“Not only had Los Angeles built the nation’s second major modern performing arts center, after New York’s Lincoln Center, we built it our way. And the world noticed. … Fifty years later we can look back and see the extent to which the Music Center shaped Southern California’s cultural identity. It got not only the world to take us more seriously but we began to take ourselves more seriously.”
How Dorothy Chandler Got The L.A. Music Center Built
“The campaign she led resulted in about $19 million in private donations – equivalent to about $146 million today – and a permanent home for the L.A. Phil. It was a feat that Time magazine called … ‘perhaps the most impressive display of virtuoso money-raising and civic citizenship in the history of U.S. womanhood.'”
We’ve Been Using The L.A. Music Center Backwards For 50 Years
“What most of us consider the front of the Music Center, along Grand Avenue, architect Welton Becket actually imagined as a secondary, less glamorous entrance. And what Becket designed as the public gateway to its plaza, along Hope Street, we think of as the back-of-house: as the spot for valet drop-offs and little more.” Christopher Hawthorne explains why – and how all this may change before too long.
Looking At L.A.’s Center Theater Group – And How To Wake It Up
“For Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty, Michael Ritchie’s 2005 takeover as artistic director of the Center Theatre Group was the beginning of a roller coaster ride. McNulty reflects on the ups and downs, and offers a plan to revitalize the Mark Taper Forum.”
How L.A. Music Center Is Trying To Broaden Its Audiences
“The staircase and the Pavilion’s other markers of classical European opulence still dazzle. But 50 years later, the Music Center has a very different awareness of the need to reflect its audience, and it can’t be done just with mirrors.” Mike Boehm looks at the Center’s changing offerings, from a hip-hop festival to an ambitious dance program to a huge ukulele jam session.
L.A.’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Needs Work – $350 Million Worth
From acoustical improvements to replacing 50-year-old heating and air-conditioning equipment to addingmore bathrooms to a big backstage wall “that appears to serve no purpose except getting in the way, … the needs are not cosmetic but fundamental to how efficiently and cost-effectively the Pavilion can operate.”
50 Great Moments From L.A. Music Center’s 50 Years
From Zubin Mehta sipping champagne onstage during the Philharmonic’s first concert there, through the birth of opera and theater companies (and one of the great works of American drama), to a celebrated concert hall and a new ballet troupe – with plenty of Oscar lore and offstage drama along the way.
Former Boy Wonder Michael Tilson Thomas Turns 70
“His mission – of boldly presenting diverse repertory; of not being hemmed in by perceived boundaries between styles and eras; of championing living composers, especially Americans, and especially younger ones – [has] had enormous impact on the scene.”
Going Deep On The Art Of Richard Serra And Martin Puryear
“The experience can be exhilarating, threatening, vertiginous, lonely, isolating, apocalyptic and pleasurable. I remember once thinking this might have been what it felt like to be a lowly Greek foot soldier commanded to approach the impregnable walls of Troy.”
Can A City Have Too Much Theatre?
“Overall, theatergoers seem to be increasingly reluctant to commit to season tickets. They prefer flexibility, and most companies sell some version of a flex pass that allows theatergoers to choose an a la carte menu from the season.”
The New Smithsonian Design Has Futuristic Plans For The Mall In D.C.
“The current design, which is a mishmash of buildings built over the past century, can be difficult for tourists to navigate and isn’t up-to-par for modern exhibitions. In addition, it faces away from the National Mall, making it less inviting to those walking from the US Capitol to other sites.”
The True ‘In-Group’ Ballet Dancer Has A Cutting From Balanchine’s Rubber Plant
“In life, he was a messianic figure to many of his dancers. Correspondingly, after his death in 1983, a quasi-religious reverence cropped up around items he had owned, which was enough to transform cuttings of a certain rubber plant into living relics.”
With Investment And Buildings, Is Manchester About To (Re-)Become A Huge Arts Hub?
“People might not speak up so much in London, maybe because they don’t have that same passionate feeling of belonging, whereas audiences here will shout at me or stop me in the bar – nine times out of 10 because they enjoyed something, but also to tell me if they think something’s crap or to ask ‘what’s this performance art nonsense?'”
When David Hockney’s Working In His Los Angeles Studio, He Feels Like Picasso
“I don’t go out, I hardly ever leave here,” Hockney says. “I go out to the dentist, the doctor, the bookstore and the marijuana store, because you have to go to each of those yourself. And that’s it.”
British Newsy Comedian John Oliver Was Not A Dud In His First Season, But Why Not?
“Oliver is a 37-year-old comedian hardly in the mold of a television star. His teeth are, well, British, and his hair is not something frequently seen on the small screen. And even though he wears nice suits on the show, they look as if they landed on him from a great distance.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.16.14
Farewell to Clive James
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2014-11-16
The Leader and The Manager: A Leading Innovation in Arts & Culture Conversation
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2014-11-16
Mass MoCA Closes In On Its Original Promise
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-11-16
Public art
AJBlog: Life’s A Pitch Published 2014-11-16
Gender and price discrimination
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth Published 2014-11-16
Is Free Will For Real?
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2014-11-14
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Mass MoCA , Transforming Itself And Its Mission, Will Partner Over The Long Term With Major 21st Century Artists
James Turrell will have 35,000 square feet for 25 years; Laurie Anderson will have installation galleries and a production studio; and that’s just the start.
How Do Award-Winning Artists Spend Their Prize Money?
“For many, the sudden arrival of 50 grand had a predictably transformational effect, allowing day jobs to be ditched, world-class instruments to be purchased, studio rent paid or simply providing creative time and space.”
Elite Colleges In An Arts Arms Race
“Elite campuses across the country have emerged from the recession riding a multibillion-dollar wave of architecturally ambitious arts facilities, even as community arts programs struggle against public indifference. … But the seeming boom also comes at a time of unprecedented criticism of how colleges teach and how they spend money, and amid a push to measure what students learn.”
Stanford Univ. Is Building An Entire New Arts District
“Construction of a $235 million arts district near Palm Drive, the grand tree-lined campus entrance, is well underway here. Last year, the $112 million Bing Concert Hall opened. This year came the $36 million Anderson Collection, a new American-art museum … Next up is the $87 million McMurtry Building for the art and art history department, to open in 2015.”