AJBlogs

Mónica Lugo, Head of Alegre Strings & Interim Department Chair of Strings at Merit School of Music, shares about inspiring young people through their culture and musical excellence.

An occupational hazard of my advanced age has been a sense of sad obligation to post appreciative obits of

In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway transfers of Thoughts of a Colored Man and Dana H. Here’s an excerpt. *  *  * Barbershops of the old-fashioned three-chair type are integral parts of Black urban neighborhoods, quasi-community centers where the locals not only get their hair cut but hang out, see friends, swap gossip, and shoot the breeze. I learned this from “Barbershop,” Tim Story’s charming 2002 screen comedy about a 40-year-old shop on the South Side of Chicago, and “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” Keenan Scott II’s new play, much of which is set in and near a barbershop located in a Brooklyn neighborhood undergoing gentrification, bears a distinct family resemblance to Mr. Story’s film. That said, “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” in which monologues, playlets, songs and slam poetry are loosely strung together for 100 intermission-free minutes, is more obviously patterned after “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide /...

Ralph Richardson appears as the mystery guest on an episode of What’s My Line? originally telecast live by CBS on July 28, 1963. Bennett Cerf, Peter Cook, Arlene Francis, and Phyllis Newman are the panelists and the host is John Daly: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6xqH8EJ0U (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

Many arts organizations are coming out of the COVID shutdown in better financial shape than they were going in.

As the steep streets bow to the river, I have been falling through holes for some months seeking a

To celebrate National Arts & Humanities Month, this episode of Quick Study looks at the critical role of local arts agencies in a post-COVID-19 environment. A transcript of this podcast is available at the NEA website.

There’s a bit of a hidden treasure, if not quite on my doorstep, then only an hour’s drive away towards the Cotswolds. Compton Verney is an historic manor and parish, with a Grade-I listed  country house, redesigned by Robert Adam in the 1760s and landscaped by Capability Brown in 1768. The tiny parish was 119 […]

Once the upstart child of the early-music counterculture, Piffaro the Philadelphia Renaissance Band is now downright venerable at age 40 as its founders are ceding leadership to a generation who learned about pre-Bach wind band literature by memorizing their recordings. Priscilla Herreid moves up through the ranks as the new director starting next season, replacing Joan Kimball and Robert Wiemken who have jointly been given a lifetime achievement award by Early Music America. The world never asked for a renaissance wind band, but Piffaro delivered it at the highest musical standard without ever running out of new ways to redefine our times through the lens of long-ago centuries. The success of its most recent concert in Philadelphia (available on demand until Oct. 26 through piffaro.org) wasn’t about an old guard/new guard triumph but the accumulation of ideas during lockdown – reaching back to the Fifth Century – and the emergence...

I hadn’t seen it until today, and I have no idea who Hope Goldsmith is. But on Oct. 14 this is what she wrote: This biography is truly exceptional in its prose and subject matter. If you are an avid movie fan, you’ll enjoy the wealth of information about a truly brilliant director. If you simply enjoy non-fiction material, this will be a great read as the writer presents a beautifully written story on so many levels. It’s the type of book you never want to finish. William Wyler was an enigma to most yet he is captivating subject matter. His movies are indeed legendary from his direction, and his actors almost always became academy award winners by no coincidence. I was also fascinated as to what an invested family man and husband he was despite an all-consuming career.”

I could not at first remember why I bore a grudge against the late Angela Carter. But a rapid ...

A scene from The Loved One, Tony Richardson’ 1965 screen version of Evelyn Waugh’s satirical novella about Forest Lawn, starring Robert Morse and Liberace. The screenplay is by Terry Southern and Christopher Isherwood: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5meyAvvjhyU (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

As part of Engaging Matters’ 10th Anniversary, we are highlighting important and/or popular posts from the past. In reviewing such posts it became clear that many were grouped thematically. As a result, this Anniversary series will, for the most part, present the theme with links to relevant posts rather than simply re-posting individual items. One of the most important elements of effective community engagement is understanding that any programming must wait until the relationship with a new community has progressed far enough that the community can participate in its design and implementation. Trust must be built and mutual understanding developed. This does not happen quickly. And yet, We in the arts have an understandable desire to rush to action. Ours is an event production business. We exist to do. In community engagement work, though, this instinct is almost inevitably counter-productive. We cannot present–or even suggest–meaningful work until we have a reasonable...

When an object at auction fetches many multiples of its expected price, as happened with the Newark Museum’s recent

Donna Mejia, Associate Professor, former Director of Graduate Studies in Dance and Crown Institute Inaugural Chancellor’s Health and Wellness Scholar in Residence at the University of Colorado Boulder discusses social justice as an artist educator.