AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- How Alan Cumming Is Transforming A Small Scottish Theatre
His vision was to turn Pitlochry Festival Theatre into both an artistic retreat and a producing powerhouse. It was to invite exciting creatives to Perthshire and create and premiere a show, then for that show to be sent on to London, New York and elsewhere. – The Stage
- Oops: Book Returned To Public Library 150 Years Late
- It’s Not Just Homer. Gertrude Stein Is Having A Moment, Too.
“Something’s in the air: My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, published last month by FSG, is just one in a recent cluster of genre-spanning books that interpret, adapt, and play with Stein’s legacy, as well as that of her longtime partner Alice B. Toklas.” – Publishers Weekly
- Are We Headed To Culture Collapse?
Given worsening inequality, political polarisation, falling fertility, resource shortages and global conflicts, Wilson argues that we are hurtling towards the same end as ancient Rome, the Mayan civilisation and every other sophisticated society before us. – The Guardian
- A New Company For Dancers Over 40
Musicians and fine artists can play and paint until they die, and actors can age onstage. But the body is the instrument of dance. There is no other violin to polish, no other paintbrush or color except that. The maintenance of the body is essential to the capacity of performance.” – Pointe Magazine
ISSUES
- The ARTnews List Of America’s 30 Best Art Museums
“For this list, we focused primarily on the breadth and distinction of each institution’s permanent collection. Additional considerations included the strength of its temporary exhibition program and the grandeur of its architecture.” – ARTnews
- Staffers At All Of V&A’s London Locations Vote To Authorize Strike
The union’s dispute with management is over pay, working conditions, and the museum deciding not to seek living-wage accreditation. Staffers at the new V&A Storehouse in particular complain of inadequate restroom breaks and chances to get water, comparing conditions there to those at an Amazon warehouse. – The Guardian
- New York State Museum Accused Of Fraud
Federal investigators said high-ranking administrators at the New York State Museum in Albany directed a subordinate to falsify time sheets, allowing the state to improperly draw down $597,624 in federal grants from 2020 to 2022. – The New York Times
- Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, One Of Frank Gehry’s Last Buildings, Finally Has An Opening Date
“After a slew of delays and controversies, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has finally narrowed down its big debut to a single day: December 11. The winter inauguration keeps the museum (just about) on track to open in 2026, as previously promised, but arrives two decades after the mammoth museum project was first announced in 2006.” – Artnet
- A Chagall Etching Is Liberated After Languishing For 20 Years In Customs
The etching, L’Acrobate au violon (1924), and another work were confiscated from a shipment of art being taken from France to Switzerland in 2005 after French agents determined that the items weren’t authorized to leave the country. The pieces were rediscovered after two decades, and the Chagall is now on display in Besançon. – Artnet
MEDIA
- Director Ruth Mackenzie, Sacked From Paris’s Théâtre Du Châtelet In 2020, Joins UK Prime Minister’s New Government
Following her abrupt firing, she went to direct Australia’s Adelaide Festival, then quit two years early to work in South Australia’s state government. Nine months after that, she departed for London to head the British Council. One year later, Mackenzie is now in the House of Lords as Under-Secretary for the Arts. – Limelight (Australia)
- Italian Theatres, Mt. Olympus Added As World Heritage Sites
Meeting in Busan, South Korea, for its 48th session from July 19 to 29, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee inscribed 19 cultural sites, five natural environments, and one property exhibiting both cultural and ecological significance. – Artnet
- Two Of Dallas’s Largest Performing Arts Institutions Are Merging
The AT&T Performing Arts Center — which includes the Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre, Annette Strauss Square, and Sammons Park — and one of its five resident companies, Dallas Theater Center, plan to combine administrations and many operations, with DTC becoming ATTPAC’s producing arm. – KERA (Dallas)
- Interlochen Center Issues Report On History Of Sexual Misconduct By Faculty
“The 97-page report spells out some 70 instances of sexual misconduct by multiple former faculty and staff spanning seven decades. … None of the 47 people accused in the report is currently employed by Interlochen. And owing to the amount of time that has passed, about a third of those accused are now dead.” – Interlochen Public Radio
- Performing Arts Centers In Australia’s “Second Cities” Form A Network
Four of Australia’s leading regional performing arts organisations have joined forces to establish a new national pathway for developing and presenting large-scale Australian theatre, backed by funding from Creative Australia. – Limelight
MUSIC
- Oops: Book Returned To Public Library 150 Years Late
- It’s Not Just Homer. Gertrude Stein Is Having A Moment, Too.
