William Paul Gerhard, an engineer with the British Fire Prevention Committee, stated in a report that by May 1897 there had been 1,115 recorded theater fires in Europe and America (since records had been kept); there were 460 theater fires across America and Europe just from 1800 to 1877. Gerhard claimed that the average life of a theater in the United States was only about thirteen years due to fire. – Lapham’s Quarterly
Saeed Jones on Queer Masculinity and the Point of Being an Artist
“Saeed Jones has worn many hats: teacher, poet, and culture editor at BuzzFeed, among many other things. (Also, he joins a growing group of writers willing to admit that they were high school debaters.) … We spoke about his mother, online poetry, and the point of being an artist.” – The Nation
The Play That Made Me Understand Why ‘Porgy And Bess’ Can Be Stifling
Soraya Nadia McDonald: “Does it still make sense to present an opera written by [four whites] as the opera about black American life? Is it a collection of insulting stereotypes set against gorgeous orchestrations, or something more? Attending a performance of Porgy and Bess helped clarify some of those questions for me. But it was another show altogether that helped me reframe how to think about them: Keith Hamilton Cobb’s American Moor.” – The Undefeated
Coachella’s Desert X Partners With Saudi Arabia (And Three Artist/Board Members Resign In Protest)
Although the Saudi exhibition signals growing international interest in Desert X, three of 14 members on the organization’s board of directors resigned over the decision to work with a government responsible for human rights abuses and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The three are artist Ed Ruscha, art historian and curator Yael Lipschutz and philanthropist and former fashion stylist Tristan Milanovich. – Los Angeles Times
Can A Rope Bondage Show Empower Women? These Two Actor-Aerialists Think So
Everything I See I Swallow, which scored a success at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe and is now touring regional England, involves “the art of shibari, the centuries-old practice of Japanese rope bondage … It’s the spark for a piece of theatre that speaks to something universal and pressing, about the rights of women over their own bodies, the ramifications of digital life, and that knotty old question: can it ever be empowering for a woman to take her clothes off in public?” – The Guardian
‘The Stage’ Runs Pro And Con Articles On The Old Vic’s Gender-Neutral Toilets, Then Deletes Them In A Panic
“The website issued a statement on Twitter today saying it had taken the articles [about the battle of the loos] down after receiving what it described as ‘strong responses’ from readers, adding they had ‘only polarised the debate further’.” Sareah Ditum, who wrote one of the essays, called the move “gross editorial cowardice.” – Press Gazette (UK)
In Wake Of Racial Incident, Boston’s Museum Of Fine Arts Works To Make Amends
Last spring, a group of black middle school students had an ugly encounter with a few museum patrons and a guard. “Critics rightfully pounced, and the museum moved swiftly to contain the damage. … It might have ended there. But in this city still scarred by court-ordered desegregation and the turbulent busing of minority students to white suburbs in the 1970s, the museum — which welcomes 1.2 million visitors each year — took it as a wakeup call.” – Yahoo! (AP)
American Research Universities Association Decides To Expel Canadian Universities… Then Backtracks
Whatever the reasons for its decision, AAU received significant blowback not only from the Canadian institutions but from some of its U.S. members, who argued that it seemed tone-deaf for an association whose core enterprise — scientific research and education — is an increasingly global one. The seeming parallel to the inward-lookingness of the Trump administration didn’t help. – Inside Higher Ed
Pop-Up Pop Culture Experiences Are Everywhere. Bored Yet?
