“It may be time to understand that the writing culture of an earlier era was a matter of fashion, much like the elaborate clothing required of anyone who stepped outside. And just as fashions can be utilitarian—houses weren’t as well heated in the old days, making all those textiles more necessary most of the year—writing ability mattered more when it was the main way one had to communicate with the world beyond one’s self.”
Brooklyn’s Hipster Mecca Gets A Classical Music Venue
“A long-discussed plan to turn a disused sawdust factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn into a venue for classical and contemporary music appears to be now taking shape. Organizers of the 13,000-square-foot space on Friday announced plans to open this October with a program of ‘genre-spanning music at accessible ticket prices.’ The venue is to be called National Sawdust, and will host, among other performances, three concerts of the New York Philharmonic’s Contact! series.”
Will Philadelphia’s Next Mayor Pay Attention To The Arts, Which Have Led The City’s Renaissance?
“Like a prospector who discovers a gold mine then watches others pull riches from it, the Philadelphia arts and culture community has been looking around and wondering when its turn will come. Center City is a boomtown, its vibrant street life and desirable real estate in large part a consequence of arts pioneers taking a chance on new facilities and expanded missions more than two decades ago.”
Satyajit Ray’s Great ‘Apu Trilogy,’ Restored And Returning To Movie Screens
“Now, a new generation of filmgoers has a chance to discover Ray’s humane genius in a rerelease of the [films]” – Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and The World of Apu – “first in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in May, and then in selected theaters around the country, after a lengthy and painstaking restoration by the Criterion Collection in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”
Encore: Celebrating 25 Years Of The Only Lit Prize To Honor Second Novels
“In particular, as suggested by the phrase ‘the difficult second novel’, things can get tough after first publication. If your first book has gone like the clappers, you’ll probably be feeling pressure, both self-generated and from expectant publishers; at the same time, … your schedule may seem to conspire against you ever writing another word.”
Canada’s Most-Visited Museum? (Sorry, Toronto)
“For the second year in a row, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts can claim to be the most-visited art museum in Canada, beating out both the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Slightly more than one million people visited the MMFA in 2014, making it the 58th most popular art museum in the world and the 12th most popular in North America.”
What Is It About America’s Inability To Learn Other Languages?
“Less than 1 percent of American adults today are proficient in a foreign language that they studied in a U.S. classroom. That’s noteworthy considering that in 2008 almost all high schools in the country—93 percent—offered foreign languages, according to a national survey.”
Can “Art Therapy” Effectively Fight Terrorism? (Here’s Somewhere It’s Working)
“The clients were taught through examples of how to express their feelings and release their aggressive tendencies through drawings and paintings. ‘Get that negative energy out on the paper…. ‘It is safe here’ was the theme of one art therapy session.”
I Was David Letterman’s Animal Handler
“I never could have imagined that my career would involve sitting beside sloths and snakes on a late-night TV couch.’ “Jungle” Jack Hanna writes about the baby hippo he brought to his first appearance on Dave’s show, the camels that took out all the ceiling panels, the hyena that drank from Dave’s mug, the armadillos that mated on his desk, and the beaver that bit him on set. (includes video clips)
Why The U.S. Lags Just About Everybody In Second Language Acquisition
“It isn’t that people don’t think language education important. It’s that they don’t think it’s possible.”
Crime Dramas Clean Up At British TV Awards
“Happy Valley on BBC One was a dark police drama set in West Yorkshire that some TV critics hailed as the best thing on British TV in 2014. Others were troubled by its scenes of violence.” (A list of all winners, including “Sherlock” and “True Detective,” is here.)
Minnesota Becomes First Major U.S. Orchestra To Play In Cuba As Relations Normalize
“It is not the first time an orchestra has visited the communist nation, but it is the first in this newly friendly climate. The tour has attracted national press and international curiosity for its musical and political implications.”
Misty Copeland Pays It Forward By Sponsoring Two Teen Brother Ballet Dancers
“At home, they told their parents they wanted to dance, but the idea was immediately squashed. Whitaker says that didn’t stop them from forging their mother’s signature on a permission slip, and sneaking out to attend ballet class.”
The Tate Modern Has Been Open For 15 Years. What’s Next?
“Tate Modern really has transformed Britain. When people in Britain talk about art today, they mean art as Tate Modern has defined it.”
Why Doesn’t The Cleveland Orchestra Support Modern Music Anymore?
“Almost 45 years have passed since Szell’s death in 1970, but his support of programming and commissioning new works, which continued and thrived under the directorships of both Lorin Maazel and Dohnányi, has been significantly curtailed under the orchestra’s current leadership of Franz Welser-Möst.”
Thanks To ‘Jane The Virgin,’ TV Is Suddenly Soooooo Interested In Latina And Latino Storylines
“For years, executives at Spanish-language television networks complained that ad spending was not keeping pace with the fast rise of the Hispanic audience. But marketers have started opening their wallets to reach those viewers, and the broader English-language networks are eager for a cut of the cash.”
Why Does The Left Wing In Britain Care Nothing For The Architectural Past?
“For many people, old toffs’ houses are the stuff of Tory ascendancy. We are supposed to prefer the architecture of 1970s housing estates or the gross ostentation of the Shard to Palladio, the Italian genius who inspired Clandon Park’s lost elegance.”
What’s Actually Happening With All Of The Sudden Departures At Shakespeare & Company?
“After decades of stability and growth, Shakespeare & Company has — in the last seven months alone — exiled an artistic director and lost an executive director before his first season was produced, actions followed in short order by the resignation of its top trustee. The word ‘interim’ now litters the company’s artistic and administrative flowchart, and the theater’s founder, Tina Packer, seems as befuddled as anyone.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs For 05.10.15
What If Britain Hadn’t Taken the “Lion Hunt Reliefs”?
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2015-05-10
Artist Chris Burden Has Died
“Paul Schimmel, a close friend of the artist and the former chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art who had organized Burden’s first retrospective exhibition in 1988, said the cause was malignant melanoma. Burden had been diagnosed with the illness 18 months ago, Schimmel said, but kept the information private.”
The Artist Representing Britain At The Venice Biennale With Giant Yellow Phalluses
“I have a hefty streak of indifference to things but I was chuffed to be asked. It’s special, a big deal internationally and so glamorous to be in Venice.”
The Two Dancing Men Blazing Across The Broadway Stage
Alastair Macaulay: “Both men are playing roles associated, in the film versions of these shows, with Gene Kelly; neither suffers from the comparison with that Hollywood legend. And each gives the most remarkable performance in his musical.”