write about Patricia Highsmith. Here’s an excerpt. * * * The next time you watch a movie or TV series about a heartless serial killer, say a silent word... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-02-25
Almanac: Samuel Butler on sickness

“I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better.” Samuel Butler, The Way of... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-02-25
The Relativity Switch

This story may sound like a metaphor. But it’s actually a case-in-point: When preparing to launch the Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (NTS-2) in 1977, the NAVSTAR GPS engineering team was in a... Read more

Source: The Artful Manager Published on: 2021-02-24
Lawrence Ferlinghetti Dies at 101 His Pictures of a Gone World Remain

A literary era passes. It was already past, yet it still has influence. Maybe the biggest. Because ArtsJournal was down yesterday—I know not why—I couldn’t post this. The world didn't miss it.... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2021-02-24
Snapshot: Lieber and Stoller appear on What’s My Line?

Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller appear as the mystery guests on What’s My Line? John Daly is the host and the panelists include Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Vincent Price. This episode was originally... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-02-24
Almanac: Robert Benchley on sneezing

“I am pretty sure that, if you will be quite honest, you will admit that a good rousing sneeze, one that tears open your collar and throws your hair into your eyes,... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-02-24
Gary Lee-Nova: ‘Oblique Trajectories’

A survey exhibition of the artist's work over more than four decades. The exhibition at the Burnaby Art Gallery in Burnaby, B.C., Canada, will run until April 18, 2021.... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2021-02-23
The Library Is Closed

...and thoughts come in verse: 'The stone lion at the gate / wears a mask like mine. / This is where I used to wait / for books that bind / that... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2021-02-21
The Sleep of Dreams

A contemporary artist visualizes an idea by the 17th-century 'father of modern philosophy.'... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2021-02-21