“The debate over working for free goes back a while now. But there are still people who haven’t heard the argument and think that ‘exposure’ of creative work is reason enough for people to give away their labors.”
Picasso’s Last Surviving Lover/Muse And Marcelo Gomes Make A Ballet Together
Françoise Gilot, an accomplished painter herself and still active at age 93, has created the backdrop for Gomes’s new AfterEffect, the first work he has choreographed for his colleagues at American Ballet Theater.
It Don’t Come Easy: David Lynch’s Relationship With Language
“Affable despite his elusiveness, Lynch seems [in an early interview] less to be stonewalling than striving to verbalize daunting concepts with a vocabulary that might politely be termed basic. … It’s clear from the 1979 footage – and from almost every interview he has done since – that words do not come easily to him. … Lynch has said, more than once, that he had to ‘learn to talk,’ and his very particular, somewhat limited vocabulary seems in many ways an outgrowth of his aesthetic.”
Alicia Alonso Remembers
The founding mother of ballet in Cuba recalls her early training and career, convincing Fidel Castro to fund a professional national company, and convincing skeptical parents that ballet could be a career. (video)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.28.15
The Whole World Is Awash in Art
Once you have successfully freed yourself from the Sinatra Imperative, you have taken the first major step toward artistic independence. Suddenly, all the world is available for your creativity, and all the world’s people as well. … read more
AJBlog: Creative Insubordination Published 2015-10-28
Making My Peace with Sales
Nearly four years ago, shortly after I started Engaging Matters, I published a post (What Is Arts Marketing?) in which I outlined a conceptual framework for nonprofit marketing in the arts. While I stand by much of it, it implies a dismissiveness about sales for which I repent. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-10-27
Recent Listening: Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dee Dee’s Feathers (Okeh). Dee Dee Bridgewater is strong medicine, fully a match for the powerful New Orleans repertoire she performs here. Slinking and seducing her way through Harry Connick, Jr.’s “One Fine Thing,” … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-10-28
Exciting Young Singers
Over the past two weeks I had the good fortune to visit two extraordinary groups of aspiring and inspiring opera singers. I gave master classes, heard a lot of auditions, discussed how to get ahead in the business of classical music, and talked (probably too much) about my own experiences. All in all I heard more than forty singers, aged twenty-two to thirty, … read more
AJBlog: OperaSleuth Published 2015-10-28
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A Rotten Tomatoes For Theatre
Inspired by Netflix and Amazon, the site lets audience-goers find exactly what they want — options include a show with puppets, a Shakespeare revival or a romance, and many more. There also are guides for folks who like their shows 90 minutes or less, family friendly or even scary, in time for Halloween.
TV Business Declining? Don’t Tell Comcast
Comcast reported on Tuesday an 11 percent increase in revenue, to nearly $18.7 billion, in the third quarter, fueled by continued growth in its high-speed Internet and film businesses.
The Sun Never Sets On The Gagosian Art Empire
With 15 galleries stretching around the world and a host of former employees also making their marks, his influence is large.
English National Opera: We’ve Turned The Page
Cressida Pollock, the former McKinsey consultant who last month was appointed chief executive on a three-year contract, said they were in process of searching for an “artistic leader” to replace Berry, but there was no schedule for the appointment, nor any decision as to what this person’s title or exact role will be.
The ADD Arts Philanthropist
Perhaps no one has given more money to Northwest arts organizations. But Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s arts philanthropy is changing in a big way. And the region is wondering what is in store.
Rockefeller Foundation Buys $1.46 Million Of “Hamilton” Tickets
Under the initiative starting next spring, the producers of “Hamilton” will make tickets to select Wednesday matinees available for $70 for students attending New York City public high schools. The Rockefeller Foundation will subsidize $60 of each ticket, and students will pay just $10.
Guy Vanderhaeghe Wins Canada’s Governor General Lit Award For Third Time
Since the first-ever Governor-General’s Literary Award was handed out in 1936, only three writers have won the prize for English-language fiction three times: Hugh MacLennan, Alice Munro and Michael Ondaatje.
The Thorny Situation That The Bolshoi Ballet’s New Director Is Dancing Into
It’s by no means only the drama surrounding the acid attack on outgoing director Sergei Filin, as bad as that was. Ismene Brown explains.
Nein – Deconstructing The Aphorisms Of The Twitterverse’s Favorite Depressive Philosopher
“For more than three years, Jarosinski’s followers (currently numbering over 117,000) have enjoyed his steady stream of extremely witty tweets. Sometimes light and playful, sometimes tortured or paradoxical, each is accompanied by his avatar, a cartoon drawing of what appears to be Theodor W. Adorno sporting a monocle.”