"Copeland says she believes it’s her responsibility to tell the untold stories of trailblazing Black ballerinas who came before her. ... She wants aspiring young Black ballerinas and parents wanting to put their kids into dance classes to know that they do belong." - WBUR (Boston)
Sounds great during a pandemic, right? But the BBC is commercial-free, and the license fee is its income, so when the fee doesn't keep up with inflation, the broadcaster must plan for budget cuts all around. - Variety
Bad Art Friends are far from new. "Case in point: the rift between Émile Zola, novelist/playwright/founder of the naturalism movement, and painter Paul Cézanne. Their decades-long friendship was destroyed when Zola ... wrote a book heavily featuring a self-destructive, unsuccessful painter." - LitHub
Cheers aren't what one might expect for yet another canceled in-person event - and yet, 80 films will be on offer, with art houses across the country screening films in-person. Sorry, Park City, but this is "a more democratic and authentic representation of audiences." - Washington Post
"The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory prides itself (in non-pandemic times) on mounting plays where its actors speak in original pronunciation," and a cabinet-maker who recreated an entire Renaissance England theatre space there mastered it, only to see everything shuttered for the pandemic. - Baltimore Sun
But are those dollar values in any way justified? One trade publication said more than $5 billion "changed hands through music rights acquisitions last year, including publishing assets and recordings, with more to come in 2022." - Los Angeles Times
Playwright Nottage: "I will tell you, in all honesty, I haven't been getting a lot of sleep," but that's OK. "The dream is to really be busy doing the thing that you love, deeply immersed in making art." - NPR
And n+1 magazine doesn't mean the ones you do in school. No, it's professional book reviews that are in trouble, according to that magazine. But hold up: "The only thing eulogized as frequently as the novel is the 'honest' book review." - Los Angeles Review of Books
"Basinski, who had taken classical violin lessons since childhood, played with the University of Buffalo’s symphony orchestra before embarking on his major league career in 1944." - The New York Times
"There are very few children’s books, or books in general, published in Karen in the United States, and much of what exists originated in St. Paul ... the library system has published three children’s books in Karen since 2015." - Sahan Journal (Minnesota)
Especially with one of its more famous podcasters, Joe Rogan. Now "a coalition of hundreds of doctors and public health experts have called out Spotify for allowing Joe Rogan to spread 'false and societally harmful assertions'" - but will anything change? - Washington Post
Too familiar, and too grim. On the upside: "Until the pandemic, the industry had been enjoying a sustained boom, fueled by a rebound in the popularity of musicals and by New York’s gargantuan growth as a tourist destination. And this downturn might not last long." - The New York Times
The shockwave of the series, and later the book, "Ways of Seeing reframed the conversation about how art is interpreted, focusing on the nature of ownership and the language of appreciation as well as the ways in which advertising appropriates the motifs of painting." - The Economist
Percussionist Sheriff Drumman "hand-crafted the metal that made the setup possible, cutting, shaping and bending each slab before adding the eye-catching details and the bright “#SheriffDrumman” sign hoisted high above." - Los Angeles Times
"The directors’ branch has been known to be an exclusive club that has snubbed" newcomers like Ava DuVernay and Shaka King. "Crowding the race this year are such big names as Joel Coen for The Tragedy of Macbeth and Steven Spielberg for West Side Story." - Variety
