“Ballet is easily the most photogenic of the sports. An art form that toes the line between performance and feats of athleticism, it’s filled with pirouettes and arabesques that when frozen in a frame appear like paintings or perfectly sculpted statues.”
Can You Really Know An Author If You Don’t Follow Her Social Media?
“While some scholars may shun such developments, others are embracing them, leveraging analytical tools and techniques to account for a landscape of authorship and reading that is no longer confined to simple geometries and lines of influence, and no longer served by the established critical schools.”
Shocking: Here’s What The US Government Spends On The Arts Compared To Other Countries
“Federal funding to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), created by Congress to offer support and funding for art projects, remains static at $146.2 million a year, with a measly annual budget of $158 million. To put that into context, the government has disbursed over $245 billion bailing out banks and financial institutions.”
Just What Exactly Has The National Gallery in D.C. Taken From The Corcoran?
Philip Kennicott: “Ever since [the two institutions’ merger], the National Gallery has been on a Falstaffian mission, the art-world equivalent of a six-month hot-dog-eating contest. Curators throughout the museum describe an unprecedented process, sorting through, analyzing and making a first round of decisions about what to accession, and what to set aside for future consideration, including possible distribution to other museums around the District.”
Artists Are Fleeing The Far Too Expensive London, Says Playwright
Simon Stephens: “The amount of young directors, writers, actors I know who are moving to Cardiff, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester … I think London could become like Manhattan: a very beautiful, empty place.”
Websites Are Doomed
“A bunch of publications will go out of business and a bunch of others will survive the transition and a few will become app content GIANTS with news teams filing to Facebook and their very own Vine stars and thriving Snapchat channels and a Viber bureau and embedded Yakkers and hundreds of people uploading videos in every direction and brands and brands and brands and brands and brands, the end.”
As Audience Participation In Live Theatre Ramps Up, Is The Trend Cool Or Terrifying?
“To those who see aggressive audience participation as the cutting edge, even the future, of theatre—who talk about its emergence from video gaming and the digital revolution, etc.—it might be instructive to point out that audience participation is as old as English Pantomime.”
Is It Really Lack Of Time That Keeps People From The Arts?
“Either we’re asking people to give up leisure time to attend arts or to designate some leisure time to the arts, depending on whether they see the arts as a leisure activity. Regardless, the onus is on us to communicate why it is worth that time.”
Hollywood Considers Reforming Its Lobbying Association (The MPAA)
“They might, for instance, open the association to new members and expand its interests to include television programs or digital content. They might also reduce the heavy annual contribution of more than $20 million that is required of each of the six member companies: Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Sony.”
2014: Good Movies (But They Lost Their Nerve)
“This was the year cinema sparkled but failed to nurture. It had plenty to show but little to say. It chose to console rather than provoke. Yet we can’t just blame the industry for the blandness of its output.”
Cultural Boycott Of Israel: Here’s Where It Is
“Without taking sides, this document synthesizes information on the recent trend to boycott and includes summaries of notable recent incidents around the world of boycotts of contemporary art projects, some boycotting Israel while others calling attention to other causes.”
A Bill To Give Tax Breaks For Producing Broadway Shows
“The Support Theaters in America Growth and Expansion Act would mean that shows and live theatrical productions would enjoy an incentive given to film and TV productions for certain costs. Under section 181 of the tax code, they are able to immediately expense up to $15 million when 75% of compensation is paid for services in the United States.”
Small Country, Huge Producer Of Books
“Last year 184,000 titles were produced – the equivalent of 2,870 titles per million inhabitants when population is taken into account. China and the US produced more overall titles – 444,000 and 304,912 titles respectively. However per capita, the US ranked 12th and China 25th.”
The Days When Big Stars Could Sell Movies Is Over
“The fact is that Hollywood stars aren’t just an endangered species; they’re almost an extinct one. The quaint old idea that an actor or actress could “open” a movie by marquee value alone long ago vanished in a global movie industry where concept frequently trumps talent.”
Only Three Percent Of Books Published In The US Are Translations. Why?
“Publishers’ resistance is fed by economic concerns, including the cost of paying translators, the elusiveness of a reliable audience, and the difficulty of mounting a publicity campaign if the author is not fluent in English.”
Justin Peck Dances As Last-Minute Sub In His Own New Ballet
“Last-minute injuries aren’t uncommon in ballet. What is rare is for a choreographer to appear in his or her own work along with fellow members of the same troupe.”
Conor McPherson Has Been Trying A Little Tenderness In His Ferocious, Malevolent Plays
Charles McNulty: “What is different about his most recent plays, however, is that amid the dilapidated settings, killer hangovers, corrosive humor and generalized brutality, McPherson draws our attention to moments of unexpected tenderness and camaraderie.”
Don’t Do It, Harper Lee!, Warns Bookslut
Jessa Crispin: “Those eager masses, now overflowing with unconditional love for a book they have not read, propelling it to No. 1 on Amazon Wednesday, will be the very people wielding pitchforks if Ms. Lee’s second book does not live up to expectations that have been building for decades.”
Brian Williams’s Helicopter Story Has Turned Him Into An Art Meme
“On social media, the controversy has taken on several comic dimensions, one of which is Williams’ image being added Forrest Gump-style to famous paintings depicting key moments in history.
Tobias Picker Steps Down As Opera San Antonio’s Artistic Director
Picker, who has been praised for his leadership of the company since its founding five years ago, wants to turn his focus back to his own career as an opera composer – including a commission from the Kennedy Center.
The Thoreau Of The Suburbs
“When Annie Dillard wrote Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, she didn’t think anyone would want to read a memoir by a ‘Virginia housewife.’ So she left her domestic life out of the book – and turned her surroundings into a wilderness.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.05.15
Too Many Artists Or Not Enough Value?
AJBlog: diacritical Published 2015-02-05
Twixt
AJBlog: Infinite CurvesPublished 2015-02-05
“Deep, Strong Opinions”: Met Director Tom Campbell’s Remembrances of Curator Walter Liedtke
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-02-05
Music Schools, in Transition…
AJBlog: State of the Art Published 2015-02-05
Odds And Ends: Sloane On Balliett, Reilly On Haden
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-02-05
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Diary From Gitmo (Unless You Were In Any Doubt As To What’s Happening There)
“Thirteen years after it opened, the literature on the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay has become extensive. There are works of journalism, collections of documents, scholarly analyses, novels and some searing memoirs, such as those by the former detainees Ahmed Errachidi and Moazzam Begg. But there has never been a book quite like this: an account by a prisoner, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, of his abduction, rendition and sustained torture, composed inside Guantanamo’s concentric layers of concrete and razor wire.”
Did Science REALLY Figure Out What Makes Male Dancing Sexy? (Provenance Of An Internet Story)
“Certain science stories seem to come out like cicadas, swarming the Internet for a month or two before retreating underground for several years until the next cycle of coverage begins.”
New Edinburgh Festival Director Warns That Festival’s Status Is In Jeopardy
Fergus Linehan has taken charge at a time of uncertainty over budgets, with a bid for an extra £1.73 million for the next three years rejected by Creative Scotland and the possibility of cuts to its grant from Edinburgh City Council. The EIF’s funding has been largely static for the past eight years, which, arguably means a series of cuts, considering inflation and rising costs.”