“The money doesn’t seem to make big, promising things happen, things that wouldn’t happen otherwise. Much of the giving feels like disguised budget offset. The NEA’s goal looks like survival. It has been so beleaguered over the years, so pummeled, that its mission each year is to dodge the fatal bullet. Yet the NEA – or federal funding for the arts – has served many great goals and can do it once more.”
Houston’s ‘Nixon In China’ Accused Of Yellowface
The complaints about Houston Grand Opera’s current run of the John Adams opera include the casting of white singers as Chinese characters as well as caricatured stereotypes in Nixon‘s version of The Red Detachment of Women (an actual Communist propaganda ballet that uses caricatured stereotypes).
Selfies As Gallery Art? Really? It Was Inevitable
“In many ways, the selfie represents the epitome of contemporary culture’s transition into a highly-digitalised and technologically-advanced age as mobile-phone technology has caught up with the camera.”
Trump’s Plan To Defund The NEA And NEH Is Part Of A Long, Long Battle
Noah Charney: “Some might say that it’s … part of a long tradition that hails back to the Vandal tribe sweeping into Rome in A.D. 455 to strip it of its culture and leave a smoldering (but ‘radically reformed’) ruin in its wake. … I don’t feel the need (or have the energy) to argue how important the arts are. To some readers, I’d be preaching to the converted. For others, whatever examples I present would be insufficient to change inert minds.” (Is that the best way to say this?)
Netflix Is Adding Subscribers At A Record Pace. And Investing Billions More In Original Shows
“In 2016, Netflix spent $5 billion on original programming. Five of the 10 shows people searched for most often last year are Netflix originals, company officials said, citing Google data during an earnings call. Eager to build on that, Netflix plans to spend $6 billion creating 1000 hours of new content this year, more than doubling its 2016 lineup.”
Police Break Up Big European Art Trafficking Ring
The criminal network handled artworks looted from war-stricken countries, as well as works stolen from museums and other sites, the statement said. In the southern Spanish city of Murcia, the police recovered about 500 archaeological pieces, including 19 stolen from the city’s archaeological museum in 2014.
Is There A Business In Music Written By Artificial Intelligence?
Several start-ups are now trying to commercialize A.I. music for everything from jingles to potential pop hits. Jukedeck, for instance, is looking to sell tracks to anyone who needs background music for videos, games or commercials.
For A Decade The Number Of Live Music Venues In London Has Been Declining – Until This Year
“The London Music Board report shows that 94 venues currently operate in the capital – the same as in 2015, but down from 144 in 2007. Previous reports had claimed there were 88 venues operating in 2015, but this number was increased after a small number of venues were re-categorised as grassroots music venues in a recent mapping process.”
So Your Movie Was A Hit At Sundance? (You’re Still Not Going To Make Any Money)
“Most Sundance films these days are lucky to earn six figures at the box office — in total. For instance, the comedy “Wiener-Dog,” a follow-up to the 1995 indie hit “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” collected $470,575 last summer before arriving on Amazon. Have streaming and video on demand made up the art-house slack? Or even broadened the audience?”
All Of The Training That Goes Into Learning The Lion Dance For Lunar New Year
Seventeen-year-old Sara Pore: “Lion dancing started 2,000 years ago — that’s incredible. … But what makes you a competent lion dancer is that there is a sense of imagination involved. Lion dancing teaches competence in leadership because of this. You’re constantly forced to push yourself past your limit.”
The Ultra Popular BroadwayCon Is In A Dispute With Actors’ Equity
Uh-oh: “In a note sent to Actors’ Equity members on Friday, Flora Stamatiades, the union’s national director of organizing and special projects, wrote that last year’s contract had been reached on an understanding that the payment terms for future conventions would be changed. ‘Now the producers are refusing to make the changes to which they agreed,’ she wrote. ‘This is unacceptable.’ She then put BroadwayCon on Equity’s ‘do not work’ list.”
As Philip Glass Turns 80, He Says His Problem Is That People Don’t Believe Him
At least, they don’t believe he writes symphonies. “But I’m premiering Symphony No 11 in a couple of weeks. … Maybe I do too many things.”
No, The Author Of ‘Goodnight, Moon’ Was Not The Old Lady Whispering Hush
This was Margaret Wise Brown: “When she received her first check for writing, she didn’t buy necessities or even champagne, but an entire cart full of flowers. She had dramatic and tumultuous love affairs with both men and women. She was ambivalent about her audience, famously telling a reporter, ‘I don’t particularly like children.'”
A String Quartet’s Place In The Political Upheaval Of Our Time
Mark Sved on the Kronos Quartet: “The Age of Reason ideal expanded throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, but with the string quartet still a reasonable vehicle for great composers’ inner musical thoughts and feelings. Then along came Kronos. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the Bay Area outfit revolutionized everything in string quartet country and beyond.”
Top AJBlogs For The Weekend Of 01.22.17
Who’s responsible for The Donald? The Founding Fathers.
My cousin Jonathan’s witty Protest Banner Last Friday Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States. Across the world this weekend millions, mostly women, have marched to protest the event. It is already … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2017-01-22
His mother was a model. He was a 26-year-old officer driving around the jungle, giving bonus pay to his fellow Marines. Fifty years ago this week, the vehicle he was in rolled over a … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-01-21
In his epilogue to Civilisation, telecast by the BBC in 1969, Kenneth Clark talks about his “biases” and “beliefs” about Western civilization, and discusses its fragility and future prospects: (This is the latest in … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-01-20
Saxophonist Charles Lloyd has made a cover version of Bob Dylan’s protest song “Masters Of War.” Lloyd and Blue Note Records timed the release of the single to coincide with today’s inauguration of Donald J. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-01-20
The First Saturday Night Live Monologue Of The Trump Presidency
Aziz Ansari, creator and star of the Netflix show Master of None, went directly at issues around the election. “They should do a second report about some other brown people that are just up to normal stuff — just to calm those people down. So the reports are like: ‘The suspects are considered armed and dangerous. Not armed and dangerous — these four other Muslim people that are eating nachos in Chicago. Let’s go to footage of them. Uh-oh, looks like Nasir just spilled a little cheese on his khakis!'”
How Is That Dutch Virtual Reality Ballet Doing?
Things are going well for the ballet, which “opened” in September 2016: “So far, Night Fall has been a success, and not just with art critics. It has garnered attention from tech blogs and dance publications alike, bringing a diverse crowd together.”
Can A Play Influence The Wider Debate Around Abortion Rights?
Lisa Loomer’s play “Roe,” commissioned for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, opened at D.C.’s Arena Stage just days before the inauguration of Donald Trump. It’s a story of the history of Norma McCorvey (the “Roe” of the court case) and her lawyer Sarah Weddington – and shifting stances on abortion in the U.S. since Roe was decided. The question now is, “Can art actually shape history as well as mine it?”
Why Can’t Britain Accept And Embrace Its Classical Heritage?
Simon Rattle: “Here we are in this country, with maybe the most gifted group of living composers of any country in the world, and not to celebrate it would be idiocy. … It’s a goldmine to explore.”
The Musician Who’s Finally Getting Her Acting Dues In ‘Hidden Figures’ And ‘Moonlight’
After Janelle Monáe finished college, she moved to Atlanta. There, the singer and actress would “update her MySpace profile while working at Office Depot to make ends meet.” Then she met a couple of guys who helped change everything for her.