“As theater professor Cheryl Black explains, she became a household name for her naturalistic on-stage portrayals of historic women, like Queen Victoria and Mary Queen of Scots. ‘She was very, very human and really did seem to have that ability to tap into the soul of a character. She was ahead of her time in her simplicity.'” (podcast)
‘Julia’ – Diahann Carroll’s Sitcom Was Both Milestone And Millstone For Blacks On American TV
When the NBC series about a widowed nurse and her son debuted in 1968, it was an immediate hit, and the first show to take an ordinary African-American family (and one whose breadwinner didn’t work as a servant) as its main subject. But for its entire three years on the air, both Julia and its star were attacked for showing a sanitized, middle-class version of black American life at a time when a third of African-American families were below the poverty line.
The Joke I Most Regret: 13 Comedians Share Their Biggest Mistakes And What They’ve Learned From Them
“As the discourse rages on about whether or not political correctness is destroying comedy (spoiler alert: it isn’t), these 13 comedians decided that self-interrogation is ultimately a good thing. They opened up about the material they’ve performed that hasn’t aged particularly well and how owning up to it has helped grow their comedic voices.”
South Australia Government Slashes Money And Staff At State Arts Funder
The conservative state government that took over in Adelaide in March has announced cuts of nearly $5 million in state spending on culture and reduced the number of employees at Arts South Australia by 42%.
Your Reading Comprehension: Print Versus Screen Versus Audio
If you’re reading, it’s pretty easy to go back and find the point at which you zoned out. It’s not so easy if you’re listening to a recording. Especially if you’re grappling with a complicated text, the ability to quickly backtrack and re-examine the material may aid learning, and this is likely easier to do while reading than while listening.
L’ubomir Gašpar’s Cimbal Project: Jazz At The Crossroads Festival
Jazz fusion from Slovakia on a sort of hammered dulcimer? Yes.
Call To Action: Want To Help The Fire-Ravaged National Museum Of Brazil?
Here’s an action list from the museum in Rio de Janeiro.
What Needlework Gave To Novelist Kate Atkinson
Atkinson says that doing needlework, even when she was young,”revealed something to me — the deep pleasure of creation, of taking disparate ingredients and transforming them into something else, something better. And something beautiful (in the eye of the beholder, anyway).”
Did Museum Insiders Steal Thousands Of Bugs?
Ex-employees of a Philadelphia museum have been questioned in the theft of thousands of living insects and lizards, and investigators appear close to wrapping up the case, a police spokesman told The Daily Beast.
New York City’s Streets Are Lined With Vacant Storefronts. They’re Changing The City’s Culture
Soaring rents and competition from online shopping have forced out many beloved mom-and-pop shops, which many residents say decimates neighborhoods and threatens New York’s unique character. Then there is the blight that shuttered stores bring, including vagrants, graffiti and trash.
The Arts World Has A Health Care Crisis
Prado Spotlights Two Female Renaissance Painters Who Aren’t Artemisia Gentileschi
“Lavinia Fontana [was] a Mannerist widely considered to be the first professional female artist, and Sofonisba Anguissola [was] an Italian noblewoman who served as King Philip II of Spain’s court painter.” Both women were praised by the likes of Michelangelo, van Dyck, and Vasari, and Fontana was blessed with an extraordinary husband who — in the 1580s, mind you — put her career ahead of his own.
Magazines Are Threatened. But The Magazine Cover Still Has Great Power
One very public-facing fragment of the medium remains: the cover. A magazine cover is all at once a cultural statement, a conversation starter, a negotiating asset, a digital selling point, a mood.
What Are Our Ethical Responsibilities To Our AI Creations?
What sorts of responsibilities would we owe to these simulated humans? However else we might feel about violent computer games, no one seriously thinks it’s homicide when you blast a virtual assailant to oblivion. Yet it’s no longer absurd to imagine that simulated people might one day exist, and be possessed of some measure of autonomy and consciousness.
Michelle Dorrance Will Put Tap Dance Anywhere
Sarah Kaufman doesn’t just mean lofty ballet companies like New York City Ballet and ABT or lofty venues like the Kennedy Center: “In Dorrance’s pieces you might find a high-tech electronic floor that enhances the music of her dancers’ feet. Or maybe there’ll be a live funk-blues band, or flamenco dancers. Dorrance has knocked about, vaudeville-style, with Bill Irwin, the stellar clown. She’s made a site-specific work on the spiral ramp of New York’s Guggenheim Museum.”
How Do Our Brains Process Art? (It Depends…)
In some cases, the questions that preoccupy philosophers are identical to the questions of psychologists and so are amenable to straightforward scientific research. Sometimes, though, the philosophical questions aren’t empirical—nobody is going to do an experiment to answer the question “What is art?”—but, still, one can study an interesting near neighbor, in the style of what’s sometimes known as “experimental philosophy.” For instance, you can look at what people (art experts, laypeople, four-year-olds) think is art.
