“After narrowly averting bankruptcy, documenta’s troubles continue. Last week, the far-right [Alternativ für Deutschland] faction of Kassel’s city council brought a lawsuit against the quinquennial for alleged misappropriation of funds and other offenses.”
How Some Movies Ended Up – By Accident – In The Public Domain
“When horror movie icon George A. Romero died earlier this year, it should have started a copyright expiration timeline for his most famous and influential work, the 1968 classic and Halloween icon Night of the Living Dead. But something really scary happened to the film before it became a hit: Due to a last-second title change and a distributor error, the former Night of the Flesh Eaters fell into the public domain upon its release. What caused these types of problems – and how has copyright adapted since?”
Michigan Has Lost Its Mainstream Critics. Artists Are Feeling It
“We’ve heard about theater critics being laid off, we’ve heard about newspapers cutting back on the space they’re willing to devote to arts coverage. It seems like that’s something we hear from theaters across the board in Michigan.”
The Sexy-Gross History, Involving The French Revolution, Of The Color Puce
Well, pre-Revolution, really: “Puce is a color that’s been around for as long as we’ve been spilling blood and watching it dry, but it didn’t get a name until the summer of 1775 when French dressmaker Rose Bertin made Marie-Antoinette a gown in a color that blurred the lines between brown and maroon with only a hint of pinkish-gray.”
The Final Days Of Oliver Sacks
On that long August afternoon a little more than two years ago, Oliver completed his notes for the book he knew he would not see. He titled it “The River of Consciousness” — the title of one of the 10 essays — and dedicated it to his longtime friend and editor at The New York Review of Books, Bob Silvers. He wrote a letter to Mr. Silvers to share this news, and within days, he received a tender letter back. (Mr. Silvers died this year.) With that, I think he felt he had done everything he could.
Newly-Revealed Letters Provide Inside View Of Harper Lee
“Thirty-eight letters, written between 2005 and 2010 by the To Kill a Mockingbird author to her friend Felice Itzkoff, are up for auction this week. Addressed affectionately to ‘Clipper’, Lee’s nickname for Itzkoff, the letters span Lee’s memories of her father, her apparent atheism and her friendship with Hollywood figures. … [There’s also] a suggestion made by American president Lyndon B Johnson to the actor Gregory Peck that the US would one day have a black, female president.”
Suzan-Lori Parks Wrote A Play Every Single One Of Trump’s First 100 Days
“I didn’t know what else to do. So I do what I always do, I wrote something. … I didn’t know what it was gonna be like until I had to type them up and corrected them and read them through. And it was very – I can’t explain it, but it was like reading a tragedy, and the cathartic effect that that has, and the healing effect that offers.” A Q&A with American Theatre‘s Diep Tran.
Do You Have A ‘Creative’ Job? That’s Actually Up To You (Partly)
“The common perception is that a lucky few hundred arts graduates get to truly flex their creative muscles, while the rest are condemned to creativity atrophy in 9-to-5 desk jobs. But it’s not that simple. Whether you see your profession as creative depends not solely on the job description or workplace environment, but rather on how you define creativity, and how you view yourself. That preliminary finding comes from a study published in American Behavioral Scientist earlier this month, titled ‘I Don’t Take My Tuba to Work at Microsoft: Arts Graduates and the Portability of Creative Identity.'”
Will Regulating Artificial Intelligence Stifle Innovation?
“Artificial intelligence systems have the potential to change how humans do just about everything. Scientists, engineers, programmers and entrepreneurs need time to develop the technologies – and deliver their benefits. Their work should be free from concern that some AIs might be banned, and from the delays and costs associated with new AI-specific regulations.”
Critical Responsibility: Our Critics Need To Ditch The Irresponsible Language
“Let’s not skip around this, there’s a dismayingly adolescent quality to the criticism of some mainstream media outlets that intensifies whenever the work under discussion involves sex or nudity. It might be 2017 but a flash of thigh still sets some critics sniggering, while two actors of different ethnic backgrounds playing siblings apparently still has the capacity to unsettle and baffle.”
You Can’t Sing? Science Begs To Differ
A study of undergrads at Queen’s University, found that about 17 percent reported themselves as being tone deaf. It’s such a common fallacy in our society that it has led to a world of singers — the small minority — and non-singers — the vast majority. But is that really based in reality? Science — and those vocal teachers — say no.
Wu Han And David Finckel’s Model For The Modern Musician
“What makes them particularly interesting is the way they’ve become forerunners in the new world of artistic endeavor. It’s long been clear that it’s no longer enough to be a superb musician, no matter how driven. Everybody’s driven. The new trinity is performing, promoting, and entrepreneurship. You could argue that the last two are much more important than the first. The principles according to Wu Han and Finckel are unchanging: you court patrons, trust the audience, deliver excellence, and remain flexible. And keep humor next to your breast at all times. To do all that effectively and consistently over a long period of time, you need to be a fanatic.”
Here’s How One City Intends To Integrate The Arts Into Everything It Does
By 2027, the city aims to make “culturally-inspired lifelong learning” available for every person in Nottingham, and establish cultural programmes, research and partnerships that enhance health and wellbeing.
