“Museums can be hostile places for disabled visitors, with buildings that are hard to navigate by wheelchair and exhibits presented with few concessions to those with sensory or cognitive impairments. But a handful of European institutions have conducted access studies that promise to transform this dispiriting experience, drawing on expert advice from participants with diverse lived experiences of disability.” – The Art Newspaper
Joyce Foundation, SAIC program wants to guide new faces to careers in the art world
“Art on gallery walls doesn’t just materialize — the effort of displaying works is done through preparators. And a collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Joyce Foundation is making sure that artistic avenue is populated with people from diverse walks of life. ‘Re-Tool 21,’ seeks to provide opportunities for traditionally underrepresented groups in the art world, including women, immigrants, people of color, the formerly incarcerated and LGBTQIA, to receive training in art preparation and handling.” – Chicago Tribune
The architect who uses performance to open up public space
“Working primarily in the public realm, Bryony Roberts Studio is a collaborative practice focused on how cultures, histories, and systems of power and politics are represented or erased in space. Through site-specific performances and installations, Roberts addresses themes of democracy, spatial justice, historic preservation, and identity in a way that’s widely accessible to the public. … Roberts’s work is urgent at a time when the politics and sensibilities of public space are under more scrutiny.” – Curbed
Protect the Body: Keeping Daring Depictions of Eating Disorders Safe for Actors and At-Risk Young Adults
“Clare Hennessy discusses the challenges of developing a play that sheds light on eating disorders — depicting them accurately, avoiding triggers — and offers suggestions for other writers in a similar position.” – HowlRound
How streaming, diversity, #MeToo shaped TV decade of change
“A bonus for viewers as they sort through the competing options: More programming doesn’t just mean more of the same. The decade has been marked by opportunities for diverse and candid voices.” – Yahoo! (AP)
Donald Byrd’s ‘Harlem Nutcracker’ Sold Out Theaters, But It Bankrupted His Company. After Almost 20 Years, He’s Reviving It
“It took five years of active persuading, plus nearly two decades of water under the proverbial bridge, before choreographer Donald Byrd finally agreed to resurrect The Harlem Nutcracker. Instantly loved after its 1996 New York premiere, his Nutcracker was financially doomed by 2001 — and left some scars on its way out.” But this year, firmly ensconced at Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater, Byrd is at last ready to return to it. – The Seattle Times
Queering History: How LGBTQ Artists, Playwrights, And Novelists Are Reimagining The Past
Jesse Green: “On the whole, queer art, which fully emerged from the closet in the 1960s and 1970s — around the same time people in great numbers did — has mostly concerned itself with its own moment, as if to say, ‘Here I am.’ … [Yet] another approach has been emerging in tandem. … The watchcry for these works isn’t so much ‘Here I am’ as ‘There we were.’ More trenchantly, they sometimes ask how the two ideas are, or aren’t, related. What is the queer past for?” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Buffalo jumps and handmade lingerie: the Native American artists ‘reversing colonialism’
“Slaughter grounds thick with buffalo remains and a savaging of Thanksgiving myths are two of the highlights in the new wave of indigenous art heading for Britain.” – The Guardian
The Joffrey Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ Has a New Role for Dancers With Disabilities
“Marie and Franz have a new guest at their Christmas Eve party this year. Emma Lookatch and Larke Johnson, both dancers in the Adaptive Dance Program at Joffrey Academy of Dance: Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, are alternating in the new role of Worker Girl. It is a permanent part created specifically for students with disabilities in Christopher Wheeldon’s version of The Nutcracker at The Joffrey Ballet.” – Dance Magazine
Judy Dworin Performance Project celebrates 30 years of dancing for social justice
“It’s funny to think of art that is so topical and of-the-moment having such a long history. It’s a big deal when any regional dance company turns 30, but especially remarkable for one that has built its reputation not with mainstream classics but with political, psychological, dramatic works about such fraught topics as immigration, slavery, domestic abuse and civil rights.” – Hartford Courant
‘Who Owns Black Art?’: A Question Resounds at Art Basel Miami
“At a time when black creators are being celebrated as much as ever — from Hollywood to the fine arts — some are raising the question of whether black people are truly the main beneficiaries of the culture they produce. That theme is at the center of an exhibition opening on Wednesday in Miami, outside of the official Art Basel program, bluntly titled Who Owns Black Art?” – The New York Times
At ‘Slave Play’ Q&A, Woman Shouts That Playwright Is ‘Racist Against White People’
“According to witnesses, the woman, whom [playwright Jeremy O.] Harris has nicknamed ‘Talkback Tammy’ on Twitter, stood up from her seat and loudly interrupted the Q&A just as it was finishing up. She accused the queer black playwright of being ‘racist against white people.’ At one point, she complained that she didn’t want to hear that white people are the fucking plague all the time.'” Harris patiently responded to her and even sort of defended her reaction afterward, saying “Rage is a necessary lubricant to discourse.” – Gothamist
Nine Black Actresses Have Now Been Cast As Hermione In ‘Harry Potter And The Cursed Child’, But The Producers Refuse To Discuss Race
“The play’s producers, Sonia Friedman Productions, declined to comment for this article, noting that the subject of Hermione’s race had been discussed at length when the play opened in London. But that was eight Hermiones ago. When asked to discuss the cultural significance of the casting decision in the era when diversity and inclusion have become priorities in theater, the producers rebuffed The Times‘ attempts to speak with the show’s director, actors or anyone else in the production.” – Los Angeles Times
Can Dance Make a More Just America? Donald Byrd Is Working on It
“The choreographer’s commitment to dance as a catalyst for social change can be seen at a museum show in Seattle and in a new work for the Alvin Ailey company.” – The New York Times
How A Stolen Native American Artifact Ended Up For Sale In Paris
There is a loophole, in which it’s illegal to traffic certain cultural items within the United States, but exporting them is not prohibited. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which was enacted in 1990, requires repatriation of sacred or culturally significant items to their respective tribes or lineal descendants. It also instituted procedures for when said items are inadvertently discovered in excavations on federal lands. However, NAGPRA does not apply internationally. – Hyperallergic
Roger Cardinal, Scholar Who Coined Term ‘Outsider Art’, Dead At 79
“This was not entirely a source of pleasure to the man who, under duress, had invented the term” as a compromise title for his very influential 1972 book. “In a 2009 essay on outsider art and autism, Cardinal noted that the name had been ‘used and abused in a variety of ways, which have often compromised it’.” – The Guardian
Surge In Black Art Is ‘Exhilarating Sea Change’ That Made 2010s ‘Thrilling’: New York Times
Roberta Smith: “What made the 2010s the most thrilling of all the decades I’ve spent in the New York art world was the rising presence of black artists of every ilk, on every front: in museums, commercial galleries, art magazines, private collections and public commissions. During this exhilarating sea change new talent emerged, older talent was newly appreciated and the history of American art was suddenly up for grabs — and in dire need of rewriting.” – The New York Times
New Data: Who Is Taking Art Classes?
