ArtsJournal (text by date)

MOST RECENT

• European Union Will Increase Culture Budget By €400 Million (27%) May 25, 2018
  From 2021-27, the budget allocated to the EU culture sub-programme would increase from approximately €450m to €650m, whilst the budget for the media sub-programme would increase from roughly €820m to €1.2bn.
  Arts Professional
• New European Data Privacy Law Causes Havoc For Arts Org Data Sharing May 25, 2018
  Under the new regulation, passed by the European Parliament in April 2016, arts organisations will need to keep detailed records of which of their customers have consented to be contacted with marketing information, when that consent was given, and what they were told would happen with their data.
  Arts Professional
• How Misbehaving Actors Do Violence To Our Culture May 25, 2018
  Fun, meaningful, even great works that dozens or hundreds of people labored over, that built careers and fortunes and whole industries, become emotionally contaminated to the point where you can’t watch them anymore. Forget the masterpieces that Jeffrey Tambor has been a part of. Louis C.K.’s show Louie helped pave the way for the “Comedy in Theory” genre that […]
  New York Magazine
• Science: Ten Things You Probably Don’t Know About Yourself May 25, 2018
  The way we view ourselves is distorted, but we do not realize it. As a result, our self-image has surprisingly little to do with our actions. For example, we may be absolutely convinced that we are empathetic and generous but still walk right past a homeless person on a cold day. The reason for this […]
  Scientific American
• We Take Fonts For Granted. They’re A Whole Different Proposition In Chinese May 25, 2018
  The default set for English-language fonts contains about 230 glyphs. A font that covers all of the Latin scripts—over 100 languages plus extra symbols—contains 840. The simplified version of Chinese, used primarily in mainland China, requires nearly 7,000. For traditional Chinese, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the number is over 13,000.
  Quartz
• A Link Between Creativity And Emotional Intelligence? May 25, 2018
  “Why are some individuals able to generate outstanding creative products despite repeated, frustrating failures?” asks a research team led by Sergio Agnoli of the Marconi Institute for Creativity in Italy. The answer, they propose, lies in “how people experience and regulate their emotions.”
  Pacific Standard
• The Incredibly Prolific Lawyer Who’s Making Media Companies Nervous – And Photographers Hopeful That They Might Get Paid May 25, 2018
  “Our story starts with Geno Smith getting punched in the jaw by a teammate, as most good stories about copyright law do.” Justin Peters introduces us to “the scourge of the media industry, the shame of many in the copyright bar, and the salvation of the underpaid photographer” — Richard P. Liebowitz, who, “in the […]
  Slate
• Netflix Says It Doesn’t Care About Ratings. So Why Is It Canceling Shows? May 25, 2018
  Analysts and industry sources think that for all its public disdain for ratings, Netflix is more like a conventional television network than it cares to admit. If a Netflix show had a large viewership, it would make no sense to cancel the show.
  Marketwatch
• Giuliani Vs The Holy Virgin Mary: How Chris Ofili And MoMA Won And Hizzoner Lost May 25, 2018
  “After a tumultuous stay in the United States, a stint in Tasmania, and three years in the art collection of Steven A. Cohen, the hedge-fund billionaire — whose company, in 2013, paid a fine of $1.8 billion after pleading guilty to charges of insider trading — The Holy Virgin Mary, the British artist Chris Ofili’s […]
  The New Yorker
• Should I Push My Kid To Keep Taking Lessons? May 25, 2018
  I saw how practicing, even when I didn’t want to, led inevitably to progress. That lesson affects everything I do today professionally and personally, because in my adult life I actually got to apply it to something I wanted to do. Obviously, if I had never been made to continue, it may have taken me decades to […]
  Slate
• Why Alexa Recorded That Couple’s Private Conversation Without Warning And Sent It To A Contact Of Theirs May 25, 2018
  Reporter Jason Del Rey followed up with Amazon on the scariest of the recent Alexa mishaps and got the company’s explanation of what exactly went wrong. (He doesn’t seem 100% convinced.)
  Recode
• Does The Success Of The “Harry Potter” Show, A Threat To Broadway? May 25, 2018
  To some theater veterans, the success of “Potter” — a 5½ hour extravaganza set in the world of a Hollywood mega-franchise — is cause for concern. Is this, they wonder, what it takes to make it here now? Shows based on known properties are mounting an offensive on the New York stage. And some in […]
  Washington Post
• MoMA Sues A Tea Shop For Trademark Infringement May 25, 2018
  “Momacha, a small matcha café on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is fighting back against a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by the Museum of Modern Art, otherwise known as MoMA. On Monday, the café — whose name was originally styled MoMaCha — moved to dismiss MoMA’s claim of trademark dilution.
  Artsy
• Why The Classic Chicago Accent Is Fading May 25, 2018
  The classic Chicago accent is heard less often these days because the white working class is less numerous, and less influential, than it was in the 20th century. It has been pushed to the margins of city life, both figuratively and geographically, by white flight, multiculturalism, and globalization: The accent is most prevalent in blue-collar […]
  Pacific Standard
• The Secret To Great Old Violins’ Sound? Human Vowels May 25, 2018
  Extensive research by Taiwanese scientists – who tested singers and Stradivari, Guarneri, and Amati violins with spectrometers – found that the old violins emit sets of frequencies that match those that form particular human vowel sounds. (The sound of Amatis matches the vowels of basses and baritones; Strads match tenors and altos.)
  Atlas Obscura
• What Do Ballet Dancers Really Think Of Ballet Movies? May 25, 2018
  Pia Catton talks to members of American Ballet Theatre about their reaction to films from The Red Shoes to The Turning Point to Center Stage to (yes) Black Swan.
  Playbill
• Why There’s Still A Debate Over Returning Looted Art Treasures To Ethiopia May 25, 2018
  The Victoria and Albert Museum’s new show of items taken by British soldiers from the court of Emperor Tewodros after the 1868 Battle of Maqdala had led to renewed calls for the valuable art objects and manuscripts to be repatriated. Reporter James Jeffrey looks at the history of the loot (there have been calls for […]
  Public Radio International
• A Standard 7 PM Curtain Time Would Make Theatre Better For Almost Everyone May 25, 2018
  The trend has started with Matilda the Musical in the West End, and Mark Shenton makes the case that it should spread.
  The Stage
• Was This Tribute To Sausage Robert Indiana’s Last Sculpture? May 25, 2018
  “The odd, isolated end of Robert Indiana’s life included a lawsuit filed in his final days that accused two associates of taking advantage of the elderly artist in his later years by churning out inauthentic works under his name. … That conversation is likely to escalate with the discovery Thursday that Mr. Indiana’s last monumental […]
  New York Times
• Protesters Disrupt Philadelphia Orchestra Concert In Brussels May 25, 2018
  “Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Thursday night performance in Brussels, urging the orchestra to cancel the upcoming Israel leg of its tour. The protesters broke into a performance of the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor with chants of ‘free, free, Palestine,’ and after about 30 seconds, music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin stopped […]
  Philadelphia Inquirer