At issue is a rule that civil servants may not be paid for more than 60 hours of overtime per year (time off is offered instead) – a rule that the company’s dancers and tech staff insist is unworkable for a low-pay performing arts company with an off season. (in Spanish)
What Makes For A Good Theatre Date?
“The person in the next seat can also change your perspective on a performance both during it and after, and for better or worse, as much as the idiot using their mobile phone to take pictures down the row or the fidgetter in front of you.”
Museums – And Heirs Seeking Restitution – Will Now Have Access Online To Nazi-Era Catalogs
“The 93 volumes detail the sales made between 1936 and 1945 by Adolf Weinmüller, whose auction house flourished during the Second World War thanks to the forced sale of Jewish collectors’ personal property and the liquidation of Jewish art dealerships.”
California Assembly Falls In Line On Sweetening The Deal To Keep Film And TV Companies Happy
“Between 2004 and 2012, California lost more than 16,000 film- and television-industry jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, resulting in more than $1.5 billion in lost wages and economic activity.”
Egypt Cracks Down On Dissenting Artists
Sisi’s clampdown has now widened to include artists, satirists, film-makers and journalists. A tough new law banning “abusive” graffiti, which was drafted by Sisi in December, means street art is also at greater risk of censorship. Artists could face up to four years in jail if found guilty of creating anti-military murals.
Courtney Lewis Named Music Director Of Jacksonville Symphony
The Irish maestro, just turned 30, recently left his position as associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and is about to begin two years as assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic. He takes the reins in Jacksonville at the start of the 2015-16 season.
Trying To Find Where Creativity Comes From (In The Brain, That Is)
“We can’t study how they got creative,” says cognitive neuroscientist Mark Beeman. “But we can see how their brains work.”
Your Sense Of ‘Now’ Is Really Just A Trick Of Your Brain
Marcelo Gleiser: “We perceive nothing in the actual present. What we call ‘the present’ is built out of the integration of many past histories. The flow of time is the succession of these integrations, disjointed but appearing to be continuous, as if life were a grand movie.”
Who Are They, These “Jazz Police”?
“Notwithstanding that admittedly feeble attempt at humor, the belief in a jazz police has become very toxic these days… I want to add some harmony to the discord that exists between musicians and writers. I strongly feel that we need to deal with this myth of the jazz police; otherwise the future of our music will continue to dwindle in the coming years.”
Study: Cynics Are At Greater Risk Of Dementia
“A first-of-its kind study reports seniors expressing high levels of cynical distrust are at a higher risk of developing dementia. This finding, discovered in a population of elderly Finns, was not entirely explained by depressive symptoms, and remained robust after various risk factors were taken into account.”
Why American Theatre Is Stale
“It’s not for a lack of talent or ideas that the theatre is suffering, but rather from a business model that does not serve the interests of the artists, the institutions, or the audience.”
Broadway’s Average Ticket Price… Isn’t That A Problem?
“While articles may be trumpeting record revenues and record attendance, they’re either downplaying, avoiding or ignoring the true breaking of the $100 threshold, preferring to lead with the allure of numbers in the millions (attendance) or billions (dollars). That’s a shame, because in terms of what matters to the average audience member, the average ticket price seems much more essential news.”
There’s No Such Thing As A Slut
“A new longitudinal study examined how college students slut-shame – and found that the practice is as illogical as it is damaging.”
How To Restore A Rothko Without Ruining it
“It was preservation, essentially, by way of optical illusion.”
LeVar Burton Wants To Revive ‘Reading Rainbow’ Online
“After new episodes of the show ended in 2006, and then reruns stopped airing in 2009, a team including LeVar Burton got to work on a new direction, and the Reading Rainbow iPad app debuted in 2012. Though it’s been a big success, the new goal is to expand Reading Rainbow‘s library and reach so it can accessible through any browser, instead of just on tablets.”
At the 9/11 Memorial’s Gift Shop, People Explain What They’re Buying, And Why
“‘Outrage over gift shop’ ran the headline on NBC News, while NPR opted for ‘Gift shop makes some cringe’, and Gizmodo went for the more familiar ‘kitsch’ as well as ‘tasteless crap’. The store’s commemorative cheese plates and earrings were widely derided, but is this media criticism fair? The Guardian asked visitors to the gift shop what mementos they bought, and what the items meant to them.”
Microsoft’s Skype Translate Isn’t Really So Miraculous Just Yet
The demonstration conversation was scripted, the execution was slow, and one German-to-English translation came out “I have many meetings with my colleagues in Redmond, and I take the opportunity to see her fiancée my.”
Maya Angelou: ‘I Thought Of Myself As A Giant Ear’
From a 1986 interview with Terry Gross (in which she sings a mean hymn or two herself): “I thought of myself as a giant ear which could just absorb all sound, and I would go into a room and just eat up the sound. … I would listen to the accents, and I still love the way human beings sound. There is no human voice which is unbeautiful to me.” (audio)
Just How Little Money Do British Actors Make?
“Research revealed that of the 1,700 respondents, 46% made less than £1,000 last year from acting jobs and 30% earned between £1,000 and £5,000. Just 2% earned £20,000 or more.”
Barbican To Open Performance Lab In East London
Fish Island Labs “will provide 50 emerging practitioners with support and guidance during a 10-month residency in which they will develop work from physical performance to digital art.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 05.28.14
Ownership, without the air quotes
AJBlog: The Artful Manager | Published 2014-05-28
Engagement Working Group
AJBlog: Engaging Matters | Published 2014-05-28
Essential video
AJBlog: Sandow | Published 2014-05-28
The Freer’s Whistler Connection Pays Off (Again)
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-05-29
Please Do It Again
AJBlog: Dancebeat | Published 2014-05-28
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Bowing Out: When And Why Dancers Retire
For classical ballet performers, who typically need to stop around (or before) age 40, it’s some version of, “I want to leave while I still love it, before my body is broken.” For contemporary dancers? Says one, “I thought I should retire and seek another profession when I was like 20. But then when I was 30, I was like, ‘Screw it.’ [I’ll keep going] until I end up in a state-funded nursing home.”
Universal Knowledge Allah Pleads Guilty To Stealing Strad In Milwaukee
“Allah was accused of supplying the stun gun to Salah Jones, who allegedly incapacitated [Milwaukee Symphony concertmaster] Frank Almond with the weapon as he left a concert in a Milwaukee suburb on Jan. 27 and took the violin, valued at about $5 million.” He faces up to 15 years in prison.
Quentin Tarantino Gives Up Snit Fit, Goes Ahead With Filming ‘Hateful Eight’
In January, the writer-director angrily announced that he was dropping the project after the script was leaked – and he went on to sue Gawker Media for posting a link to the script. “I have calmed down a bit,” he says. “The knife-in-the-back wound has started to scab.”
What Moved Lynn Nottage To Write ‘Intimate Apparel’?
She had seen too much of what she calls “really macho theatre” and wanted to write “something simple and gentle”. And then she found an old photo in her grandmother’s brownstone that set her on a binge of historical research.