“In the survey, 52% of respondents said they’re happier when listening to a favorite song (the other 48% were listening to Ed Sheeran), while 58% said that music helps boost their mood at work. That’s an important detail when you consider that, in a separate study, almost half of Americans admitted to crying in the workplace.” – Fast Company
A Seattle Theatre Has Plan To Grow Audience: Give Away All The Tickets
“Frankly, I’m sick and tired of seeing empty seats in our theaters,” says Intiman Theatre’s artistic director Phillip Chavira. “I think we do a disservice in the nonprofit arts: We ask you to participate in this amazing art, but ask you for a fee.” – KUOW
We’re Awash In Conspiracy Theories. It’s Hard Not To Get Addicted To Them
America’s mythology seems to encourage alternate theories. Independent thinking. Distrust of the conventional. Following the bread crumbs. It’s just, well, so bad for us… – The Guardian
Bred at The Shed: Three Boundary-Busting Inaugural Commissions
CultureGrrl takes in Reich Richter Pärt; Trisha Donnelly’s untitled, unexplained, and almost unlit installation; and Norma Jeane Baker of Troy. – Lee Rosenbaum
Not as deep as it seems
I had a range of thoughts about Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins’s opera p r i s m, which won the Pulitzer Prize. And it made me long for the days, decades ago, when artistic music-theater pieces had a much bigger audience. – Greg Sandow
The 2019 JJA Awards
The Jazz Journalists Association has announced its 2019 award winners. Among them are Ahmad Jamal, Wayne Shorter, Linda May Han Oh, and Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Big Band. – Doug Ramsey
The Value Of A Compelling Story
We can learn much from the entrepreneurial community about the art of a good story. Great storytellers simplify. Richard Branson once said, “If your pitch can’t fit on the back of an envelope, it’s rubbish.” He is also the master at telling the warts and all story, compelling people to understand both his successes and failures, but most importantly to get his listeners invested in helping him solve his challenges. – Arts Professional
A Choir For Dementia Patients Shows Real Therapeutic Benefits
Actress Vicky McClure got the idea to form the choir after seeing how much her ailing grandmother was helped by singing together. A BBC crew watches the choir rehearse, perform, and take part in a research study, with a focus on Daniel, a 30-year-old former engineer diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (text and video) – BBC
Osmo Vänskä Named Music Director Of Seoul Philharmonic
South Korea’s flagship orchestra has been without a music director since Myung-Whun Chung resigned at the end of 2015, toward the end of an astoundingly tumultuous period at the ensemble. Vänskä, who will remain with the Minnesota Orchestra until the summer of 2022, begins work in Seoul in January of 2020. – Twin Cities Pioneer Press