“HarperCollins Children’s Books has announced the debut of Heartdrum, an imprint devoted to publishing books by Native creators that introduce young Native protagonists and showcase the present and future of Indian Country. Scheduled to launch in winter 2021, the imprint is helmed by author Cynthia Leitich Smith, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and Rosemary Brosnan, v-p and editorial director at HarperCollins Children’s Books.” – Publishers Weekly
André De Shields, Blazing A Path To ‘Hadestown’
The Broadway veteran, perhaps best known as the original Wiz in the musical, won a Tony in June for his portrayal of Mercury in Hadestown, and he gave an “instantly iconic speech in which he gave his three rules for ‘longevity'” in the theatre. – American Theatre
Making Theatre (Or Not) During Chile’s Crisis
Chilean playwright and director Guillermo Calderón: “After the curfew was over, a few theatres came back to do shows and a lot of people went to see them. … People were yearning for a sense of community and space to talk and vent and try to find some sort of solidarity … [Even so,] there has been an overwhelming sense here among theatre artists that it’s impossible to do theatre right now. … How can we say anything that’s going to really mean something at this moment? I mean, we’re in the context of a quasi civil war, right?” – HowlRound
In New Orleans, Replacing Removed Confederate Statues With Paper Monuments
“The Paper Monuments project, a participatory imagining of the monuments New Orleanians would like, stepped into that pause [after old statues were removed] to involve New Orleanians in the conversation about what should come next … [and] to challenge the idea that monuments must be in stone or bronze.” – Next City
Chicago Architecture Biennial Examines How Design Shapes Urban Protest
It’s a study of human behavior. And it’s a study of the ways in which the architecture of public spaces is designed to control the ways humans move, perhaps by funneling people towards an exit or preventing mass gatherings. (Think: Hong Kong.) It also reveals the situations in which the human is no longer at the center, but becomes technology-adjacent. – Los Angeles Times
Marciano Foundation: The Museum That Wasn’t
“To put it bluntly, the Marciano Art Foundation was never a real museum. Yes, it had access to a collection—some 1,500 pieces acquired primarily by Maurice Marciano, including L.A.’s trendiest artists as well its most talented. Yes, it organised a big show every six months or so—installations by Jim Shaw, Olafur Eliasson, Ai Weiwei and, most recently, Donna Huanca. But it lacked the staffing and organisational structure that signal an ongoing commitment to core museum missions such as caring for art and sharing it with a broad audience.” – The Art Newspaper
Using Dance As Therapy And Educational Tool For Children With Autism
“As soon as James Griffin gets off the school bus he tells his mom, ‘Go dance, go dance.’ James is 14 and has autism, and his speech is limited. He’s a participant in a program for children on the autism spectrum at the University of Delaware that is studying how dance affects behavior and verbal, social and motor skills.” – The New York Times
French Academy Issues Rules For Swearing In French
The academy, founded in 1634 by Cardinal Richelieu, is the official gatekeeper of the French language whose members are known as ‘the immortals’. Its mission is to keep the French language pure and it frequently coins new French words to cover newly invented technology, not all of which catch on. – The Local
I Like Traditional Opera. But What Does That Really Mean?
