“The NYC Dance Project was born — ‘out of love’ — and the couple started posting their images to social media. They would treat each dancer like a celebrity, doing an interview in addition to the photo session.”
Toronto’s Debt-Free Orchestra Makes It 16 Years In A Row
“Announced yesterday at Tafelmusik’s 2016 annual general meeting, they achieved an impressive 16-year balanced budget streak with an operating surplus of $107,017 on a budget of $5.4 mil. Ticket sales rose by $5,501 from last year’s $1.7 million.”
Opera Is *Not* Too Posh And Exclusive, And If You Think It Is, It’s Your Own Damn Fault, Says Opera Boss
“I continue to argue incessantly with people who claim opera is for the rich, unattainable, impenetrable, elitist and from a parallel universe,” writes Michael Volpe, general director of London’s Opera Holland Park. “I swear and shout and stamp my feet – well, I used to, but I stopped doing that because it doesn’t work.”
The Memory Lane In Your Brain Has A Three-Way Fork
“There are things you remember, and there are things you remember well. Even if you can recall a past event, your memories will vary considerably in how much detail they contain, and how correct those details are. In an elegant experiment, a team of neuroscientists … [at] Cambridge have shown that these aspects of our memories – our success at recalling them, their precision, and their vividness – depend on three different parts of the brain.”
Now *This* Is A Public Service: Cairo Bookstore Provides Room Where Customers Can Go To Scream
“Visitors to a bookshop in Cairo are being invited into a dark, soundproof room to scream at the top of their lungs in an effort to relieve their frustrations and escape from the stresses of daily life. The new ‘scream room’ is tucked away in the “The World’s Door” [Bab Aldounia] bookshop and is also equipped with a full drum kit allowing customers to let go of their worries.” (includes video)
Prado Mounts Its First Show Ever Dedicated To A Female Artist (It Only Took 197 Years)
“The Art of Clara Peeters, which travels from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, is a display of 15 still-lifes by one of the few women to work as a professional painter in 17th-century Europe. The Flemish artist is among just 41 women to be represented in the Spanish museum’s permanent collection (compared with more than 5,000 men).”
From Joe Friday To Dirty Harry: How Pop Culture’s Cops Turned Away From, And On, Their Communities
“As Andy Taylor [of Mayberry] became even more anachronistic, a fantasy of policing as it never really was, he was replaced by successive generations of cops who gradually came to occupy a separate, hermetically sealed sphere. Pop culture may not have predicted our current [Black Lives Matter] moment, but it captured the disconnectedness and animosity that define our discussions about how policing should work.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Tries To Intervene In Symphony Strike
“Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald will meet with [Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra] management and musicians this week in an effort to mediate the bruising labor dispute at Heinz Hall.”
What Happens When You Mix Classical Music And Electronica? It’s A Bit Confusing
“There was a disconnect to Mercury Soul that couldn’t be solved, no matter how clean the cross-fade between DJ and orchestra. The audience was entreated to dance to standard-issue house music and pedestrian pop fare (“Billie Jean,” Prince’s “Controversy”), but only for 15 minutes at a time. Meanwhile, Roumain shredded on his violin — impressive and novel, certainly, but not particularly conducive to dancing. There were also conflicting codes of conduct — the audience didn’t know exactly when to applaud, clap along to the beat or talk among themselves.”
Museum Of Contemporary Art San Diego Turns 75 And Announces Huge Expansion
“The expansion, which will double the size of the museum to a total of 102,000 square feet — including galleries, administrative areas and other public spaces — will finally allow MCASD to show its collection in a permanent way. (Currently the museum has only 10,000 square feet of gallery space, which allows for the display of only one exhibition at a time.)”
Philip Roth Gives His Book Collection To The Newark Public Library
Mr. Roth’s library, some 4,000 volumes, is now stored mostly at his house in northwest Connecticut, where it has more or less taken over the premises. A room at the back of the house has been given over to nonfiction. It has library shelves, library lighting — everything except a librarian, Mr. Roth said recently on the phone from his New York apartment.
How Artificial Intelligence Can Connect Us (Or Not) To Art
“In areas like health care and transportation, we spend a lot of effort characterizing the performance and having a crisp understanding of how A.I. does what it does,” Eric Horvitz said. But with art, he added, “we want A.I. to be creative and make mistakes and meander.” Something may be gleaned from that whimsy.
London Mayor Proposes Plan For Work/Housing Spaces As High Rents Push Artists Out
“Between 2014 and 2019, 3,500 artists are predicted to lose their places of work in the UK capital—a 30% cut, according to a report by the Greater London Authority. Launched in March 2016 and led by Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Studiomakers is working with local authorities, private landowners and property developers to find alternative ways to retain existing studios, as well as create new ones.”
