“Talent, royalty fees and sets for some of Canada’s biggest productions often come from south of the border and are contracted in U.S. dollars. But with the Canadian dollar dipping below 70 cents last week, those contracts are now looking a lot more expensive than when they were initially negotiated.”
Being A Parent Should Not Kill Your Cultural Life
“Theatre-going is a habit, and if it’s lost it may not be rekindled for many years. Start parent-and-child theatre outings early, and they are likely to continue throughout childhood and into teenage years.”
As Human Beings, What Do We Owe To The World’s Swelling Ranks Of Refugees?
“Now, in Germany and elsewhere, doors are closing. But what are the potential consequences of this resistance to outsiders, to those in need? Is it justified? Do we owe the suffering and dispossessed something more, if we are to call ourselves ethical beings?”
Penguin Random House Will No Longer Require Job Applicants To Have A Degree
“Penguin Random House human resources director Neil Morrison said that growing evidence shows there is no simple correlation between having a degree and future professional success … ‘Simply, if you’re talented and you have potential, we want to hear from you. This is the starting point for our concerted action to make publishing far, far more inclusive than it has been to date.”
Have We Reached PeakTV Yet?
“Counting television series is like counting lemmings. Hopefully they won’t all run off a cliff and plunge to their deaths in the ocean.”
Should Philosophy Help People Live A More Satisfying Life? Or Is It Strictly A Search For Truth?
Nigel Warburton: “In my view philosophy is primarily the attempt to understand, and as such is an activity of enquiry. There’s no guarantee that discovering how things are will benefit us psychologically: it might in fact make things much worse.”
Jules Evans: “I’m not arguing that all philosophy is therapy, but rather that ancient Greeks and Romans viewed philosophy that way, as did many Indian philosophers. … Ancient philosophy really can help people overcome suffering.”
Are You Ready For The “Age Of Autonomy”?
“However quietly it begins to arrive, The Age of Autonomy marks a giant step beyond the world of connected devices and the Internet of Things. With 50 billion devices and a trillion sensors coming on line, simple practicality would suggest autonomy will become a necessity.”
What Do We Love About ‘War and Peace’?
“Tolstoy’s huge novel about Russia during the Napoleonic Wars has been adapted many times, despite the difficulty of catching the essence of a work whose essence has a lot to do with sheer scale. When the book was published, in 1869, people wondered … Was this a history or a novel? And why was it so big? It’s big because it’s both.”
Orlando’s Opera Company Is Back, Eight Years After Shutting Down
Opera Orlando, formerly Florida Opera Theatre, “will announce this week that two professionals with national reputations will take the helm full-time – a level of commitment to the genre not seen since the collapse of Orlando Opera in 2009. After that company went bankrupt, a small but fiercely devoted group of volunteers formed Florida Opera Theatre to stage small-scale productions and recitals.”
Milwaukee Sculpture Taken Down after Blogger Complained Is Re-Installed
“The sculpture by internationally recognized artist Jaume Plensa was taken down in November and altered after a New Jersey blogger accused the artist of embedding anti-Semitic slurs within what are supposed to be a random spill of steel letters.”
Academy President Laments White-Only Oscars, Calls For “Big Changes”
“While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes.”
Edmonton’s Longtime Citadel Theatre Director Moves On
When he arrived back in his home town in 1999 to take up the artistic directorship at the Citadel, it wasn’t failing but its lustre had dimmed and audience enthusiasm had dwindled. “Forging an idea out of Phoenix, resuscitating CanStage, then reinventing the Citadel, twice.”
Anne Midgette: New Opera Is Very Healthy If You Know Where To Look
“Classical music, some say, is in decline. I say, over and over, that it isn’t. Classical music is just fine. It’s the institutions that perform it that are having trouble. … Of course, new work has an audience. It just may not be a traditional opera audience.”
Just What Was Needed: A Movie Shot Using A Prius Backup Camera
“All over, filmmakers are looking for new and inventive ways to capture moments. And with the proliferation of digital video technology, this is becoming easier and easier. So how does one stand out when even Oscar-nominated filmmakers are thinking about shooting their next project on an iPhone?”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.18.16
NEW FEATURE: Last Week’s Top Stories on ArtsJournal: Doug McLennan chooses top stories in the arts from the past week.
“Recent Criminal Charges”: Smithsonian Revises Cosby Show’s Wall Text (again)
Reacting to the latest rent in Bill Cosby’s tattered reputation, National Museum of African Art has quietly revised the Message to Our Visitors regarding its exhibition of works from the comedian’s African-American art collection. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-01-18
Monday Recommendation: Jaco, The Film
Jaco Pastorius, Jaco: The Film (Iron Horse Entertainment) The documentary tells the story of the meteoric career and early burnout of the electric bassist who transformed the instrument. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-01-18
Honoring MLK With a Clever Starbucks Ad
It’s a brilliant use of the alphabet, worthy of poésie concrète. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-01-18
Except That
I’m putting up a new version of my microtonal work Solitaire: Solitaire (2009), 14:08 It’s been sound-produced by M.C. Maguire, whom I consider the best Canadian composer of my generation, and in fact … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2016-01-17
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New Ballet Costumes For The Millennial Era
“The work — part of the NYCB winter season’s Artist Series — hopes to stun audiences with a madcap display of agile dance moves, paired with costumes resembling an antiqued, intergalactic take on Dr. Seuss.”
Boston Symphony Orchestra Loans Patrons iPads To Increase Engagement
“They’ll be able to view sheet music for the pieces being played, video interviews with musicians, podcasts about the composers and analysis on the works themselves. They’ll also get a close-up view of the conductor from the musicians’ point of view from video monitors set up in the hall.”
Redressing Decades Of Male-Dominated Art Shows In One Fell Swoop? Not Gonna Work
“What does it mean for women to be brought late to the table? In other words, even if some of the women here were working alongside the men of their generation, what does it mean if they are considered more seriously only in retrospect, rather than at the same time as the men?”
Netflix’s Growth Is Scaring – And Angering – The Studios
“TV networks must fight with Netflix for premier projects, and in many cases producers are attracted by Netflix’s talent-friendly culture that allows them to take more creative risks because Netflix is not beholden to ratings or advertisers.”
The Reality Of Segregation, In Photos
“Photographing the day-to-day life of an African-American family, Parks was able to capture the tenderness and tension of a people abiding under a pernicious and unjust system of state-mandated segregation.”
Good Luck Getting To See The Latest Marvel Movie In China
“Despite [Deadpool]’s Marvel origins, it’s aimed at a more adult audience, with a central character who has been described as closer to an antihero than a superhero. The lead character is a special forces operative who is part of an experiment that leaves him with powerful abilities.”