Every industry takes a toll and holds its own responsibility when it comes to environmental impact, and as life goes on, action to minimise this is necessary. Festivals, promoters and event organisers around the world have been cottoning on to the gravity of our current climate crisis, and their efforts to blend music, the pursuit of pleasure and matters of sustainability are being reflected in the public consciousness. – MixMag
How Theatres Can Strengthen Themselves For The Next Great Recession
“In this paper we first explore the U.S. economic and financial outlook to better understand the environment and its risks. Then we follow trends for theatres’ finances and operations, starting with the years prior to the last recession, to identify key trends in the not-for-profit resident theatre industry. We conclude with recommendations of steps to take for recession preparedness given the identified vulnerabilities.” – SMU Data Arts
Prolific composer Alvin Singleton talks upcoming work, ‘Black culture’ as ‘American culture’
“Singleton demurs when described as a composer of classical music. ‘I know that I write music. I’m a composer. So, categorization always gets us in trouble because it defines us very narrowly.'” – New York Amsterdam News
The Nobel Literature Prize Has Lost Its Way
Once the ultimate arbiter of great literature, it has struggled to remain relevant at a time of cultural fragmentation. It could not continue on its historical course—awarding unknown European poets who would fail to stir excitement in the media (and social media)—and remain relevant. – The New Republic
Dance Company From Barcelona Denied Entry To US For LA Dance Festival
The company, Perra da Nadie, released a statement: “Marta and 3 gentlemen who accompany her on this tour, flew from Barcelona with an overlay in Seattle where we were denied access to enter the country. Without knowing why they took us to a secluded room, they warned us from touching our phones, they took our passports.” – Broadway World
Billionaire Francois Pinault’s New $170 Million Paris Museum To Open Next June
Pinault currently operates two other museums in Venice—the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana, both of which were also designed by Ando. Pinault is known for putting on must-see shows by artists with marquee names, such as Damien Hirst, Albert Oehlen, and Sigmar Polke, and his museum in Paris is set to become one of the most closely watched in a city rich with contemporary art spaces. – ARTnews
LA’s Studio Musicians Say Move To Streaming Makes Will Kill The Business
As television’s center of gravity begins to pivot decisively to made-for-streaming product, the lack of residuals for such programming becomes more and more urgent for musicians. “This is an extinction-level event,” says Marc Sazer, long active in AFM Local 47 and the RMA, which is a related organization. “Our ability to make a sustainable living is facing extinction.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Parents, Do Not Enroll Your Preschooler In Ballet Class
Sarah Kaufman: “As a lifelong ballet lover but ambivalent dance mom, here’s my cri de coeur: Do your kids a favor and banish the thought. Yes, there are options galore for parents looking for a dance class for their toddlers — even for babies. Dance schools will be delighted to fulfill your sparkly pink dreams. But the best dance class for a very young child looks nothing like that.” – The Washington Post
Why Do People Support Their Orchestra? This Couple Gave Tens Of Millions To The Toronto Symphony
Mary and Tom Beck emigrated to Canada in the 1950s from Europe. “When Tom got to England, not being an English-speaking person, the school didn’t know what to do with him. They took him at any opportunity to the symphony. Music is a universal language. It doesn’t matter your language skill set and I think that was where he became really exposed. It really made a lasting impression on him.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Hacking The Museum Tour – Entertainment With Attitude
“I found some of the interactive portions of the tour superficial and a bit corny, but the younger, millennial members of the group seemed to enjoy them. Bringing games, imagination and creativity into the art viewing experience certainly makes the museum seem less stuffy and more relatable.” – Los Angeles Times
London’s Creative Industries Are Growing Much Faster Than In The Rest Of The UK
Productivity in London’s creative industries has grown much more rapidly than in the rest of the UK, at 2.7% per year compared to 0.4%, calculations based on DCMS data from 2011 to 2017 show. – Arts Professional
Jeffrey Epstein Gets Dragged Into $200 Million Battle Over Brancusi Sculpture
“In court filings, John H. McFadden — scion of one of the founding families behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art — denied claims that he stole a bronze cast of one of … Brancusi’s most famous works from Stuart Pivar, a prolific Manhattan art buyer and onetime friend of Andy Warhol. Instead, McFadden maintained, Pivar agreed to sell the work, which the collector valued at $100 million, for a pittance because he needed quick cash and could not attract another buyer, due in part to his longtime friendship with Epstein.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Piece So Hard Even Barbara Hannigan Couldn’t Sing It