Peter Gelb Talks About The Heavy Lift To Keep The Metropolitan Opera Afloat
“Instituting change in a 400-year art form hasn’t been easy. Grand opera is the most complex and complicated of the performing arts since it involves a full-size symphony orchestra of 90 or more players, a full-sized chorus of 80 or more singers, and scores of principal singers dancers and supernumeraries,” Gelb said. “It’s no wonder that one of our board members is fond of quoting an aphorism he attributes to Winston Churchill, that ‘the only endeavor more complicated than grand opera is war.’
Leon Wieseltier Responds To Charges Of Harassment
“For my offenses against some of my colleagues in the past I offer a shaken apology and ask for their forgiveness,” Wieseltier said in a statement. “The women with whom I worked are smart and good people. I am ashamed to know that I made any of them feel demeaned and disrespected. I assure them that I will not waste this reckoning.”
Pop Musicians Are Frightened On Tour – And Increasingly Taking Steps To Protect Themselves
“There’s a heightened sense of understanding that these types of situations are entirely beyond the control of the artist. Regardless of how good a security plan you have for your tour, there’s not a manner in which you can completely prevent these types of things from playing out, especially as it relates to the live music community. There seems to be a target on the back on the live music community, as we’ve seen now here in Las Vegas.”
Eminem Wins $600,000 From New Zealand Political Party For Using His Music In Campaign
Eminem filed proceedings against New Zealand’s then governing party in September 2014 for using a version of his chart-topping song Lose Yourself in an election campaign advertisement.
In Praise (Or Condemnation) Of The Book Dust Jacket
“The right cover is like a beautiful coat, elegant and warm, wrapping my words as they travel through the world, on their way to keep an appointment with my readers. The wrong cover is cumbersome, suffocating. Or it is like a too-light sweater: inadequate.” Ernest Hemingway was less diplomatic in his response to the heraldic figure composition on the jacket for A Farewell to Arms, designed by Cleonike (“Cleon”) Damianakes in 1929: “I cannot admire the awful legs on that woman or the gigantic belly muscles [on the man],” he wrote to his editor.
Berkshire Museum’s Controversial Director Goes On Medical Leave For Rest Of This Year
The news of a shift in leadership, which will take place on October 31, comes days after a lawsuit was filed by the sons of Norman Rockwell and other plaintiffs, seeking to halt the museum’s controversial plan to sell off 40 works at Sotheby’s in order to build its endowment, fund renovations, and pursue a “New Vision” marked by a greater focus on science and technology-driven exhibitions.
Fred Hersch: How I Broke Into The Jazz Business
Truth to tell, I was pretty full of myself and probably too pushy. I suppose I was a nuisance, in everybody’s face a little too much. I made sure all the other pianists knew who I was, and I constantly asked people if I could sit in. Most of them were nice about it, considering how obnoxious I was. Eventually, the bassist Red Mitchell, whom I had sat in with a few times, said to Bradley, “Give the kid a gig already.”
The Barnes Has Been In Center City Philadelphia For Five Years – How Has It Worked Out? Very, Very Well
“In its new [Benjamin Franklin] Parkway location, the Barnes has met or exceeded virtually every revenue, fund-raising, and attendance projection made in 2010 before the move. More than 1.4 million visitors have made their way to the new Barnes, according to foundation officials. … ‘Membership,’ said Thomas Collins, executive director and president, ‘is off the charts.’ More than 17,000 memberships have been sold since the opening in 2012.”
Leon Wieseltier’s New Magazine Is Cancelled After He Acknowledges Advances On Female Colleagues
“Leon Wieseltier, a prominent editor at The New Republic for three decades who was preparing to unveil a new magazine next week, apologized on Tuesday for ‘offenses against some of my colleagues in the past’ after several women accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate advances. As those allegations came to light, Laurene Powell Jobs, a leading philanthropist whose for-profit organization, Emerson Collective, was backing Mr. Wieseltier’s endeavor, decided to pull the plug on it.”
American National Ballet Drops 23 Dancers And Loses Big-Name Talent As It Tries To Get Off The Ground
The still-gestating Charleston-based company, which announced ambitious plans to “reinvent and diversify” the art form earlier this year, asked its members last Friday to sign nondisclosure agreements. Then, on Monday, “23 dancers … were told they were demoted or fired. It was part of an effort to address financial realities.” Three choreographers and coaches, including Rasta Thomas and Octavio Martin, left the company in August; its leading principal dancer, Sara Murawski, resigned this week. (ANB says that 24 dancers remain on its roster.)
Finally, Columbus Symphony Can Afford An Executive Director Again
“In a sign of health for the city’s arts community, the Columbus Symphony has hired an executive director for the first time since budget cuts forced the elimination of the position in 2012. Denise Rehg – vice president of development for the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts, which had been managing the business side of the symphony – was appointed to the symphony position on Monday.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.24.17
News Flash: Berkshire Museum’s Head on Medical Leave; 21 of 40 Consignments Pulled from Sotheby’s Auctions
There have been two major plot twists in the convoluted saga of the Berkshire Museum’s highly controversial plans to sell 40 works from its collection at Sotheby’s. This just in from the Berkshire Museum: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-10-24
Get Out And Go For A Walk!
It’s That Time of Year… This is just a reminder: TEFAF is in New York again, at the Park Avenue Armory, opening to the public on Saturday and to collectors on Friday. And before that, as … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-10-24
Classical Music and The Echo Society
Sometimes — certainly not always — it makes sense to take a chance and see something you have very little sense of. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-10-24