“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Even identifying the problems facing artists as universal is wrong. Circumstances change, and artists are usually some of the most adaptable people on the planet.”
Venice’s Opera House Is Staying In The Black By *Adding* Performances
How do they do it? Don’t opera houses lose money on every performance? Not necessarily. And La Fenice is taking advantage of something Venice has more of than almost any other Italian city. (No, not water.)
The Curator Of MoMA’s Björk Disaster Should Be Fired
Christian Viveros-Fauné: “[Klaus] Biesenbach – the institution’s Übersocial, fame-obsessed, Chief Curator at Large – has seemingly finally come in for some in-house scrutiny. A growing consensus outside the institution says it’s about time.”
Now The Season Of Minority Casting On TV. Too Much?
“As is the case with any sea change, the pendulum might have swung a bit too far in the opposite direction. Instead of opening the field for actors of any race to compete for any role in a color-blind manner, there has been a significant number of parts designated as ethnic this year, making them off-limits for Caucasian actors, some agents signal.”
Now That The Met Has Sold This Painting, Turns Out It’s Really A Rubens
“A portrait of Rubens’ young daughter Clara Serena, recently deaccessioned by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is going on display at the Rubenshuis in Antwerp. In 2013, it was auctioned as by a ‘follower of Rubens’, with an estimate of $20,000-$30,000. … Ben van Beneden, the director of the Rubenshuis, has accepted the former Met painting – now cleaned – as authentic.”
What Should Italy Do With Recovered Stolen Antiquities? Sell Them?
“The recent photographs of the stalwart carabinieri in front of the 5,000 stolen antiquities do, however, invite a fundamental question. Where should they go now?”
Where Is The Dialogue Between Music Of North And South Americas?
“we can no longer talk about Latin America as a single unit, given the lack of information that exists between its different countries. For example, in Chile, we are not informed about what is happening in Ecuador or in Colombia with respect to their musical life. Only occasionally do we pay attention to our neighbors in Argentina, and only because of their proximity. The important role Buenos Aires plays in the development of new music does not encourage us to seek them out. What happened?”
As The Internet And TV Converge, A New Free-For-All Competition For Eyeballs
“To prosper, analysts say, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu will have to spend even more on the production and marketing of exclusive comedies, dramas, films, documentaries and other shows. The greater the acclaim and the more exclusive the offerings, the easier it will be to distinguish the services and persuade people to pay up every month.”
America’s Public Radio Challenge: Good Local Reporting To Match The Quality National Stuff
“NPR’s own staff sets a national standard for serious, if often entertaining, national coverage; local coverage can be as good, but often flags in reporting smarts, voice and quality. Anyone who has ever listened to local public radio traveling across the country can recognize the great disparities in reporting. Closing that gap is central to the next generation of NPR News – and public radio itself.”
Fox TV Sues To Keep “Empire” Name For New Hit Show
“Unfortunately, success today can often make creators a target for a myriad of baseless legal claims. They hope you will just pay a little something from that success to make them go away. As underscored by today’s complaint, Fox has no intention of allowing anyone to leverage Empire’s success for their own unwarranted financial gain.”
Finalists For Man Booker International Prize 2015 Announced
Three African nations and one Caribbean island have authors on the shortlist for the first time; a few familiar names (Amitav Ghosh, László Krasznahorkai, Fanny Howe) made the cut, but literary stars Karl Ove Knausgaard and Haruki Murakami did not.
How A Bharatanatyam Choreographer Is Remaking French Ballet’s Great Chestnut About An Indian Temple Dancer
When Shobana Jeyasingh first heard of La Bayadère, she was excited at the idea of a classic ballet about someone like her. Of course La Bayadère bore no relationship to real Indian classical dance or dancers – until, that is, Jeyasingh got her hands on the piece. (includes video)
Norman Scribner, 79, Founder Of D.C.’S Choral Arts Society
“The late Washington Post music critic Paul Hume once called Mr. Scribner ‘one of Washington’s finest musicians and one of the most gifted choral conductors in the country.’ A skilled pianist, organist and composer, he spent nearly five decades at the helm of the Choral Arts Society.”
The Detective Novel That Convinced A Generation Richard III Wasn’t Evil
“Though writers and historians have been arguing since the seventeenth century that Richard III wasn’t the villain whom Shakespeare described, it was a 1951 mystery novel that sparked mass interest in Richard’s redemption. The writer went by the name Josephine Tey, and the novel was called The Daughter of Time.”
What A Neuroscientist Says About Jon Stewart’s Brain
“Quick-witted would be the layman way to put it; he’ll be interviewing someone… and he’s just very quick, very quick at making these unexpected connections. But the term we would use for that is divergent thinking – that is, making novel connections between things that other people don’t put together, and finding the humor in that.”
“The Jeff Koons Of The Pop World” And Its “Gloriously Tacky” Future
Spencer Kornhaber on PC Music at SXSW: “Many of the grooves and hooks are undeniable – and listening to it, you realize just how unnecessary the big-budget production currently defining popular dance music might be, and how ridiculous the mist-machine drama and pained soul singing of the average zillion-selling Avicii record really is.” (Wait, that‘s not very Jeff Koons …)
Dance USA/Philly May Be Gone, But Its Portable Dance Floor Lives On
Small news? Practically speaking, it’s a godsend. One of the service organization’s great services was renting the sprung wood floor at affordable rates to companies performing all over the city. But Dance USA/Philadelphia is closing next week. Happily, one ballet troupe has rescued the floor.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.24.15
More Metropolitan Museum Good News: Elated Over Ellsworth, Chipper About Chipperfield
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-03-24
An Arts Advocacy Day Conversation in Decatur, GA
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-03-24
The sloth aquatic
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-03-24
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Two Opera Singers Among Passengers On Downed Airline
“The singers were traveling to their homes in Düsseldorf from Barcelona, where they had played Alberich and Erda, respectively, in Wagner’s Siegfried at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. French officials said everyone aboard the Germanwings Airbus A320 died when the plane crashed on its way from Barcelona to Düsseldorf.”
How Lincoln Center Landed David Geffen’s $100M Gift (And Whether They Did It Right)
“Just three weeks after a surprising announcement that finally marked progress in long-delayed efforts to overhaul the hall, the outdated home of the New York Philharmonic, the back story of how Mr. Geffen’s $100 million gift came about is surfacing, as are questions about the gift’s size and terms.”
The Last of India’s Jagannath Temple Dancers Is Gone
“Like most devadasis, or maharis, as the dancers in Odisha are known, Sashimani came from a poor family and was initiated into service at the temple when she was a small girl – in her case, at the age of 7 or 8, she said. After she reached puberty, she was considered a ‘living wife’ of Lord Jagannath, the god whose timber image is worshiped at the temple, and was not expected to marry.”