“The Faber story certainly speaks volumes about the mix of passion, shrewdness, and luck that it takes to keep such an operation afloat; it also raises the question of who, ultimately, a publishing house like Faber & Faber really belongs to. Is it the stockholders, whose involvement in the day-to-day life of the company is sometimes remote? Is it the staff—publishers, editors, and others—who set the tone and direction during their tenure? Or is it the writers, whose work is the company’s real raison d’être and lifeblood?” – The New Yorker
Tiny Grant Maker North Star Points the Way to Big Shake-Up in Philanthropy
“Its ‘participatory grant making’ model, where control of the money is ceded to the community it serves, has drawn notice from bigger foundations and young philanthropists.” – The Chronicle of Philanthropy
‘Museums Are Contested Sites’: The Art Institute of Chicago’s James Rondeau on the Museum’s Postponement of a Show of Mimbres Pottery
“There need to be multiple voices channeling that learning, from multiple stakeholders who have a cultural authority in this conversation. And I think that’s somewhat new, but it felt really good to stand up and say, ‘We know an awful lot, we have a great deal of expertise, we have a great deal of authority, but in this case it’s insufficient. We actually don’t know enough, and we need to keep learning and we need partners in that learning.’ That felt like a fantastic thing to be able to lead with.” – Artnet
David Brooks Plays Art Critic, Decries Politicization Of Art
“Artists have always taken political stands, but in some eras there’s more of a conviction that beauty yields larger truths about the human condition that are not accessible through politics alone — and these are the truths that keep us sane. Now one gets the sense that not only is the personal political, but that the political has eclipsed the personal. What’s missing from most of these pieces is human contact and emotional range.” – The New York Times
For Those Who Listened, The Fall Of The Facebook-Dependent News Site Mic Sounded An Alarm
As founders bragged about round after round of funding, those doing the actual work of providing content were getting fed up – and exploited. Millennials who were watching took nervous note. “Like its cousins BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Vice, Mic at times relied on its young and diverse staff to churn out content, respond nimbly to every change in the Facebook algorithm and sometimes even mine their personal pain for clicks in the pursuit of blistering traffic growth.” – HuffPost
The Metropolitan Museum’s In-House Analytical Chemist
“Where others concentrate on specific paintings or sculptures, [Eric] Breitung … takes a broad approach: ‘My focus is the environment of the whole museum.’ That means preparing the Met for some 60 exhibitions each year, in spaces that range from 100 to 20,000 square feet. Design elements for each exhibit contain chemicals that could be damaging, depending on the art.” – National Geographic
Of Course We Make Decisions Based On Rational Information… Don’t We?
“Even statistical decision theorists do not make serious choices by consulting cold, textbook models. Like the rest of us, they resort to a knottier combination of deliberation, gut feel and blind hope. For choices, so too for beliefs, which, when met with evidence, are pushed and pulled by processes that are equally mysterious.” – The Guardian
Marius Petipa Virtually Established Classical Ballet As We Know It Today. But Most Of His Own Ballets Were Pretty Bad
The standards set by the French-born ballet master in his decades at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg have had a defining influence on the art form ever since. But only three of his story ballets — Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, and Don Quixote — are in the repertory today, and of those only Sleeping Beauty has a genuinely good score. The rest, argues Alastair Macaulay, have “preposterous” plots, forgettable music, and values that were retrograde and out-of-step with even his own time and place, let alone ours. – The New York Times
Mic — The Rise And Fall Of A Millennial-Focused, Extra-Woke News Site
“Many of the more than three dozen former employees who spoke to HuffPost said they entered the company hungry and hopeful, only to feel twisted around by a publicly woke company that privately left them feeling exhausted, distrustful of leadership and desperate for financial security.” – HuffPost
Duh: Study Shows Audiences Find Jokes Funnier When Crowd Laughter Is Added
“This research shows that while canned laughter does elevate the humour of a comedy, adding real laughter would get a better response.” – BBC
Two Years Into Construction, Philadelphia Museum Of Art Is Remaking Itself From The Inside
Clearly the museum is attempting an unusual feat: Tearing itself apart in plain view, but hiding the mess. – Philadelphia Inquirer
Not “Avengers”: Adjusted For Inflation, These Would Be The Ten Top Box Office Movies Of All Time
There’s a reason the film industry doesn’t measure the success of modern movies against those of the past — movie ticket inflation isn’t an exact science. There are so many factors behind what makes a movie a box office success and those factors have changed since the earliest days of cinema. – CNBC
Dance Is Underfunded Because It’s Undervalued. Here’s How To Convince The People With Funds Of Dance’s Value
David Dorfman: “Dancemakers: Talk about money with the same knowledge and passion with which we talk about our mentors, our dances and the art form’s history. Research the roots of our current capitalist value system and know it intimately. … Sit down with people who have resources and believe you have something to offer them. Tell them what you need in order to make your art and how their investment will elevate our country’s cultural fabric.” – Dance Magazine
Can Protesting The Donors And Board Members Of Museums Really Right The World’s Wrongs?