“On paper, John Zorn’s Jumalattaret … looks impossible: breathless vocalise; abrupt transitions from head-spinning complexity to folk-song simplicity; and, within the span of a single measure, whispering, squeaking and throat-singing like a winter storm. It’s the kind of piece that leaves you asking, repeatedly, over the course of its 25 minutes: Can a voice even do this? The answer, for Ms. Hannigan, is yes. It took a lot of practice, a thwarted summer vacation, and a well-timed email to get there.” – The New York Times
Lost Section Of Oldest Manuscript Of ‘Tale Of Genji’ Discovered
“The original manuscript of the story no longer exists, with the oldest versions of the story believed to have been transcribed by the poet Teika, who died in 1241. Until now, just four chapters of the 54-chapter story are confirmed to be Teika’s transcriptions, but now a fifth chapter, which depicts Genji’s encounter with the girl who becomes his wife, Murasaki, has also been identified as Teika’s. The manuscript had been kept in an oblong chest in a storeroom at the Tokyo home of Motofuyu Okochi, a descendant of [a] former feudal lord.” – The Guardian
Why Peter Handke’s Nobel Prize Has Made Many People Furious
Social media lit up with outrage when Handke’s win was announced, and criticism came from some (seemingly) surprising quarters. Albania’s acting foreign minister said the award was “an ignoble and shameful act.” PEN America, in an unprecedented move, publicly condemned the Swedish Academy for its choice. What’s the reason for all the anger? It goes back to the post-Yugoslav wars. – Slate
Public Radio’s ‘Studio 360’ To Cease Production
“The final episode of Studio 360 will air in February, … [and] host Kurt Andersen’s role with the program will end later this month. … John Barth, PRX’s chief content officer, would not discuss details about why the program is ending … [and] PRX spokesperson David Cotrone said only that Studio 360 is being canceled ‘for a variety of factors.'” – Current
Helen Shaw Is New Theater Critic At New York Magazine And Vulture
“Shaw was most recently theater critic at Time Out New York and 4Columns.org, and was awarded the 2018 George Jean Nathan Award for theater criticism. (The previous year’s winner was Sara Holdren, her predecessor in the job, who is leaving the magazine to return to full-time directing.)” – New York Magazine
Why Mark Bradford Is One Of The Most Important Artists Of Our Time
For example: “There’s nothing revolutionary about an artist creating a foundation. But the nonprofits set up by Andy Warhol, Joan Mitchell and Robert Rauschenberg, to name three, were created to launch after the artist’s death. Bradford, 57, founded Art + Practice for immediate impact. He provides as much of the organization’s $1 million annual budget as needed. And he does it his way, generally declining grants so that the nonprofit can remain independent and flexible.” – Washington Post
The New MoMA: More Space, Less Story
Phil Kennicott: “MoMA is billing these changes to the display of the art as the most significant aspect of the expansion. Not only is the museum growing, it is changing its relationship to the art, no longer insisting on a single grand narrative, no longer teaching, but simply opening itself up to exploration and discovery.” – Washington Post
Twitch Has Become The Most-Popular Live-Streaming Platform, And… There Are Problems
More people watch live streams on Twitch than on any other digital platform, including YouTube and Facebook, according to a report from StreamElements. But the platform has struggled to police content as it is posted. – The New York Times
The Banjo And The Ballot Box: Country Music As Political Tool
“[Historian Peter] La Chapelle explains how fiddler-politicians and politician-fans have used this oddly flexible genre to advocate for the poor and dispossessed, fight for racial justice, fight against racial justice, lobby for gun rights, and articulate a whole range of sometimes contradictory positions. (audio) – The American Scholar
Why Netflix On Broadway Is Good For Both Of Them
The streaming giant is renting the Belasco Theatre in midtown Manhattan for a four-week, eight-shows-a-week Broadway-style run of its latest major feature, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. Howard Sherman explains the benefits that Netflix, the Shubert Organization (owner of the Belasco), and Broadway more generally could get from the unusual arrangement. – The Stage
Olga Tokarczuk And Peter Handke Win Nobel Prizes For Literature
The Nobel committee cited Polish novelist Tokarczuk, awarded the delayed prize for 2018, for “a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.” Austrian prose author, poet and dramatist Handke was cited for “an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience.” – The Guardian
How The Internet Reframed What It Meant To Be A Desirable Human
“While the Internet was meant to allow you to reach out to any- and everyone without a hint of the cruel discriminations that blight our world, it turned into the opposite, a forum where individuals are less speaking to other people than preening and listening to themselves—turning themselves into desirable objects to be coveted by all. It became, that is, the perfect embodiment of consumer capitalism, where everything can be touted in the marketplace.” – New York Review of Books