"How is it that a quintessentially democratic cultural activity — buying a ticket and some popcorn and finding a seat in the dark — has been reclassified as a snobbish, specialized fetish?" A.O. Scott has an answer to that question. - The New York Times
This is the puzzle of Princeton: How can an institution designed to serve the aspirations of an elite few authentically wrestle with issues of inequality and racism in society? - The Atlantic
Sure, some of that was people searching for news about Facebook's outage. However: "For a whopping five-hours-plus, people read news, according to data Chartbeat gave us this week from its thousands of publisher clients across 60 countries." - Nieman Lab
Rock musician Dave Grohl speaks for pretty much every performer: "You wake up every day, cross your fingers that they’ll open a door, turn on the lights and we’ll have a ... show. It’s not guaranteed." - Washington Post
Seven plaintiffs who attended UNCSA as undergraduates during the 1980s give detailed descriptions of predatory behavior, including long-term affairs, by instructors in the school's dance department. - The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC)
The unanimous vote by members of the IATSE local comes more than a year after the expiration of their previous contract. Still at issue, say union reps, are staffing levels and pay, including overtime. Management claims the sides are not far apart. - MSN (The Washington Post)
The current emphasis on diversity and inclusivity, however warranted, endangers or distorts a cultural canon that we cannot (in fact, must not) wholly jettison. Indeed, the canon is newly pertinent. - American Purpose
"(With) the Staunton, Va.-based troupe, known for its Elizabethan-style, no-frills approach to the classics, … convulsed by defections and division, it has abruptly canceled its entire fall slate of in-person productions." - MSN (The Washington Post)
The author of ten novels, born and raised on Zanzibar and resettled in England as a refugee in the 1960s, was cited for "his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents." - The Guardian
Musical genres have long had a peculiar imaginative power and participatory quality. They aren’t just labels imposed by an industry; they’re shaped by passions and arguments, love and disgust, allegiances and disavowals. - The Atlantic
In Germany on Friday, October 1, you might have picked up a copy of Asphalt—a publication that is sold to benefit poor and people struggling with homelessness. Within its pages, the art collective ruangrupa announced their artist list for the 2022 edition of Documenta. - Artnet
"More than a year and a half into the pandemic, we've come to expect the unexpected. Perhaps the socialist revolution can start in an improv community? Enter the Comedy Co-op, a planned theater in the works by more than 30 local comedians." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
Both selections are historic: Lowe will be the first Native American nominated to lead the federal humanities agency and Jackson will be the first African American and Mexican American nominated to run the arts endowment. - Washington Post
The 12-time-Tony-nominated play was to open in February at the Center Theater Group's Mark Taper Forum. But the CTG has only one play by a woman in its entire season; in response, Harris suggests filling his slot a work by a female playwright. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"Most creative industries in (sub-Saharan) Africa were grossly underserved," — the major exceptions being Nigeria and Senegal — "in part due to the failure of policymakers and local authorities to protect and invest in audio-visual industries." - The Guardian
"It's run its course. … Its job was to take away the shadows that had dominated European art for centuries. It was only European art that used them. … The arts of China, Japan, India and Persia never use shadows or reflections." - The Art Newspaper
The vote by the affected members — cinematographers, electricians, video editors, costumers, and the like — was 98.7% in favor of greenlighting what would be the union's first-ever nationwide walkout on film and television production. - Variety
If what fiction most essentially is for us is a volume of commodified time, one of the most notorious facts of contemporary literary life is that there is so little time for it. - BookForum
I'm increasingly uncomfortable with attending concerts "interpreted by these internationally-touring orchestras when I realize that at least 80 people took a plane for a single concert; particularly when I know that I can listen to a similar interpretation of the same piece by a more local orchestra. - Van