“Something’s in the air: My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, published last month by FSG, is just one in a recent cluster of genre-spanning books that interpret, adapt, and play with Stein’s legacy, as well as that of her longtime partner Alice B. Toklas.” – Publishers Weekly
- Grandparents Are Giving Their Grandkids Personalized AI-Slop Children’s Books, Driving Parents Nuts
“If the odds are against parents who disapprove of artificial intelligence, it’s because there’s an entire ecosystem of AI services designed to insert real children into books … and some relatives can’t resist their ads for specially curated storybooks.” – Wired
- Why Are University Administrators Trying To Get Academics To Get Rid Of Books?
The bureaucrat sent an email to him with a dread warning. The books must go, it decreed. There was nothing healthy nor wise in the practice, for the keeping of books on bookshelves is now “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials.” – The Critic
- Why Writing Feels So Difficult
Every time you sit down to write, you’re doing something your brain registers as socially risky. Translating private thoughts into language means exposing yourself to judgment and for most of human history, judgment wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was dangerous. – LitHub
PEOPLE
- How Alan Cumming Is Transforming A Small Scottish Theatre
His vision was to turn Pitlochry Festival Theatre into both an artistic retreat and a producing powerhouse. It was to invite exciting creatives to Perthshire and create and premiere a show, then for that show to be sent on to London, New York and elsewhere. – The Stage
- Oops: Book Returned To Public Library 150 Years Late
- It’s Not Just Homer. Gertrude Stein Is Having A Moment, Too.
“Something’s in the air: My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, published last month by FSG, is just one in a recent cluster of genre-spanning books that interpret, adapt, and play with Stein’s legacy, as well as that of her longtime partner Alice B. Toklas.” – Publishers Weekly
- Are We Headed To Culture Collapse?
Given worsening inequality, political polarisation, falling fertility, resource shortages and global conflicts, Wilson argues that we are hurtling towards the same end as ancient Rome, the Mayan civilisation and every other sophisticated society before us. – The Guardian
- A New Company For Dancers Over 40
Musicians and fine artists can play and paint until they die, and actors can age onstage. But the body is the instrument of dance. There is no other violin to polish, no other paintbrush or color except that. The maintenance of the body is essential to the capacity of performance.” – Pointe Magazine
PEOPLE
- How Alan Cumming Is Transforming A Small Scottish Theatre
His vision was to turn Pitlochry Festival Theatre into both an artistic retreat and a producing powerhouse. It was to invite exciting creatives to Perthshire and create and premiere a show, then for that show to be sent on to London, New York and elsewhere. – The Stage
- Oops: Book Returned To Public Library 150 Years Late
- It’s Not Just Homer. Gertrude Stein Is Having A Moment, Too.
“Something’s in the air: My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, published last month by FSG, is just one in a recent cluster of genre-spanning books that interpret, adapt, and play with Stein’s legacy, as well as that of her longtime partner Alice B. Toklas.” – Publishers Weekly
- Are We Headed To Culture Collapse?
Given worsening inequality, political polarisation, falling fertility, resource shortages and global conflicts, Wilson argues that we are hurtling towards the same end as ancient Rome, the Mayan civilisation and every other sophisticated society before us. – The Guardian
- A New Company For Dancers Over 40
Musicians and fine artists can play and paint until they die, and actors can age onstage. But the body is the instrument of dance. There is no other violin to polish, no other paintbrush or color except that. The maintenance of the body is essential to the capacity of performance.” – Pointe Magazine
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Are We Headed To Culture Collapse?
Given worsening inequality, political polarisation, falling fertility, resource shortages and global conflicts, Wilson argues that we are hurtling towards the same end as ancient Rome, the Mayan civilisation and every other sophisticated society before us. – The Guardian
- Out, Damned Bot: How The Bots Took Over Our Lives
This strategy of manufacturing a froth of interest around a given subject, from Nicki Minaj’s political perspectives to Sydney Sweeney’s jean ads, has recently been especially effective, and has moved culture-war fights from the trenches of bot-infested social networks into more mainstream channels. – The New Yorker
- The Depressing Notion Of AI Art
The point is that art is linked to dialectical movement. In most societies at most points in time, art is decoration or religious offering — the lyric is also possible. But to actually have artistic evolution, you really need a movement of historical forces that art, essentially, is keeping pace with. – Castalia
- The Bullshit Jobs We Do To Make Possible Our Real Work
“Utilizing a bullshit job to pursue other projects isn’t easy. It requires judgment and determination to take time that’s been first flattened and homogenized … then broken randomly into unpredictably large fragments.” – Arrowsmith Press
- The Ancient World Beyond Greece, Rome and Egypt
The de facto equation of ‘ancient history’ with ancient Mediterranean history, at least in most of the Anglosphere, has endured for many generations. But we are on the cusp of a dramatic shift in perspective that is producing a much bigger, broader and more exciting view of ‘the ancient world’. – Aeon