This Is The Science Fiction That’s Shaping How We Talk About Artificial Intelligence
Ideas generally don’t just pop out into the world and get traction. They’re set in the context of what we know and what we dream about. Science fiction has helped frame discussions about the future for a long time. So here are the stories that inform us now…
Tired Of That Mega-Gallery Experience? Smaller Galleries Get Creative About Where/How To Show
“We live in an era when much of what you read about are mega-monster galleries that are very rich and powerful, with tons of money and satellites. But that’s really only 5 percent of the market. The vast majority of galleries are small single- or double-venue operations that are looking for creative ways to extend themselves into the community without feeling the need to engulf and devour the world.”
The Most Widely-Read Theologian In Human History? Jack Chick, Author Of Hellfire-And-Brimstone Cartoon Tracts, Dead At 92
“A lot of people hated Jack Chick. He wrote furious screeds against Dungeons & Dragons, against Catholicism and against rock music; he waged a long and ultimately unsuccessful war on Halloween. If you were Jewish or Muslim or gay, Chick wanted you to be saved from the fires of hell and wrote a comic to tell you so.”
Using Algae And Ground Sturgeon To Restore A Painting
“Automobile Speed + Light + Noise (around 1913), a painting by the Italian Futurist Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), is due to go back on display at the Kunsthaus Zurich in Switzerland in November following a six-month stint in the museum’s restoration studio” – whose process was, well, unorthodox.
Philadelphia Orchestra Launches On-Demand Streaming Audio
Orchestra on Demand “offers a sprinkling of concerts from current and past seasons, dating back to Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s inaugural 2012-13 season as music director. Additional content includes concerts by former music director Wolfgang Sawallisch.”
Shakespeare’s Globe Loses First Donor Over Sacking Of Director
“A charity that made its first grants to Shakespeare’s Globe under artistic director Emma Rice’s tenure has revealed it will not give the theatre any more money, and is threatening to demand the return of money it has already pledged.”
Sacking Of Shakespeare’s Globe Director Is *Not* About Lighting And Decor She Chose
Matt Trueman: “She’s clearly been pushed, but it’s the speed that’s so shocking. The decision comes at the end of her very first season … Rice has challenged a hell of a lot in a short space of time – too much, too soon it now seems.”
UK Equity Develops Special Contract For Small Dance Companies
“Equity has revealed plans to draw up a contract especially for small-scale dance companies in a bid to improve pay and conditions in the independent sector. The union is working with the Independent Theatre Council on a contract that will be similar to the current Equity/ITC performers contract, but will be tailor-made for dancers, with their needs and requirements in mind.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.25.16
From Arts Experience to Human Experience
by Barry C. Hughson A few months ago, I attended the dress rehearsal for Dreamers Ever Leave You. It was a transformational artistic and human experience. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-10-25
Great job. You’re fired
Shakespeare’s Globe yesterday released a baffling public statement. It praised Emma Rice, its new artistic director, for the creative, critical and commercial success of her first season, her achievement in attracting new, diverse audiences. And then it sacked her. … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2016-10-25
Monday Recommendation: Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell, Something Gold, Something Blue (High Note). Harrell’s front-line partners in this stimulating venture are fellow trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and the adventuresome guitarist Charles Altura, each more than three decades younger than the leader. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-10-25
“Showtime” at the Met for Kerry James Marshall: All that Glitters…?
It’s no wonder that Chicago artist Kerry James Marshall, a youthful 61, murmured, “Showtime,” as he strode through the Met Breuer’s press scrum yesterday, turned to the crowd that filled the lobby, and and raised his arms triumphantly before making introductory remarks at his highly anticipated retrospective. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-10-25
[ssba_hide]
Washington Ballet Returns To Using A Live Orchestra
“We won’t sell one more ticket if we have live music in the orchestra, and it’s about $100,000 a week. We have to move forward strategically and sensibly, and use the money for the orchestra where we can get the most out of it.”
Toronto Artists Being Pushed Out By Soaring Rents
“According to commercial real estate statistics provided by the Toronto Real Estate Board, commercial space in the city’s west end has increased on average from $15.89 per square foot (annually) for spaces under 1,000 square feet in 2006 to $26.44 in the third quarter of this year.”
Paul Beatty Is First American To Win Man Booker Prize
“The 54-year-old Los Angeles-born writer won for The Sellout, a laugh-out-loud novel whose main character wants to assert his African American identity by, outrageously and transgressively, bringing back slavery and segregation.”