In case you did miss it, here’s the story of the origins of the “Ching Chong Ding Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.” (includes video)
Helgi Tomasson: Three Decades At San Francisco Ballet
“Tomasson’s created more than 40 ballets, most of them for his own company. Simultaneously, he’s taken San Francisco Ballet to global renown. Tomasson marked 29 years at the helm by signing a contract earlier this month for another five years as artistic director.”
Yes, Book Editors Edit Books (They’re Not Just Business People)
HarperCollins editor Barry Harbaugh: “The editorial staffs of New York houses are not the faceless lemmings that a certain retail giant with a vested stake in self-publishing would have us be. And though it would appear to outsiders that the health of our careers depends solely on measurements of quantity (of the books that we acquire and the units sold), we’re not numbers-obsessed automatons. Editors edit. A lot.”
A Reality TV Show Starring Birds (Real Ones)
This is not an April Fools’ joke. It is another of Norway’s experiments with “slow TV” – starring “a short tempered nuthatch, a blue tit with the memory of a gold fish, a happy-go-lucky great tit, and a depressed bullfinch.” The title: Piip-Show.
A Big New UK Theatre Subsidy! Great! Now What (And Who) Should Qualify?
Starting in September, producers of touring shows in the UK will be able to claim up to a 25% tax rebate, with other productions receiving 20%. So what exactly will be the definition of what qualifies as touring shows and productions?
Prospect Is Out With Its Annual List Of The World’s Top Thinkers (and There’s Been A Shakeup)
“Twenty-two of the new list (44%) are women, a considerable advance on the blokeish 2013 squad. How has that been achieved? One factor is a marked increase in the number of philosophers, up this time from four to 14 (28%) to improbably make philosophy the second best-represented subject behind economics, which boasts a spectacular proportion.”
Portland’s Theatres Band Together To Present All Of Shakespeare In Two Years
“I think it’s going to be a fun experiment for the Portland arts community which is very diverse but often falls into the trap that everyone’s competing for the same dollars, the few art dollars out there that are still left,” says organizer Peter Platt. “Instead there’s strength in numbers. You can come together, collaborate, create festivals and programming that shares expertise, talent and overhead.”
If You Wonder Where All The Victorian Fairies Got To, Blame The Usual Suspect
“Fairies were abundant in print until 1926, whereupon they suffered what population ecology types would call an overshoot, followed by a die-off. In other words, we crested ‘peak fairy.'” Then we created cars.
Now We’re Going To Print Our Own Houses
“With 3D-printing, there is zero waste, reduced transportation costs, and everything can be melted down and recycled. This could revolutionise how we make our cities.”
Is It Time To End The Story Ballet?
“Let’s do a brand-new story that works well for dance, and commission new music, new sets. Have it be a big production. Hire someone to write the libretto. Put a lot of care into it. Even take the time to workshop a lot of it. I’d take an approach that plays or Broadway musicals take, where there can be many phases of development for it, so it’s not rushed.”
Felix Fibich, Dancer And Choreographer Who Brought Jewish Dance Traditions To The U.S., Dies At 96
“As a young actor in Poland’s Yiddish theater troupes, Mr. Fibich observed a wide range of expressive gestures and dances in Jewish communities. After moving to the United States in 1950, he and Judith Berg, his wife and first dance teacher, became known through concerts and workshops as experts in theatricalizing Jewish dance traditions.”
Theatre Makes Good Citizens – Just Ask This High School Kid Who Got ‘Rent’ Un-Banned
“While our change might just be producing an art that can create social commentary and create a message for an audience, I think that is an idea of expression in general and of our First Amendment rights: We’re given the ability to produce material that can create change and be a part of our society.”
Want That Ebook? You’d Best Be Able To Travel To It
“Books that traveled around the world via interlibrary loan in the 20th century paper era are safeguarded locally in the Internet age. Indeed, it is the sheer ease with which electronic publications can be sent around the world that is now resulting in their being locked up behind digital bars. The book doesn’t go to the reader, the reader comes to the book — just like in the 19th century.”
Regional Theatre Balances On A Financial Knife-Edge – But Needs To Keep It Local
“How do you put on new work, in the main house, while also keeping your audience? Familiar stories, brands and characters reinvented for the stage can seem like a smart way forward.”
Is The Women’s History Museum Finally Going To Become A Reality?
“The latest version of the bill is designed to calm the complaints of Republicans, who blocked an earlier proposal in 2010 because they feared a new museum would cost taxpayers too much money.”
Wait, Why Is A Book About Gone With The Wind’s ‘Mammy’ Being Written By A White Guy?
“One troubling feature of slave narratives is the process of a white person, typically male, having to authenticate the story. Never mind that the author lived to tell the tale. It still wasn’t real unless it was co-signed by a presumed credible source.”
Time For The Arts To Smarten Up About Smartphones
“Largely gone are the old apprehensions, the old tensions that marked the relationship between smartphones and the arts. Where those running organizations once wondered what to do about these new devices that could record audio and video and take pictures — practices that had sometimes been barred — now they know: Embrace them.”
The UK Doesn’t Want Prisoners Getting Books Anymore. Writers And Actors Lead The Protests
“I also believe that as a species, language is the greatest thing that we do, so I have to believe in the redemptive power of the written word.”
How’s Vanska’s Job ‘Audition’ At Minneapolis Going?
“Mr. Vanska is faced with 21 substitute musicians this week, mostly among the strings, along with 64 members of the orchestra, and once again, he is making them sound like a unified and refined whole.”
Eight Board Members Resigning From Minnesota Orchestra Board
The board members “resigned in protest over the impending departure of its president, Michael Henson. … All of this is further fallout from the management’s 16-month lockout of the players.”