Contractor Who Built New Metro DC Museum Sues It For $24 Million
“A month before the much anticipated unveiling of the revamped Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md., a contracting firm that oversaw the ambitious expansion there has sued the foundation that runs the institution … [for] breach of contract and mismanagement, adding that a ‘torrent of changes’ the foundation had demanded repeatedly disrupted and delayed work” — work which the contract claims it still hasn’t been paid for.
Florence Outlaws Eating In Downtown Streets
“As of September 6, anyone caught eating food outdoors during peak hours in four central streets in the Tuscan capital could face a fine of up to €500. When a city proposes a penalty this steep for the modest crime of nibbling on a snack, it’s clear that tempers must be running high — and indeed they are.”
Reviving The First-Ever Updated Shakespeare (It’s From The 1660s)
“The big changes to the Macbeth at the Folger Theatre include famous monologues that have been substantially trimmed; a newly heroic Macduff and Lady Macduff, who have bigger roles than Shakespeare dreamed of; and witches in extended sequences of song and dance. … This Macbeth is a painstakingly assembled revival of a version that’s about 350 years old, adapted by William Davenant as London’s theaters reopened after being shut down for 18 years during England’s Civil War.”
Academy Backs Off ‘Best Popular Film’ Oscar
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it will “postpone” introducing the new category, which was met with widespread scorn when it was announced last month. Said the AMPAS president, “There has been a wide range of reactions to the introduction of a new award, and we recognize the need for further discussion with our members.”
Battles Over Booker Prize Revealed As Archives Go Live Online
Joanna Lumley described the book that won the year she was on the jury as “indefensible”, Rebecca West hated every one of the contenders in both of her years, and the 1976 winner was ultimately chosen by flipping a coin. Then there was the year that Fay Weldon’s agent got slugged by the head of the publishing union.
Philadelphia Orchestra Adds Even More Music By Female Composers
The Philadelphians got some heavy criticism earlier this year when it came out that they hadn’t programmed a single piece of music written by a woman for the coming season. So they quickly added a couple of short pieces to the schedule and then planned a reading session of scores by emerging women. Now, reports Peter Dobrin, the orchestra is taking serious steps to address the issue in the next two seasons.
Dallas Prepares New Citywide Cultural Plan
Says the director of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, “We don’t live in a Camelot world any more. It’s all about Hamilton. … Our children today take it for granted that culture includes this richer, more exciting, more diverse offering. And if you don’t embrace it, you get left in the dust.”
Actor Burt Reynolds Dead At 82
Known for a wry, self-mocking persona and for doing his own stunts (and, offscreen, for a quick temper, hard living, and a tempestuous love life), Reynolds appeared in dozens and dozens of films and TV shows (and directed more than a few) over the decades; from 1978 to 1982, he was the number-one box-office draw. He was most popular in action films and romantic comedies, but he won greatest critical acclaim for performances in Deliverance and Boogie Nights.
Washington National Opera’s New General Director Settles In
Timothy O’Leary comes to the company from a very successful decade running the Opera Theater of St. Louis, writes Anne Midgette. “The companies in St. Louis and Washington are very different animals. St. Louis is a festival, where an intense five- or six-week season, attended by audiences from around the world, is followed by a whole year of planning and gestation. Washington, by contrast, has a year-round season but plays more to local audiences. … When the season is longer, carving out time to be creative, to come up with new ideas and initiatives, is a challenge.”
Controversial Previously-Cancelled Robert Lepage Work Will Be Produced In Paris
A controversial play about the relationship between whites and Indigenous peoples will finally be presented after previously being cancelled following criticism of content judged culturally insensitive. The Paris-based Theatre du Soleil says in a statement it will put on Quebec playwright Robert Lepage’s Kanata this December.
Call to Action: Want to Help the Fire-Ravaged National Museum of Brazil?
On its Facebook page, Rio de Janeiro’s Museu Nacional do Brazil has posted an “action list” of ways in which concerned museum lovers can participate in what the devastated institution optimistically calls “the reconstruction of the museum.”
L’ubomir Gašpar’s Cimbal Project: Jazz at the Crossroads Festival
Jazz-World fusions abound, but in general, the musicians that create this music play instruments that have already been integrated into the jazz “sound.” What is less common is to find musicians who play what Howard Mandel would dub “instruments rare to jazz.”
Seattle Opera General Director To Leave For Welsh National Opera
Aidan Lang, who succeeded longtime general director Speight Jenkins in 2015, will complete the coming season before heading to Cardiff. In his tenure so far, he has seen Seattle Opera’s mainstage attendance increase by 27% and launched a new series of contemporary chamber operas, many linked to current social issues.
Putin Pushes For High-Profile New Cultural Center In Crimea
“Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has ordered officials to speed up the construction of a cultural centre in Sevastopol, the historic naval capital of Crimea, which will include exhibition space for the State Hermitage Museum, the State Russian Museum and the State Tretyakov Gallery. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.”