Yearly Archives: 2021
Singapore’s First Independent Arts Complex Is Closing, And The Arts Community There Is Worried
"The Substation was founded as Singapore's first independent arts centre in 1990 by theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun. The careers of some of Singapore's...
Wouldn’t It Have Made More Sense For Netflix To Just Buy Sony Pictures Outright?
Last week the video-rental-service-turned-streaming-giant paid an estimated $1 billion for five-year exclusive U.S. rights to Sony's theatrical releases and right of first refusal for...
Key Missing Link In History Of Alphabet Identified
"Archaeologists digging in the ancient Canaanite settlement of Lachish have unearthed a 3,500-year-old pottery shard inscribed with what they believe is the oldest text...
French Court Rules Art Galleries Must Remain Closed (Never Mind The Auction Houses)
Gallerists, angry that their competitors at auction houses were allowed to continue operating during France's ongoing pandemic lockdown, and arguing that online sales don't...
Gustavo Dudamel Is Paris Opera’s Next Music Director
The world's oldest opera company (founded in 1669 by Louis XIV) has signed one of the very few living conductors to become a celebrity...
New Stats: HipHop, Rap Now Account For 22 Percent Of Listening In UK
When BPI started recording data like this in the 1990s, rap music only counted for 3.6% of the singles market. In 2020, it was...
TV Viewing Down? Networks Protest Nielsen Data
Through the trade group Video Advertising Bureau, the networks are perplexed by Nielsen statistics that show the percentage of Americans who watched their televisions...
Louis Menand On The Pragmatism Of Lionel Trilling
As Menand puts it in his new book, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War, “Trilling thought that people’s literary preferences...
We Live In The Age Of The Ghostwriter
"In the age of texting and emailing, the world is full of Cyranos: Getting quick, surreptitious help writing high-stakes messages has never been easier,...
In The Netflix Era Does It Make Sense To Classify Movies?
Censorship ain’t what it used to be, including in Ireland. Here, as elsewhere, it’s been replaced by a different C-word. The last Irish film...
Does Grit Predict Success? Not Much Evidence
"As it turns out, there was never much in the literature to support either of the two ideas that launched grit on its way:...
Is It Really Possible For A Singer To Shatter A Glass With Her Voice?...
It can be done, but it's hardly easy or common, even for people with astounding voices. You have to be hitting just the right...
Benchmarking? Maybe Not
A guest post by actor/writer/arts administrator Selena Anguiano, who shares some concerns about the use of benchmarks in the process of pursuing equity in...
Community College Enrollment Plunges
The downward trend is occurring at community colleges across the country -- the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center recently reported a 9.5 percent decline at...
For The Guardian, At Least, Charitable Donations To Support News Are Actually Working
The newspaper/website raised $9 million through its dedicated US nonprofit alone over the past 12 months, and has been both active and transparent about...
Political Theatre Is Useless If It’s Just Preaching To The Choir – So What...
"When political theatre preaches to the choir, it removes its potential to disrupt. Indeed, by having such a laser focus on bringing “awareness” to...
Marketing Opera On TikTok (Maybe It Works!)
The Royal Opera House in London launched a TikTok channel last summer and has since picked up more than 400,000 followers, with some of...
The Louvre’s Director Is Mounting A Public Campaign To Keep His Job
"Jean-Luc Martinez, … whose job security has been a matter of public speculation for weeks, … has been on a media tour in recent...
Why Do Complex, Messy Spelling And Writing Systems So Rarely Get Reformed? Power
When they do get reformed, it's usually because autocrats force the changes through (as with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Mao Zedong). "A big reason...
The College That’s Brought Popping, Breaking, Hip Hop, And Other Urban Dance Styles Into...
The University of East London has offered a BA in "Dance: Urban Practice" (as the program is called) since 2007. Carla Trim-Vamben, the program's...
Respected Actors Doing Commercial Endorsements Used To Be Considered Déclassé. Not Any More.
"Not too long ago, stars aligning their images with multivitamins or prepaid debit cards might have been eyed skeptically, their efforts coded as a...
One Of The Movie Theater Chains That’s Closing Also Owns Cinerama Technology. What Happens...
"Pacific Theatres announced on Monday that it would close all of its locations, which include the ArcLight Hollywood and the historic Cinerama Dome. Not...
With Theatres Closed, Regular Folks Have Taken To Doing Play Readings On Zoom
"Over the past year, as many theaters worldwide have remained closed, online play reading groups have arisen to fill that dramatic gap, with more...
Time To Take Bernard Henri Levy Seriously?
For nearly half a century, Lévy has been one of the most visible public intellectuals in France and a master at manipulating philosophical and...
Sydney’s Major Museums Face Huge Funding Cuts From State Government
"The state government flagging multimillion-dollar cuts for the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences...
