Across the entire geographic and chronological recorded history of human societies, storytelling has enabled different ways of seeing and thinking to be communicated without being overtly threatening to dominant structures of power and belief. - LA Review of Books
"Every colour we encounter in a great work of art, from the ultramarine that Johannes Vermeer wove into the turban of his Girl with a Pearl Earring to the volatile vermillion that inflames the fiery sky of Edvard Munch's The Scream, brings with it an extraordinary backstory." - BBC
“When you recognize the potential for something to shift, and you can see the path, then the question becomes, how do you implement a strategy where that is possible in an environment that sees any shift as radical change?" - Ashland News
"During his 25-year tenure as director he transformed the dozen-member troupe into the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee, with 33 dancers and a presence on the national stage." Here's an exit interview with journalist Steve Sucato. - Pointe Magazine
New York surpassed Paris as the global centre of the art market in the years after the Second World War. Now it has been the biggest for so long that the fact barely attracts comment. The narrative over the past 20 years has instead been about globalisation and diversification. - Apollo
It started with Esther Perel's podcast Where Should We Begin?, continued with Showtime's Couples Therapy, YouTube's Blue Therapy, Audible's podcast Sex Therapy, and the BBC3 documentary Tough Talking. "There is something undeniably seductive about being let into an experience usually shrouded in privacy." - The Guardian
“The Gallery has been focused on bringing our IT systems back online,” the email read. “The Gallery has continued to be open to the public and our on-site membership, ticketing and Boutique systems are now functional.” - Ottawa Citizen
Last summer, Emmanuel Christian Center bought a 1901 church so dilapidated that the pastor decided on a gut renovation and sold all the furnishings to an architectural salvager. He took the windows to the city's Freeman Auction House to be assessed — and got quite a surprise. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
“Lacking regulation, the construction spurt has been like sprinting blindfolded, outstripping public consensus and leading to a breakdown in cultural thought and design.” - Bloomberg
Isaac Butler gives a hearty smackdown to the "anti-Stratfordians" he calls "Shakespeare Truthers," pointing out how they use the same techniques that 9/11 Truthers, Obama Birthers, anti-vaxxers and other conspiracy theorists use to wave away actual evidence and rationalize their own lack of it. - Slate
"These days libraries are bustling community centers, where being at least somewhat noisy is the new normal, especially when kids are involved. As someone who led hundreds of circle times at my library, I can tell you there's no quiet way to do the Hokey Pokey." - MSN (The Washington Post)
A new play based on Annie Proulx's story (not the 2005 film adaptation), starring Lucas Hedges as Ennis and Mike Faist as Jack, is in previews in London. Playwright Ashley Robinson has framed the story as a memory play set 30 years after the relationship ends. - The New York Times
"The school will be known as the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities and Technology. The largesse of the Bass Foundation follows a wave of philanthropic endowments in recent years that have dramatically reshaped the Richardson campus of a university founded in 1969." - MSN (The Dallas Morning News)
"The former 216-seat theater of about 8,500 square feet will be reimagined as a nearly 20,000-square-foot, 230-seat, multiuse theater with the same name and in the same location, with improved accessibility and technological features. It is expected to be finished in 2025." - MSN (The Boston Globe)
