Upon receiving word, Arts Council England chair Peter Bazalgette tweeted that it’s “good news for arts and culture for this year at least.”
Report: Music Streaming Is Diminishing Our Engagement With Music (And Musicians)
“Total listening volumes are up but the depth of engagement with the majority of those listeners is low. So choice abundance is leading to casual fan relationships. This wide rather than deep approach is great value for music fans and for labels and publishers it translates into revenue diversified across their rosters, often with strong focus on more profitable back catalogue. But for an artist this means more people listening to your music but fewer times. Artist – fan relationships are moving from long term liaison to short term flings.”
It’s Another Simple, Abstract, Perfectly Shaped Anish Kapoor Sculpture – Why Is All France Arguing About It?
Because Kapoor is cheerfully describing it – Dirty Corner – as “the vagina of the queen” taking power, and it’s installed at Versailles.
The Onion’s Newest Spinoff ‘Is Producing Some Of The Best Video Art On The Internet’
“Recently, Clickhole ventured into self-reflexive territory pioneered by Douglas Gordon in his installation 24 Hour Psycho with the maddeningly jumpy Sorry, We Slowed Down This Video Of A Hummingbird Too Much. There are even nods to Andy Warhol’s appropriations of advertising and mass-produced packaging in Clickhole videos like Don’t Believe The Hype: This Can Has No Peas In It and Yes! Ham Goes Up An Escalator.”
USC’s MFA Class Quit Their School. The Reasons They Quit Are Present At Arts Schools Across America
“In fine art, innovation means pushing oneself beyond aesthetic tropes and posing what are often extremely uncomfortable questions. It has nothing to do with innovating the way corporations can use metrics and data to monetize the social behaviors of everyday people. Sure, there are plenty of artists who are cash-hungry, capitalist pigs. But…”
Recalling The Impact Of America’s Longest-Serving Theatre Director
“Actor, stage director, set designer, architect, coach, mentor, educator, community-builder, inspirational visionary, teller of amazing tales and the longest-serving continuous executive producer/director of a professional theatre in the United States. Jac Alder oversaw at least 378 main stage shows during his 54-year tenure.”
Why Would A Museum With A $1 Billion Endowment Cut Staff Health-Care Benefits? Inside The Ongoing MoMA Labor Dispute
“Management is saying that health-care costs are going up in the double digits. Management also said something really crazy; they told us, ‘You really like that health care,’ like, you use it, like, are we supposed to not use it? And they want us to share the burden; however MoMA’s endowment topped a billion dollars last month … We had the Matisse cutouts show this year, which was a blockbuster. The museum is doing better than it has ever done.”
The Literary Crowdfunding Boom
“Authors, publishers and literary journals are all finding new ways of connecting directly to their readers – and their wallets – on online platforms such as Kickstarter. Marta Bausells examines the books industry’s new wave of social financing and picks 10 of the best literary crowdfunding projects.”
Louise Bourgeois Peels A Tangerine
“For ‘peeling’ a tangerine isn’t the lesson at hand. ‘You have to understand that in a tangerine there are two important points,’ she says. These points guide the human figure that she proceeds to draw on the tangerine, and that brings to mind some of her drawings of bald, large-breasted figures.”
London Mayor Guarantees Public Monies For Garden Bridge
“The London mayor had promised that no more public money would be used on the project, following a £30m injection of cash by Transport for London. But Johnson has decided that the capital’s taxpayers will guarantee the future maintenance of the bridge – a decision that could mean considerable extra funding in future years.”
The Story Of Technology Is Actually The Story Of Textiles
“‘Smart textiles’ originally developed for spacesuits use microencapsulated materials that melt when they get hot, keeping wearers comfortable by absorbing body heat; when temperatures fall, the materials solidify and warm the body.”
