“When June O’Neill took over as executive director of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund 12 years ago, she barely had time to find her desk before Mayor John F. Street announced he was slashing the fund and eliminating the city’s Office of Arts and Culture. That was followed by the 2008 fiscal crisis, which saw the fund, an independent nonprofit that receives its budget entirely from the city, cut [by] 42.5 percent … [She’s] been through it all.”
Why We’re Still Fascinated By Jane Austen
“What explains the continued popularity of Jane Austen and the handful of novels she wrote? It is, after all, rather remarkable that a woman who spent her life in quiet provincial circumstances in early 19th-century England should become, posthumously, a literary celebrity outshining every author since then, bar none.”
How To Develop An Instinct For Understanding Data
“One thing I try to argue is that it’s not just about bigger machines to crunch more data, and it’s not even about pattern recognition. It’s about frameworks of recognition; how you choose to look, rather than what you’re trying to see.”
Why American Education Needs To Focus On More Than The Basics
“America’s last bipartisan cause is this: A liberal education is irrelevant, and technical training is the new path forward. It is the only way, we are told, to ensure that Americans survive in an age defined by technology and shaped by global competition. The stakes could not be higher. This dismissal of broad-based learning, however, comes from a fundamental misreading of the facts.”
Tony Award-Winning Director Gene Saks Dead At 93
While his career in both theater and movies included such hits as Mame, Same Time Next Year and I Love My Wife, Saks was best known for a long series of collaborations (stage and screen) with Neil Simon, from Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple through to the “Brighton Beach Trilogy.”
How Public Should The Public Art Process Be?
“Ultimately, you build more support for the Percent for Art Program and more support for public art when you engage the community,” Mr. Van Bramer said. “People are asking, ‘Just include me in a meaningful way.'”
Trying To Keep Hollywood Secrets In The Age Of SnapChat, Instagram And Whisper – And Hacking
“‘Post-Sony, getting people to cooperate with me has been a completely different experience,’ Ms. Zezza said. ‘Everyone gets that life has to change.'”
The Coloring Book For Adults That’s Sweeping The World
“Fan mail poured in from busy professionals and parents who confided to Ms. Basford that they found coloring in her books relaxing. More accolades flowed on social media, as people posted images from their coloring books.”
How Country Came To Rule The Airwaves
“It wasn’t inevitable that country music would thrive in the globalized world of perpetual Facebook updates, a world whose frenetic pace can be felt in electronica, or whose nouveau riche aspirations are extolled in hip-hop.”
Britain’s First Cinema Is About To Reopen Its Doors As A Movie Theatre Once Again
“By 1896, the reputation of the institution was such that the Lumière brothers chose it as the UK venue on a world tour designed to showcase their film projector, the cinematograph.”
The Lawyer Who’s Preparing For Courts About, And Maybe In, Space
“I began to see analogues between the founding of the United States and what we would need to do to go into space. I want to point out very, very strongly that this analogy between the founding of the US and space law is not a call for United States dominance or Manifest Destiny in space.”
Top Posts On AJBlogs For 03.29.15
Menil Collection Starts Drawing Center
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2015-03-29
Penguin’s Little Black Books Hit A Sweet Spot
“The commercial success of the commute-length gobbets – 80 titles ranging from the Communist Manifesto to Sappho’s poems to Mozart’s letters to his father – is striking since they are all in the public domain.”
‘Home’ Was Projected To Be A Flop For Dreamworks – But That’s Not What Happened This Weekend
Never bet against the children: “There is a sea of adult content, and they were able to march right in and take advantage of an enthusiastic and underserved family audience.”
Russia Fires Opera Director Who Put On Wagner And Pissed Off The Church
“Russia’s culture minister on Sunday fired the director of a Siberian theater whose modern staging of Wagner’s opera ‘Tannhauser’ offended the powerful Russian Orthodox Church. … ‘Orthodox Christianity is the foundation of the great Russian culture,’ said one of the signs held by the protesters in Novosibirsk.”
The British Public Apparently Want ‘More Real’ And Older Women On TV
“The survey found that people want less scantily clad women on reality television shows as well and that audiences did not think that they were good representations of real people.”
Six Seconds In The Studio That Influenced 1500 Songs
“Spencer retired from music more than 40 years ago and is now a novelist living in North Carolina. Although he was angry when he first heard the Amen break was being sampled, he now feels more at peace with it.”
The Best Night To See A Play Is The First Night Of Previews, Says NY Times Critic
Laura Collins-Hughes: “The energy in the room is high, and whatever surprises the performance holds won’t yet have been spoiled by reviews written by people like me. … [And] whatever ails a show, there is still – theoretically, anyway – time to fix it. To me, that feels hopeful. And dynamic.”