Richard Florida looks at a study of shrinking American cities and breaks down a couple of myths about them, and about why some cities remain vibrant even as they lose population while others enter a downward spiral. – CityLab
Method Acting And #MeToo: A Brief History
“At least three of the fathers of the American Method — Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, and Elia Kazan — had reputations for treating men and women differently, as well as for treating both women actors and women characters as sex objects.” Holly L. Derr examines what these men did, how they justified it, and how the aftereffects linger on. – HowlRound
The Welsh Language Is Becoming (Could It Really Be?) Cool
There are Welsh-language songs and TV series racking up remarkable streaming numbers, the number of speakers has increased by 20% over the last decade, and people who’ve never been to Wales are learning the language using apps. – The Guardian
Biggest Threat To Machu Picchu? Museumification
“The museumification process of a living cultural landscape and the consequences of the loss of ancestral knowledge in managing water, agriculture, sustainable production and occupation of the land, as a consequence of profit-guided, short-term decisions, as well as the absence of a holistic vision, is far more harmful than the airport alone, which is only a logic outcome of this misunderstanding.” – dezeen
Climate Activists Protest BP Funding At London Outdoor Screening Of Royal Ballet
Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion descended on the big-screen event, which live-streamed a Royal Ballet performance of Romeo and Juliet for free on June 11. BP has sponsored the free screenings for more than a decade and has a 30-year relationship with the Opera House, which has come under fire from climate change campaigners for accepting money from the oil and gas giant because of its “devastating impact on the natural world”. – The Stage
The Dia Foundation’s Quiet Reinvention
“Blockbusters are not their thing. But don’t let the hush of the Beacon galleries mislead you; a profound transformation is afoot.” – The New York Times
Being Out In Nature Is Good For Your Health. But How Much Time Do You Need To Spend?
A new study quantifies it. “The study examined data from nearly 20,000 people in England who took part in the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment Survey from 2014 to 2016, which asked them to record their activities within the past week. It found that people who spent two hours a week or more outdoors reported being in better health and having a greater sense of well-being than people who didn’t get out at all.” – The New York Times
How The Internet Has Changed (Is Changing) Book Culture
“The personal touch sometimes takes some of the critical edge out of books conversation online. Like many outlets, Bustle is fazing out professional book reviews, and Electric Literature did away with its reviews a couple of years ago now. Instead, these websites are prioritizing personal essays from a diverse group of writers, and both of the aforementioned sites have a women-focused editorial strategy.” – Publishers Weekly
HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’ Has Turned The Actual Town Into A Tourist Mecca
“In a strange turn more than three decades after the meltdown, the exclusion area around Chernobyl is gaining a following as a tourism destination, apparently propelled by the popularity of a TV mini-series about the blast that was broadcast in the United States and Britain last month.” – The New York Times
‘This Is Heroic Criticism, Warrior Criticism, Live-Ammo Criticism’ — Six Film Writers Give Their Takes On Pauline Kael
David Thomson: “The shrewdest thing to say about Pauline Kael – beyond recognising that she was essential – is that she was kind of crazy. Yet determined to seem rational or in control.”
Kate Muir: “Her language is spankingly crisp and her reactions that of a ticket-buying human, not someone sweating ink as they try to impress.” – The Guardian
‘A Great Realist Novel’: Salman Rushdie On Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’, 50 Years On
“It tells us that wars are hell, but we knew that already. It tells us that most human beings are not so bad, except for the ones who are, and that’s valuable information. It doesn’t tell us how to get to the planet Tralfamadore, but it does tell us how to communicate with its inhabitants. All we have to do is build something big, like the Pyramids or the Great Wall of China.”- The New Yorker
Jazzercise, At 50, Is Big Business
“Countless workout fads have come along since the heyday of Jazzercise: Tae Bo, Pilates, Zumba, boxing, spinning, pole dancing. And yet Jazzercise persists: today, according to the company, there are more than seven thousand franchises, serving roughly two hundred and fifty thousand customers in twenty-five countries and grossing somewhere between ninety-five million and a hundred million dollars per year.” – The New Yorker
Anna Netrebko, ‘Aida’, And Why Opera Just Needs To Drop Blackface Already
The diva posted a photo of herself in her dressing room at the Mariinsky, all done up as Verdi’s enslaved Ethiopian princess, and one commenter wrote, “Beautiful singing! But is the blackface really necessary?” Netrebko replied, “Black Face and Black Body for Ethiopien [sic] princess, for Verdi[‘s] greatest opera! YES!” And, of course, all hell broke loose. (It didn’t help when Netrebko called her critics “low class jerks.”) Olivia Giovetti considers why, in the opera world, there still has to be an argument over blackface. – Van
The Mainstream U.S. Theater World Is Finally Starting To Diversify — Do We Still Need Culturally Specific Theater Companies?
In a word, yes. As one such producer puts it, “There’s layers of conversation of what diversity really means in a cultural arts landscape. … We have the opportunity to go deep within multiple layers and not just check off the box.” Reporter Makeda Easter talks to members of African-American, Asian-American, and Latinx companies about that difference. – Los Angeles Times
Clarence Thomas Claims That Smithsonian Exhibit (Which He Hasn’t Seen) About Him Is Wrong (Which It Is Not)
“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas hasn’t visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but he cited one of its exhibits last week to explain how Washington’s rumor mill works.” But, rather than explaining it, Thomas exemplified it. Peggy McGlone reports. – The Washington Post
Plagued By Construction Problems And Controversy, Berlin’s Humboldt Forum Postpones Opening
“The museum, one of Europe’s most ambitious and expensive current cultural projects, has been burdened … by accusations from academics and activists that it hasn’t done enough to determine the provenance of its objects that were acquired during the colonial era or to address whether it is appropriate to hold onto them. The opening of the permanent exhibition had already been delayed to 2020; the Forum was slated to open in stages, beginning with a temporary exhibition of ivory objects in November.” – The New York Times
Eye On San Diego – For Art!
San Diego is not only the eighth largest U.S. city by population, but also among the fastest-growing. And it has a lot to offer in art — and if the current exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art is any indication, it has great ambitions, too. – Judith H. Dobrzynski
Samantha Boshnack’s ‘Seismic Belt’
During her years in Seattle, trumpeter Samantha Boshnack has become intrigued not only with volcanoes but with the overall seismic behavior that continues to be a major and often disruptive aspect of life on Earth. Seismic Belt combines her musical and scientific interests in a powerful work of chamber music. – Doug Ramsey
The Guardian’s Five Female Choreographers Who Are Pushing Their Art Form Forward
“Their moves are fresh, funny and stylish; their subjects include the climate crisis, gender politics and poetry.” – The Guardian
Only Known Recording Of Frida Kahlo’s Voice May Have Been Found
“The National Sound Library of Mexico … [has] unearthed what they believe could be the first known voice recording of Kahlo, taken from a pilot episode of 1955 radio show El Bachiller, which aired after her death in 1954.” (includes audio) – The Guardian
“Don’t make me go out there alone!” — Leonard Bernstein’s last tango with ‘Candide’
Bernstein’s December 1989 concert performances and recording were his answer to the surprisingly numerous Candide-ologists trying to figure out why a show with such sparkling music had never been a commercial success. And they were so eventful, they only just barely happened — as I saw up close. – David Patrick Stearns