It was on Valentine’s Day of 1989 that the Ayatollah Khomeini issued his notorious fatwa decreeing that author Salman Rushdie should be executed on grounds of blasphemy for the novel, as should anyone who helped in its release. Riots, death threats, bomb threats and a few murders ensued; Rushdie himself had to spend almost a decade in hiding. Scholar Kevin Blankinship looks back at both “the Rushdie Affair” (which few people under age 30 know about) and what really is, and is not, in the book. — Los Angeles Review of Books
In L.A., Visions Of A 1.3-Mile Long Open Air Museum
Picture the High Line, only a museum, in Los Angeles, and designed to “offset the effects of gentrification and revitalize the vibrant heart of black Los Angele.” – Los Angeles Times
Upgrading Canadian Stage – Starting From The Bottom Up
Toronto’s Canadian Stage has been a success in the theatre, less so in its financial fortunes. So with new leadership, maybe it’s time for a business upgrade rather than an artistic one. – Toronto Star
When A Civil Rights Worker Takes Over A Performing Arts Center… New Things Happen
Doug Shipman — the founding CEO of the Center for Civil and Human Rights before taking over running Atlanta’s Woodruff Center — seems the right person to carry the momentum forward into a new era. In his 18 months at the helm of Atlanta’s mecca of high arts, he has taken steps to broaden the arts center’s reach. In his first months on the job, Shipman made a point of meeting with numerous smaller arts groups with a simple message: how can we help each other? His openness and desire to give Woodruff a deeper imprint on Atlanta’s arts community are palpable. – ArtsATL
Thinking About Trauma And Triggering Issues In Acting Classes
“[Many theater professors] shake their heads about the aspiring actors who have refused to work on material they find harmful or otherwise objectionable. My colleagues sadly wonder how these students could possibly succeed. How, the argument goes, can we train students to become actors if they wish to insulate themselves from upsetting material? How can we inculcate the emotional resilience necessary for a professional actor if students are so afraid of any negative experiences?” Scott Harman explains why those aren’t the right questions. — HowlRound
Arts School Tuition Is Too High. So One Seattle College Cuts Tuition By 20 Percent
Cornish officials believe theirs is the first arts school to reset its tuition rates alongside a growing list of small, private, liberal arts schools like the Cleveland Institute of Music, Mills College in California and Avila University in Missouri. – Crosscut
Why We Should Read About Ideas We Don’t Like
First, an idea, while unpleasant, may well be correct or true, in which case we gain insight by being exposed to it. And even if it is only partially true, it can help us reach a more complete understanding of the whole truth. Second, even if the idea is simply wrong, we benefit from hearing it and having to think through why it is wrong. This connects to the third point, which is that even true or useful ideas need to be contested and re-evaluated if they are to remain fresh and avoid calcifying into rigid dogmas. – Quillette
The Great Christmas Gnome Theft Has Been Thwarted
Last Christmas Day, two men unbolted and carried away a 330-pound bronze gnome from outside an Auckland art gallery. When the extensive media coverage made things a little too hot, they dropped off the statue at a Salvation Army post with a “please return to” note taped to its head. The gnome-nappers have now been apprehended. — Artsy
Bang on a Can composer Julia Wolfe ignites the New York Philharmonic
The new Julia Wolfe multi-media oratorio Fire in my mouth commemorates the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in a spirit that can make critics cringe preemptively. How many socially responsible pieces have implored us to weep, pray and feel guilty to what amounts to a pathos-laden film score? Instead, this piece was a breakthrough, something perfectly in step with 2019, with smartly-channeled passion that carries the promise of speaking to listeners well beyond our time. — David Patrick Stearns
Monet In Series — A Love Story
When it comes to paintings by Monet, there are many to love. But I especially appreciate his series (poplars and Rouen cathedral are probably my favorites). — Judith H. Dobrzynski
How Good is the Hood? Dartmouth’s Expanded Art Museum Reopens
After a much delayed $50-million renovation and expansion, Dartmouth College’s 65,000-object Hood Museum of Art at last reopened on Jan. 26 with six new art galleries, three new study galleries and three classrooms equipped with “the latest object-study technology.” — Lee Rosenbaum
The Three Mexican Filmmakers Who Are Conquering The Oscars
“Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s intimate masterpiece, has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, … [and its] achievements belong to a generation of filmmakers unlike any other in the history of the art form. If Cuarón wins again, the Mexican trio of Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro, and Cuarón will take home their fifth Oscar in the past six years in the Best Director … Few countries can claim to have produced a cohesive group of collaborators with the level of success three Mexican auteurs have enjoyed for more than two decades.” — Slate
If New York City Wants To Landmark The Strand Bookstore (Against Its Owner’s Wishes), Just What Will That Protect?
“The Landmarks Preservation Commission exists to safeguard ‘the buildings and places that represent New York City’s cultural, social, economic, political and architectural history.’ But this is not the same thing as safeguarding the city’s cultural, social, economic and political heritage. The emphasis is on buildings and places, not what takes place inside them.” — The New York Times
A Native American Tribe Revives Its Culture With The Help Of Old Wax-Cylinder Recordings
“In 1890, just months before the murder of some hundred and fifty Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee, a mustachioed anthropologist named Jesse Walter Fewkes dragged a state-of-the-art Edison phonograph to Passamaquoddy country [in northeastern Maine]. This was during the height of ‘salvage anthropology,’ an attempt to document the many tribes that were being massacred into extinction.” Those recordings have now been digitized and returned to the Passamaquoddy, and they’re being slowly deciphered and used to teach younger tribe members their people’s traditions. — The New Yorker
Wexford Opera Festival Changes 2019 Program ‘For Financial Reasons’
The fall festival on the Irish coast, known for presenting rarities, has removed Weber’s Der Freischütz from its schedule, replacing it with Vivaldi’s Dorilla in Tempe. The Weber opera, which is on the fringes of the mainstream standard repertory, requires 12 soloists, a chorus, and a relatively large orchestra; the Vivaldi requires 6 soloists and a much smaller pit band. — Irish Times
Do The Oscar Telecast Producers Even Want To Show People Winning Oscars Anymore?
They’re only going to air two of the five Best Song nominees. They’re going to present some of the technical awards (even Best Cinematography) during commercial breaks (although the Oscars are the only time those trades get to be in the public spotlight). They generally seem obsessed with making the telecast short. New York Times Carpetbagger columnist Kyle Buchanan argues that the producers should do the opposite and embrace the Oscars’ Oscarness. — The New York Times
Netflix Is Getting Into Theatre-On-Demand
The move may signal a wider expansion by the streaming giant into capturing theatre for the small screen, which experts say could see it capitalise on a demand for more accessible ways to watch live performance. – The Stage
75+ NYC Galleries Sued Because Their Websites Aren’t Accessible To Blind People
“Like the lawsuits targeting other businesses, the claims against galleries tend to identify websites that lack special code that would enable browsers to describe images for people with impaired vision. In order for screen-reading software to work, the information on a website must be capable of being rendered into text. The complaint also cites several other ‘barriers’ to site accessibility, including ‘lack of alternative text,’ an invisible code embedded beneath a graphic image or within a URL.” – Artnet
BBC’s Latest Dance Competition Show Has A Race Problem
Not that the producers or panelists are to blame: The Greatest Dancer features plenty of minority contestants. But it’s the studio audience that decides who proceeds to the next round, and it seems they just will not vote for Asian competitors, no matter how enthusiastic the panelists are. Same for black female contestants. — The Guardian