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How Elegant Vienna Became An Explosion Of Modernism
A much-romanticised era for the city, these years are commonly celebrated as a period of explosive artistic, literary, intellectual and especially musical modernisation in which resolutely iconoclastic geniuses such as Schoenberg, Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt and Alfred Schnitzler broke with the past in order to lay the groundwork for the future. In this narrative, Vienna’s musical revolution was especially radical: Schoenberg’s Pierrot was later characterised by Igor Stravinsky as ‘the solar-plexus of modern music’ – the culmination of a shift away from tonality and hundreds of years of classical music, in favour of a new music for a new century. But how did this happen? – Aeon
UK Libraries Were Already Endangered. Then Came COVID
Last year, official figures revealed that almost 800 libraries had closed since the implementation of austerity in 2010. “We do think these current announcements could be the ‘canary in the coalmine’ for a fresh wave of austerity cuts to local services,” warned Nick Poole, chief executive of the librarians’ association Cilip. – The Guardian
How The “Museum Of Ice Cream” Melted Down
From all indications, the Museum of Ice Cream is melting down. Spending was slashed in January. In March, Bunn temporarily closed the permanent installations in New York and San Francisco, and laid off around 200 workers. – Forbes
Why Apologies Are Important
How is it that a mere apology can turn long-held assumptions upside down in a way that practical solutions, such as more social support or even financial assistance, simply can’t do alone? Those one-dimensional symbols, such as statues and flags, can give way to richer, more complete stories that embrace empathy and respect. A sincere apology on a national scale can turn once-revered heroes, such as Confederate leaders, into villains, and once-despised outsiders, such as an enslaved people and their descendants, into human beings who have endured unimaginable injustices. – JSTOR
Now Is Probably The Best Opportunity To Rethink Our Cities
We tend to treat cities like the weather, using past patterns to predict outcomes over which we have no control. But the last few months have reminded us that cities are not givens, the status quo isn’t immovable, and citizens can force their elected officials to crash through bureaucracy and inertia. – New York Magazine
Flamboyant Organ Virtuoso (And Flamboyant Hedonist) Jane Parker-Smith Dead At 70
“[She] brought glamour to the organ console thanks to her extraordinary dexterity at the keyboard and her love of life in the fast lane: she swore like a trooper, drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney and played the organ like a woman possessed.” – The Telegraph (UK)
Higher Ed Will Be Reimagined. But University Boards Are Not The Ones To Do It
It has become a truism to say the coronavirus pandemic will change everything about higher education. But few discuss who should shape this change. The faculty? The student body? The public? Or the business-executive trustees that Thorstein Veblen believed were destroying the essential nature of academe? – Chronicle of Higher Education
Scots Gaelic Could Die Out In Next Ten Years: Researchers
“The study … found that only 11,000 people were habitual Gaelic speakers, after a rapid decline during the 1980s when the density of native speakers fell below 80%. … The language is rarely spoken in the home, little used by teenagers, and used routinely only by a diminishing number of elderly Gaels dispersed across a few island communities in the Hebrides.” – The Guardian
Pandemic As Inflection Point For The Arts
Today, the convergence of Covid-19 closing down all public events, along with the explosive outrage with continued police carnage in communities of color, brings us to a similar inflection point as the late 1960s. Once again a fundamental shift wherein art is stripped of any pretense is emerging. As well, the enormous chasm between aesthetics and inequity must be addressed as systemic racism is dismantled. – VTDigger
Turkey Might Really Turn Hagia Sophia Back Into A Mosque
The Byzantine emperor built it in the sixth century to be the flagship cathedral of Eastern (and perhaps all) Christianity. When the Ottoman sultan conquered Constantinople in 1453, he converted it into a landmark mosque. When Atatürk’s secular revolutionaries founded the modern Turkish republic, he made it a public museum honoring both faiths and their histories. But next week, a Turkish court will rule on whether President Erdoğan can make good on his longtime campaign promise to (as his justice minister puts it) “see its chains broken and opened for a prayer.” – Public Radio International
Chicago’s Commercial Theatre Is Devastated. Will It Return?
Why have Chicago’s for-profit institutions been so hit? The main reason is their total revenue dependence. A big non-profit potentially can rely on its board members to bankroll it through these hard times, or can sweet talk its big donors. In some rare cases, endowments can be tapped. But that’s not true of for-profit theaters, entirely reliant on ticket sales, bar takings and concessions for their survival. – Chicago Tribune
Philippine Artists Fight Against Duterte’s Anti-Terrorism Bill
“The bill’s vague provisions make it easy for the state to target artistic and creative productions, especially critical, satirical or protest forms it subjectively deems as anti-government or subversive – or terrorist, in today’s cruder parlance,” says Concerned Artists of the Philippines secretary general Lisa Ito, who compares current conditions under Duterte’s government to the martial law period under Ferdinand Marcos. – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
NYC Slashes Arts Education In Schools
Budgets across departments have been slashed as the city looks to recover from an estimated $9 billion loss in tax revenue due to the shutdown. Among the hard hit is New York City’s Department of Education, which will see $15 million cut from the $21.5 million budget for arts education services in middle and high schools—a roughly 70 percent reduction. – Artnet
Dance Magazine’s Editor In Chief Judged A Major Competition, And Here’s What She Wants Contestants To Know
Jennifer Stahl, who juried this year’s Boston semi-finals of Youth America Grand Prix: “Putting exact numbers to qualities like ‘musicality’ and ‘épaulement’ is just as tricky as it sounds. But I learned a few surprising takeaways that could make a big difference in a dancer’s final score. Whether you’re competing virtually right now or just starting to plan your solo for next year, keep these six things in mind.” – Dance Magazine
Can This Movie Make An AI Robot Into A Star?
