That headline may not sound like news, but it is, in one sense. Many occurrences in the world of indigenous art that may not, on their own, make international headlines are adding up to real progress, intensifying a trend that began a few years ago. — Judith H. Dobrzynski

In “Listen vs. Tell” I spoke of the necessary switch from telling people about our work to listening to them as a pre-requisite for effective communication. As happens not infrequently, Carter Gilles responded thoughtfully and at length. He has given me permission to share his expansion on my thoughts here. — Doug Borwick

Instead of relaxing into the New Year and creating the annual column about the favorite things of the last 12 months, we went to Paris. Yes, we saw a lot of art in a week. It was all glorious. But then we had this experience. — Margy Waller

Kimbrough, Robinson, Reid, Drummond: Monk’s Dreams
— Doug Ramsey

When a young comedy writing “springily reinvents the rules,” daggers may follow. – David Jays

What happens when a critic decides an exhibition will be good before she goes to see it? – Lee Rosenbaum

It is sometimes necessary to specify a third dimension – bulk or thickness – when describing a Buckley painting. The other giveaway that tells you a painting is by Buckley is its rough edges – not in any sense unfinished – but tough, butch surfaces. — Paul Levy

Keyboardist and synthesizer specialist Jim Baker has led the collective quartet Extraordinary Popular Delusions playing every Monday night in obscure Chicago venues for the past 13 years. — Howard Mandel

Dave McKenna In Madison (Arbors)
McKenna (1930-2008) breathes life into this album, recorded in the early 1990s at Farley’s House of Pianos in Madison, Wisconsin and only recently released. — Doug Ramsey

No mission statement should be the template for another organization (that’s very nearly a truism for us in the nonprofit world), but being able to see commitment to engagement in the mission is a pre-requisite for effectiveness. Is it obvious in yours? — Doug Borwick

It’s been a bad-news month for the Smithsonian: On Dec. 20, Secretary David Skorton — arguably the most successful, least embattled Smithsonian leader in recent memory — announced he’d be leaving his Smithsonian post in June. Just two days after this bombshell, the federal government shutdown began. — Lee Rosenbaum

Most Paul Gauguin exhibitions show him off as a sensualist who abandoned his family in France to canoodle with young Tahitian girls. So it was refreshing to see Gauguin: A Spiritual Journey last year at the de Young museum in San Francisco. The exhibit leaves out his most sensualist works and therefore presses visitors to see other aspects of his work. — Judith H. Dobrzynski

“Propwatch always keeps an eye on the drinks cabinet, because liquor is character.” – David Jays

Once again, art-lings, let me offer you my Best Wishes for an Art-Full New Year, along with CultureGrrl’s Top 20 Stories for 2018. And I’ll end this post with a postlude about an issue that I’ve largely ducked this year — the vexing question of whether museums should be “political” and if so, in what ways. — Lee Rosenbaum

Let’s mention just a few recent recordings by Canadians whose work has caught the ears of the Rifftides staff. — Doug Ramsay

For over a year now, I’ve been stewing on and adapting the independent work of E.F. Schumacher and Ken Wilber (citations below), both of whom explore and explain what a “whole” view of ourselves and our world might look like. As I’ve unfolded it (literally) for a few groups and close colleagues, it now seems useful to unfold it for all of you for your reactions. — Andrew Taylor

Identity is the hottest topic in American theater these days, just as immigration is the hottest topic in American politics. But Heather Raffo’s Noura, a drama about a family of Iraqi Catholics who have fled to America, is nothing like the issue-driven, stridently politicized plays about these subjects with which our stages are currently clogged. — Terry Teachout

“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” (Mark Twain)
— Doug Ramsay

An excerpt from City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy, my first book, published in 1991. — Terry Teachout

Although I gave Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again (to Mar. 31) a mixed review last week, one focus of the Whitney Museum’s widely praised extravaganza particularly interested me. It’s an aspect that general audiences, who usually pay more attention to the art than the writing on the walls, could easily miss. — Lee Rosenbaum

“A woman trapped in domestic boredom moves toward a nervous breakdown. Institutionalized, she attempts to create a performance for a shortly expected visit from her children, but can find no words to express her feelings. Only her instrument can serve as an expression of her deepest emotions.” — William Osborne & Abbie Conant

Rifftides readers have asked the staff to again present Jack Brownlow’s Christmas recital  that first appeared here in December of 2015. We are delighted to do so. — Doug Ramsey

If you liked Black Panther, listen to the music that introduced and embodies Afro-Futurism. Photojournalist Marc PoKempner captured a bit of the celestial magic of the Sun Ra Arkestra during its November touchdown in New Orleans’s Music Box Village. — Howard Mandel

Kora and concert harp, played together, are “so beautiful that almost anything that Catrin and Seckou play will seduce the ear.” – Michal Shapiro

In Britain, ghost stories – not only in Christmas Carol – are a vital part of the holiday season. – Paul Levy

The jazz pianist, not the Star Wars/Boston Pops guy.
— Doug Ramsey

What most transfixed me about Mustard Race Riot was not the grim subject matter (which I saw anew through the perspective of our current racially charged moment), but Warhol’s uncanny prescience about our media-saturated world. — Lee Rosenbaum

According to my friend the remarkably loquacious Spanish pianist Pedro Carboné, the “birth of Spanish music” occurs during the third of Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain. — Joe Horowitz

Richard II gives up power – though it’s not his choice. Shakespeare stages this concretely – a crown passed from one to another. The supposed divinity of majesty proves portable as a party hat. Richard, as often, reaches for an arresting metaphor: here, two buckets on a well. — David Jays