“News that the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the arts would fall victim to budget constraints raised a collective groan from the nation’s arts advocates earlier this year. Many wondered where else they could find national information on U.S. students’ engagement and performance in music and visual arts. A partial answer to that question just came from an unexpected place: NAEP’s 2019 math assessment.” (One of the takeaways: “There are also disparities by students’ race, ethnicity, family income and school location.”) – Ed Note
‘Involuntary’: ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ in the Age of Neurodivergence
Leon J. Hilton explores the recent production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest created by Spectrum Theatre Ensemble, a company dedicated to making theatre with and for neurodiverse artists and communities. – HowlRound
The American Theatre Was Killing Me: Healing from Racialized Trauma in an Art Workspace
“In the following conversation, theatremaker Lauren E. Turner recounts her courageous healing journey from the depths of sustained racialized trauma working in a New Orleans theatre to the launching of her own theatre company, No Dream Deferred, into its first season this fall. Given the persistence of racialized trauma in white theatre institutions, we interrogate how — and if — people of color feel they have a place within them.” – HowlRound
How Native Americans In NYC Are Using Art To Strengthen Community
The nation’s largest city has the nation’s largest Native American population, with 112,000 individuals representing more than 75 tribal nations. Most of those people arrive in New York City with no connection to the indigenous communities there and little or no idea how to access available services. The American Indian Community House is one of several organizations in the city that use art to reach out and make themselves known to Native residents, building community and then using that community to help meet more basic needs. – Gothamist
HarperCollins to Launch Native-Focused Imprint
“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
How artists are remembering Tamir Rice, 5 years after his death
“Five years ago, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed in a public park by a Cleveland police officer. The incident quickly became a rallying point for a growing national conversation about violence against black people at the hands of the police, and Rice continues to be a source of inspiration for artists.” – PBS NewsHour
Why on-screen representation matters, according to these teens
“Alec Fields, a junior at Forest Hills High School in Pennsylvania, … was one of 144 middle and high school students who were interviewed about seeing themselves reflected — or not — on the screen. PBS NewsHour turned to our Student Reporting Labs from across the country to hear what students had to say a topic that research shows still has room for growth.” – PBS NewsHour
Would A Wealth Tax Would Hurt Non-Profits?
Tyler Cowen: “The effects of pushing wealth out of the for-profit sector would be far-ranging. Wealthy donors might be more likely to pressure nonprofits for luxury consumption experiences, for example.” – Bloomberg
There’s Now An Artist-In-Residence At The Philadelphia DA’s Office
“It makes perfect sense to DA Larry Krasner, who sees the arts as central to the criminal justice reform movement … ‘the connection between the reforms we’re trying to make in Philadelphia and the people in Philly who are part of that movement are best made in some ways through the arts,'” he said. The first artist in the position is James Hough, who spent years painting parts of murals for Mural Arts Philadelphia while in prison and is now finally seeing his finished work. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
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
OSF Commits $15 Million to Efforts to Return Looted African Artifacts
“The Open Society Foundations has announced the launch of a four-year, $15 million initiative aimed at returning cultural objects looted from the African continent. The initiative will support networks and organizations working to return not only art and ceremonial objects but also human remains, natural history specimens, archives, and cultural heritage artifacts to their rightful homes.” – Philanthropy News Digest
Leveraging Libraries for Cultural Engagement: A Model from New York
David Giles: “As one of the designers of Culture Pass, I could not be more pleased with the results so far. After launching in summer 2018 with twenty-nine participating organizations and seven thousand passes per month, we have grown to fifty organizations and eight thousand monthly passes. … In what follows, I will talk more about how Culture Pass functions and how we have partnered with participating institutions to target underserved neighborhoods. I will also explain more about how the museum programs work in the library setting and how they complement the libraries’ own pedagogical emphasis on play, curiosity, and discovery.” – Grantmakers in the Arts