A “synthetic actor” called Erica “has been cast in b, a $70 million science-fiction movie … about scientists who create an AI robot named Erica who quickly realize the danger of this top-secret program that is trying to perfect a human through a non-human form. Variety caught up with the filmmakers [Tarek] Zohdy and [Sam] Khoze to discuss b.” – Variety
What Four Great Black Female Theatermakers Show Us About How And Why We Create Theater
“Todd London reflects on why and how we gather, and looks at the canons-in-the-making of four African-American playwrights — Jackie Sibblies Drury, Aleshea Harris, Anna Deavere Smith, and Dael Orlandersmith — for how they serve as a map for this moment of revision.” – HowlRound
Smithsonian Chief Lonnie Bunch: ‘I Want Museums To Be A Place That Gives The Public Not Just What It Wants, But What It Needs’
“I believe very strongly that museums have a social justice role to play. … I’m not expecting museums to engage in partisan politics. What I’m expecting museums to be is driven by scholarship and the community. … And if that means that museums have to take a little more risk, … then so be it. I would rather the museum be a place that takes a little risk to make the country better than a place where history and science go to die.” – The New York Times
BBC Proms Announce ‘Flexible’ Plans For Two Weeks Of Live Concerts
After six weeks of “fantasy Proms” consisting mostly of rebroadcasts from previous years’ festivals, the hope is to present live performances (without live audiences) in the Royal Albert Hall from Aug. 28 through the Last Night on Sept. 12. But “organisers … are having to devise multiple programmes for every concert, because of uncertainties over how many performers will be allowed on stage due to the coronavirus pandemic. … Conductor Sakari Oramo says he is currently planning ‘four different options’ for the first night.” – BBC
Here Are The Ten Artists Sharing What Would Have Been The Turner Prize
“Tate, the British museum network that facilitates it, reconstituted the prize in light of the coronavirus pandemic. In lieu of the main £25,000 ($32,200) award, 10 artists and collectives are taking home what are being called Turner Bursaries awards of £10,000 ($12,500). … Half of the winners this time are nonwhite, and as usual for the Turner Prize, which often skews toward conceptual art, most do not work in traditional mediums such as painting and sculpture.” – ARTnews
Hugh Downs, Anchorman Whose Career Spanned TV History, Dead At 99
“In a broadcast career that spanned more than a half-century” — he began in radio in 1939 and was on television within a decade, ultimately hosting or co-hosting The Tonight Show opposite Jack Paar, the NBC News morning flagship Today, the game show Concentration, and the ABC primetime newsmagazine 20/20 — “Hugh Downs was one of the most versatile and durable personalities on television. A mainstay of American TV-watching rituals for generations, he held for years the world record for most time on air — more than 10,000 hours — before Regis Philbin officially surpassed him in 2004.” – The Washington Post
The Most-Subscribed Broadcast Network YouTube Channel In The US Is: Telemundo
Eight of Telemundo’s 11 YouTube channels have at least one million subscribers. The mother ship is now at 10.6 million, up from 1 million in 2015, and the next-biggest, one dedicated to court show Caso Cerrado (Case Closed), is approaching the 10 million mark. The total portfolio is at 35 million and counting. – Deadline
Indie Bookstores Move Online… But Can Their Service Match Amazon?
Customer expectations that independent booksellers will do what a massive online operation does has caused deep frustration. – Publishers Weekly
A Gallery Of Detroit’s Fabulous 20th Century Ruins
They’re grand spaces now in decay – which gives them altogether another kind of beauty. – The Guardian
Britain’s Arts Organizations Are Begging For Help. In The Rest Europe, They’re Getting It
In France, Germany, Italy or Belgium, where the arts are heavily subsidized by the state, performing companies and museums can survive with reduced ticket sales. But in Britain, where government funding is much lower and organizations rely on commercial income, most are unprepared for a future in which they can only admit a fraction of their usual audience. – The New York Times
Researchers: Fans Of Apocalyptic Movies Are More Resilient
The bleak scenarios thrown up by films such as Contagion, from panic buying and isolation to fear of others and fake claims of miracle cures, appeared to help viewers take the outbreak in their stride and work out how best to handle the crisis. – The Guardian