Ruth Feldman, The Famous Quiz Show Kid, Dead at 80
“The question was reasonably obscure — What was the last opera in Wagner’s “Ring” cycle? — but Ruthie Duskin knew the answer. ‘The Dusk of the Gods,’ she intoned into the microphone. A fellow panelist leapt to correct her. ‘It’s Gott-dam … Gott-dam,’ he stammered, as the producers of the live radio broadcast winced. ‘He means the German name, Götterdämmerung,’ Ruthie interrupted. ‘But in English, it’s what I said.’ She was 7 years old.”
The NY Phil’s Next Emerging Composer: Anna Thorvaldsdattir
Alan Gilbert, the orchestra’s music director, praised what he described as her unique, expressive voice. ‘Her uncompromising approach to building soundscapes creates a visceral, pictorial aesthetic.'”
Texas Is A Deeply Latina/Latino State, But How Does That Affect Its Theatre?
“Despite the Encuentro’s diverse programming, which featured 15 plays from the four corners and Puerto Rico, no Texas-based theatre companies were represented. On the surface, this could suggest that Texas is not producing the quantity or the quality of Latina/o theatre as other parts of the United States. But those of us working to historicize Texas theatre are providing other evidence.”
The Hottest Battles Of The Tony Awards
Who will triumph tonight?
Broadway Casts Get Stuck At LaGuardia And Have A Sing-Off [VIDEO]
“To pass the time, the actors performed impromptu renditions of ‘The Circle of Life’ and ‘Arabian Nights, and [Tony winner James Monroe] Iglehart dropped an impressive freestyle to the tune of Black Star’s ‘Lions of Hip-Hop.'”
Painting: Doomed By Cliché And A Lack Of Feeling?
“The problem is optical: two parties, critics and artists, look past each other with incompatible expectations.”
Cyber-Archaeologists Working To Digitally Recreate Endangered Artifacts
“Project Mosul has been launched by researchers from the Initial Training Network for Digital Cultural Heritage, an EU-funded initiative aimed at preserving cultural heritage using digital technology. The project consists of a team of volunteers working to digitally reconstruct ancient artifacts from the museum by using photographs and even video taken by tourists.”
A Japanese Library Is Attempting To Break The World Record For “Book Dominos” (Yes, It’s A Thing)
But the Asian news site Rocket News 24 reports that disgruntled readers have criticised the library’s decision, with one critic of the plan explaining that “Japanese people hold books in high regard, almost as sacred.”
UK Musicians Account For 13 Percent Of Global Album Sales
“With 13.7% of worldwide sales, it’s the highest British share since the BPI began recording those figures in 2000. Sales of albums by British artists rose in Canada, Australia, Italy and Sweden, as well as the US.”
The Confusingly Simple New Canada Council
“There used to be 147 arts grant programs to apply for, divided by discipline – one for poetry, one for choreography, one for operating a gallery, etc. Now there are six general ones, and the Council has boasted of streamlining and simplifying the system. But what do the six categories represent?”
Boston Public Library Finds Two Valuable Artworks (And They Had Never Left The Library)
The two works were found together in the Print Collection, according to the statement, “approximately 80 feet from where the items should have been filed. I saw Rembrandt’s face and I was like, ‘Is this the Rembrandt? There are lots of prints of Rembrandt. This might be it. So I had someone come and confirm.”
Which Musical Will Win This Year’s Tony? Chris Jones Thinks…
“It is tempting to see this contest as a battle between an arty, alternative show and a mainstream attraction with great touring potential. But what’s alt anymore? It is also worth noting that both of these musicals are innovators, formatively and in terms of their subjects.”
People Are Smuggling Artifacts Out Of Syria And Western Museums Are Holding Them To Protect Them
“Syrian officials said they had moved hundreds of Palmyra’s statues to safety prior to the IS takeover but could not transfer large monuments. But across Syria, volunteers have risked their lives to preserve and protect irreplaceable monuments and mosaics, many of which date back to the 1st and 2nd Century; while civilians have turned over thousands of ancient artefacts for safekeeping. The British Museum said it could not reveal which Syrian artefact it was holding.”
Are Ballet Dancers Secretly Wild Hedonists?
It seems the Telegraph wants to dig up, or stir up, some dirt …