“Over the years I’ve had many opportunities to question people gently about their personal identification and tastes in operas and opera productions. And it turns out that traditionalists don’t like only traditional productions. Whatever it is they like, they just call it traditional, and vice versa.” Irish Times
Today’s Portraits “See” Their Subjects In A Non-Traditional Way
Phil Kennicott: “The work done by these contemporary portraits is more fundamental. They are about seeing other people, rather than saving them. We are challenged simply to accept their existence as part of our world, no lesser or greater in importance than our own existence, which is the first and most daunting ethical challenge faced by every human being.” – Washington Post
Police Raids Across Europe Seize 10,000 Antiquities, Make 23 Arrests
“The large number of arrests and objects seized hints at the massive scale and global reach of the international trade in illicit artifacts,” says Tess Davis, executive director of the Antiquities Coalition, an American nonprofit dedicated to fighting cultural theft. “It demonstrates that such cultural racketeering is not limited to conflict zones in Iraq and Syria, but threatens any country with a rich heritage.” – Artnet
What The Rise Of Tweets And Emojis Did Has (And Hasn’t) Done To Literature
“Not even 20 years ago we mostly read about things in lag, on thin slices of tree, whereas now we do — well, this, whatever this is. Yet instead of technology superannuating literature once and for all, it seems to have created a new space in our minds for it.” – The New York Times Book Review
Public Art in Erie
My work in the Pennsylvania city came in the middle of a long-term project of commissioning murals for the city. In October one was completed that impressed me so much I had to share it here. – Doug Borwick
Wall Street’s Charging Bull Sculpture Is Being Moved. The Artist Is Unhappy
“I feel very disappointed about the way my sculpture is treated, with nothing but contempt and not the appreciation that should be, since Charging Bull became one of the most visited attractions of New York City,” said Arturo Di Modica. – Artnet
We’re Facing A Collapse Of Information
We are currently facing a new systemic collapse, one that has built far more swiftly but poses potent risks for all of humanity: the collapse of the information ecosystem. We see it play out every day with the viral spread of misinformation, widening news deserts and the proliferation of fake news. This collapse has much in common with the environmental collapse of the planet that we’re only now beginning to grasp, and its consequences for life as we know it are shaping up to be just as profound. – The Guardian
Meet The World’s Oldest Living Drag Queen
Even at age 89, Walter Cole dons a sequined gown and frizzy wig four nights a week to perform as Darcelle XV. And he does it at his own bar, which he opened with his first wife a few years after coming home to Portland from the Korean War. (It was his second wife that convinced him to try drag.) – American Theatre
New Study: Here’s How AI Will Impact Your Job (And Whether You’ll Still Have One)
“Fully 740 out of the 769 occupational descriptions Michael Webb analyzed contain a capability pair match with AI patent language, meaning at least one or more of its tasks could potentially be exposed to, complemented by, or completed by AI.” But less than a fifth (just under 18 percent) of U.S. jobs, 25 million or so, are threatened by high exposure to AI. – CityLab
A Deaf, Mixed-Race Dancer Finds Her Dream Role In ‘For Colored Girls …’
Ntozake Shange didn’t write the role of the Lady in Purple in her “choreopoem” for a deaf performer, but she happily approved casting Alexandria Wailes in the current New York revival. Gia Kourlas talks with Wailes about integrating American Sign Language with choreographed movement and how dancing has helped her communicate all her life. – The New York Times
After 19-Year-Ban, Opera Returns To Turkmenistan
The country’s first post-Soviet president, the autocratic and eccentric Sapurmurat Niyazov, banned opera in 2001 as “incompatible with Turkmen mentality.” His successor (and former dentist), Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, maintained the ban until this week, when Pagliacci was presented as part of a joint Italian-Turkmen cultural festival. – Yahoo! (AFP)
Conviction Of Picasso’s Former Electrician And Wife For Hoarding Stolen Art Confirmed
“Pierre and Danielle Le Guennec were first given two-year suspended terms in 2015 after being convicted of possession of stolen goods over the huge trove of works by Picasso, including nine rare Cubist collages and a work from his famous Blue Period. That verdict was upheld in 2016 by a higher court but then quashed by the Cour de Cassation, which ordered a retrial. The former electrician, 80, and his wife, 76, were not in court Tuesday when they were found guilty for a third time.” – Yahoo! (AFP)
Conductor works through autism, depression, cancer to lead Burlington orchestra
“As a conductor, Kim Diehnelt has to do a lot of schmoozing and interacting with people. She was so uncomfortable with that, she considered hanging up her baton. Then four years ago, she was diagnosed with autism and depression. … Rather than hang up her baton, Diehnelt has found the right outlet for her musical passion. She is the new conductor for the Me2/Orchestra in Burlington, founded in 2011 for musicians with mental illness and those who support them. She auditioned successfully for the orchestra less than two weeks after a double mastectomy and will debut with Me2/ on Nov. 21 in Burlington.” – Burlington (Vt.) Free Press
Playing On Broadway… But What, Actually, Is Broadway?
The Times Square area was never the exclusive preserve of theatergoers, but Broadway culture elevated the neighborhood’s rough and raffish character. Today, not even all Broadway theaters have Broadway theater happening inside them. – Los Angeles Times