Sebastian Smee: “Let’s be clear: the idea of moral purity in the arts is a fantasy. We are not going to return to innocence by hanging out with like-minded people at the Whitney as we contemplate a biennial where some of the works are poignantly missing. … I hope the drama at the Whitney has positive outcomes. But it is not a revolution. It is a spectacle.” – The Washington Post
If Chicago Wants A Big Casino, It Needs To Learn From Vegas: Arts And Entertainment Make The Difference
Chris Jones: “At your typical large Las Vegas casino, gambling only accounts for 34 percent of revenue. The rest of the money comes from hotel rooms, fancy restaurants, cocktail bars and, of course, more live entertainment than any other city in the world. This month on the Strip where Lady Gaga roams, you can see Gwen Stefani, Jay Leno, Janet Jackson, Cedric the Entertainer and, of course, a suite of fabulous market-segmented shows created by the Cirque du Soleil, which is constantly renewing its offerings and paying attention to the needs of all demographics.” – Chicago Tribune
Can Las Vegas Finally Get A Proper Museum Of Art Open And Running?
“It would follow an era of hope that fizzled even as casinos hosted megawatt art collections from the Guggenheim and the Smithsonian to draw tourists to the Las Vegas Strip. … There’s funding in the state budget, a matching grant of downtown land and cash from the city, a search for an architect is underway … and a newly arrived, well-connected director is gearing up a fund-raising effort that will involve naming rights.” – ARTnews
Savannah Philharmonic Names New Music And Artistic Director, Its Second Ever
“[Keitaro] Harada will replace founding Artistic Director Peter Shannon, who resigned last year. Harada, who has signed a multi-year contract, is set to conduct the opening and closing concerts of the 2019-20 season as director designate and take over the full title and responsibilities … beginning with the 2020-21 season.” – Savannah Morning News
‘Blind Injustice’ Opera Sets Out To Open Eyes About Wrongful Conviction Rates
“Cincinnati Opera has premiered a new opera that chronicles the stories of six people wrongfully convicted in Ohio and in the process, puts America’s criminal justice system on trial. The new opera Blind Injustice is based on a book of the same title by Mark Godsey, a former prosecutor and law professor at the University of Cincinnati. Godsey, who co-founded the Ohio Innocence Project, currently works with his students to crack the cases of those wrongfully convicted in Ohio.” – NPR
The Long Road
Here’s a list of problems that sounds way too familiar to me in my work attempting to get arts organizations to understand the long road that needs to be walked to build relationships. – Doug Borwick
Propwatch: the takeaway cartons in ‘the end of history…’
I love food, but I love cooking even more. So it was remarkably upsetting to see food repeatedly announced yet never enjoyed in Jack Thorne’s new play the end of history… at the Royal Court. Each of the three acts takes place at a meal that is destined to remain uneaten. – David Jays
Texas Theatre Founder Katherine Owens, 61
Thirty-five years ago, Owens and co-founder Raphael Parry established what may have been North Texas’ first, literally underground theater. They christened it the Undermain because its home was – and still is – a basement in Deep Ellum at 3200 Main. – Art & Seek