The gold standard and the pop-up worth getting on line early to score tickets for is probably “Saved by the Max.” After its launch last year, Eater Los Angeles described it as a “near-complete recreation of the ’90s Saturday morning staple Saved by the Bell‘s diner.” It feels like it has items from every episode and Easter eggs to inside jokes for both die-hard and casual fans lurking in there somewhere. A $40 ticket gave Chicago and West Hollywood fans an appetizer, an entree, and all the fandom they could handle. – Fast Company
Why Civility Is So Difficult In A Democracy
“To regard one’s opposition as being on the wrong side of an important political dispute is to regard them as being on the side of injustice. Thus, heated tones, raised voices, and spicy language – not to mention a measure of frustration, impatience, and resentment – are precisely what should be expected in many democratic disagreements.” – 3 Quarks Daily
Our Most Favorite Story Lines? The Sympathetic Protagonist
Orphaned protagonists are so common that an online encyclopaedia of narrative tropes has more than 25 pages on orphan-related themes, including ‘Street Urchin’ (Oliver Twist), ‘Disappeared Dad’ (Forrest Gump) and ‘Doorstop Baby’ (Harry Potter). – Aeon
How Nietzche’s Ideas Still Permeate Our Thinking
The adventures of “super” and “über” are a case study in the inescapability of Nietzsche’s philosophy, which has affected everyday discourse and modern political reality like no body of thought before it. – The New Yorker
Where Are Artists Priced Out Of Gentrifying Berlin Neighborhoods Going? Here
They’ve been moving into abandoned East German factories along the Spree River. “Although the area’s landscape may look post-apocalyptic, with its giant weeds and empty power plants, strangely, the future here can seem positively Arcadian: Real estate is still cheap enough that artists are able to buy, rather than rent, their spaces. Here, four artists discuss how their work is shaped by the Spree.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Research: Arts, Sports Might Help Cut Homelessness
“Meaningful activity might be an essential component of youth homelessness prevention. This includes resources that encourage social inclusion (e.g., community and recreation centres) and natural supports. For example, neighbours may be able to help facilitate housing retention once a young person leaves the streets.” The Conversation
Just Two Weeks After Winning A MacArthur, Walter Hood Wins Another $250,000
“The … public artist whose work ranges from sculpture to landscape design has won the annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, which comes with $250,000 and honors a United States-based artist ‘who has pushed the boundaries of an art form, contributed to social change, and paved the way for the next generation.'” – ARTnews
Seeing ‘Slave Play’ As A Black Person, With An All-Black Audience
Aisha Harris: “At one point during the performance — as the white woman … used a black dildo on her [black] partner … while they pretended to be the mistress and slave on a plantation — my colleague, seated next to me, said, ‘Imagine seeing this with white people!’ I could absolutely imagine it, and thus understood why this specially curated audience needed to exist.” – The New York Times
Who Will Replace Plácido Domingo At Los Angeles Opera? No One
The company has decided to eliminate the title of General Director and fold its duties in with those of the President and CEO, Christopher Koelsch. – Los Angeles Times
New York Mag/Vulture Theater Critic Sara Holdren Steps Down
“I’m stepping away from full-time criticism to pursue more directing, but there’s no disentangling the two pursuits for me now. … Critic and director must both articulate a vision and relate it to the wider world. Both are authors, whether of an argument or an event. Both must contextualize; both must reveal themselves in the work; both must dream the future of the form they love. I’m off now to a different kind of dreaming.” (ninth paragraph) – Vulture
Confetti-Loving Comedian Rip Taylor Dead At 88
“In his over five decades in entertainment, Taylor would make over 2,000 guest star appearances on shows like The Monkees, The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Hollywood Squares and The Gong Show. He also hosted the beauty pageant spoof The $1.98 Beauty Show.” – Yahoo! (AP)
What Royal Shakespeare Company’s Decision Not To Take Oil Company Money Means
“The RSC’s move will make it much harder for other arts institutions such as the Royal Opera House, the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery to keep taking money from oil companies on the grounds that it helps widen access. It may signal the start of the arts world distancing itself from oil companies.” – The Stage
For The First Time In 136 Years, Met Opera Begins Sunday Matinees
As part of three-year labor contracts agreed to in the summer of 2018, the Met has the right to present up to 17 Sunday matinees this season and 27 in 2020-21. Any Sunday show will be followed by a Monday off for both performances and orchestra rehearsals. And Tuesday-morning rehearsals will have limits. – Yahoo! (AP)
Netflix Goes Around Theatre Chains, Rents Broadway Theatre For Scorsese Movie Run
Stymied by the big theater chains, the streamer has booked Broadway’s Belasco Theatre for its November 1 opening of Martin Scorsese’s epic “The Irishman” for one of several New York theatrical dates. – IndieWire
Readying For New Controversies Around Nobel Literature Prize
The revamped panel at the Swedish Academy who will hand out the Nobel Literature prizes Thursday for both 2018 and 2019 would relish arguments about the winners, rather than intrigue about the #MeToo scandal that forced the institution to suspend the prize last year. – Yahoo! (AP)
Arts Education For All? (Depends On How You Define It)
The problem is that the offering all across the country is premised on the wealth of schools or school districts and there is a fundamental, inherent inequity to that reality. – Barry’s Blog
Theoretical “Science” You Can Never Prove. Is It Real?
“In our post-truth age of casual lies, fake news and alternative facts, society is under extraordinary pressure from those pushing potentially dangerous antiscientific propaganda – ranging from climate-change denial to the anti-vaxxer movement to homeopathic medicines. I, for one, prefer a science that is rational and based on evidence, a science that is concerned with theories and empirical facts, a science that promotes the search for truth, no matter how transient or contingent.” – Aeon