“The cast was strip-searched before boarding the bus to their show. The leading man was shackled so tightly that he performed with abrasions on his wrists. And the moment the men finished their bows and the house lights came up, they had to slip out of costume and back into green prison uniforms.” – The New York Times
Museums Are Finally Paying Real Attention To The Needs Of Visitors With Disabilities
Well, some of them are. Reporter Claire Voon looks at some museums who are doing well in this area (the new MoMA) and some that have a way to go. – Artsy
Who’s The Father Of Today’s Black Theater Renaissance? August Wilson? No, It’s Tyler Perry
Wesley Morris: “Maybe it’s not immediately obvious. But it makes sense. He’s the biggest black playwright in America. If you were a kid, teenager or barely an adult in the 2000s, living in a black city and attracted to the stage, it would be hard for Perry not to become someone to revere, reckon with or resist.” – The New York Times Magazine
Welsh Arts Funder Sets Minimum Pay For Artists
“We won’t fund applications where you aren’t paying yourself or your co-workers at all, or are only paying a low/nominal fee,” the document says. – Arts Professional
Why Mark Bradford Is One Of The Most Important Artists Of Our Time
For example: “There’s nothing revolutionary about an artist creating a foundation. But the nonprofits set up by Andy Warhol, Joan Mitchell and Robert Rauschenberg, to name three, were created to launch after the artist’s death. Bradford, 57, founded Art + Practice for immediate impact. He provides as much of the organization’s $1 million annual budget as needed. And he does it his way, generally declining grants so that the nonprofit can remain independent and flexible.” – Washington Post
The Banjo And The Ballot Box: Country Music As Political Tool
“[Historian Peter] La Chapelle explains how fiddler-politicians and politician-fans have used this oddly flexible genre to advocate for the poor and dispossessed, fight for racial justice, fight against racial justice, lobby for gun rights, and articulate a whole range of sometimes contradictory positions. (audio) – The American Scholar
B-Boy-Turned-Ballet Dancer Teaches His Moves To His Company
Diego Ramalho grew up breakdancing in a small city in Brazil and reluctantly started taking ballet lessons at age 18. Eight years later, he’s a full member of Ballet Edmonton, coaching his colleagues in break-style movement for a new work opening this month. – CBC
A Black, Queer Kentuckian Returns Home To Take The Helm At Actors Theatre Of Louisville
After decades living and working all over the U.S., actor-director-choreographer Robert Barry Fleming is now in his first season as artistic director of one of the country’s most important regional theatres. He tells Diep Tran, “It’s taken me 50 years to be afforded my ‘Jackie Robinson moment’: the chance to lead a large, multi-million dollar institution, and I believe that may have less to do with my ability or readiness to do the job, and more about the dominant culture demonstrating readiness.” – American Theatre
In Wake Of Racial Incident, Boston’s Museum Of Fine Arts Works To Make Amends
Last spring, a group of black middle school students had an ugly encounter with a few museum patrons and a guard. “Critics rightfully pounced, and the museum moved swiftly to contain the damage. … It might have ended there. But in this city still scarred by court-ordered desegregation and the turbulent busing of minority students to white suburbs in the 1970s, the museum — which welcomes 1.2 million visitors each year — took it as a wakeup call.” – Yahoo! (AP)
Research: Arts, Sports Might Help Cut Homelessness
“Meaningful activity might be an essential component of youth homelessness prevention. This includes resources that encourage social inclusion (e.g., community and recreation centres) and natural supports. For example, neighbours may be able to help facilitate housing retention once a young person leaves the streets.” The Conversation
Royal Ballet’s New Star Marcelino Sambé On How He Got Into Dance
“It was hilarious. I showed up in tracksuit and trainers, didn’t know what ballet was. The atmosphere was sterile, the other kids were preppy and well prepared. I was nothing of the kind. But I could do the splits and I remember I kept doing the splits repeatedly [he laughs].” The panel was not impressed. “Then came the special moment when they asked us just to dance. – The Guardian
Just Two Weeks After Winning A MacArthur, Walter Hood Wins Another $250,000
“The … public artist whose work ranges from sculpture to landscape design has won the annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, which comes with $250,000 and honors a United States-based artist ‘who has pushed the boundaries of an art form, contributed to social change, and paved the way for the next generation.'” – ARTnews
Seeing ‘Slave Play’ As A Black Person, With An All-Black Audience
Aisha Harris: “At one point during the performance — as the white woman … used a black dildo on her [black] partner … while they pretended to be the mistress and slave on a plantation — my colleague, seated next to me, said, ‘Imagine seeing this with white people!’ I could absolutely imagine it, and thus understood why this specially curated audience needed to exist.” – The New York Times
Major Public Art Project Honors Black Lives In One Of America’s Most Important Black Neighborhoods
“Njaimeh Njie, a Pittsburgh-based artist who works primarily with print and photography, set out on a journey in 2016 to document black lives in her city, focusing on the Hill District, the historic black neighborhood that serves as the home base for some of the world’s most pioneering musicians and August Wilson’s 10-play theatrical universe.” – CityLab
Cornel West on the Revolutionary Politics of the Foundry Theatre
“The Foundry was never reduced to a market brand for corporate picking or seduced into the new star on the block for avant-garde propping up. Instead, it put a premium on the blue notes shot through history—the notes of dignity, dissonance, defiance — that constitute the majestic sound of social movements, political struggles, spiritual healings, and psychic breakthroughs.” – Literary Hub
Arts Education For All? (Depends On How You Define It)
The problem is that the offering all across the country is premised on the wealth of schools or school districts and there is a fundamental, inherent inequity to that reality. – Barry’s Blog
NYC’s Foundry Theatre to Close After 25 Years
“In its 25-year history, the Foundry’s productions earned the company 14 Obie Awards. It differentiated itself from other companies by also having a robust social justice and community organizing component to its work.” – American Theatre
The Reigning Queen Of Queer Cartoons
Rebecca Sugar earned six Emmy nominations before she was 30 for her work on the animated series Adventure Time. Now, on her own Cartoon Network series, Steven Universe, she has an entire squad of non-binary female characters, one gender-neutral hero, and a lesbian wedding, the first on children’s TV. – The Guardian
Art Classes Instead Of Court Dates For Misdemeanor Offenders In Brooklyn
“People arrested on low-level misdemeanors in Brooklyn will now have the option to complete a one-day arts course at the Brooklyn Museum instead of ever having to appear in court, thanks to a newly expanded diversion program [called Project Reset] offered by the Brooklyn District Attorney.” – Brooklyn Eagle
Nation Within Nation? America’s Problematic Issues With Indigenous Rights
Andrew Jackson’s and Trump’s assertions of US power over Indigenous peoples call attention to their singular political status as nations within a nation, and they speak to the continuing Indigenous struggle for sovereignty. – Aeon
Same-sex, gender-neutral dance partners now allowed to compete in national competitions
“Same sex and gender-neutral couples will now be allowed to compete with opposite-sex couples at all of its events. … But the question has come up: Will that lead to an unfair advantage when it comes to taking home the trophy?” – Dayton Daily News
A Team of Curators Designs a System for Indigenous Artists to Thrive In
“The word ‘decolonization’ has been bandied about all over national and regional arts outlets lately, but it is often misused or misunderstood. In Seattle, the term was used frequently to describe yəhaw̓, the first exhibition in the newly retrofitted, 7,500-square-foot Seattle Office of Arts & Culture ARTS Gallery … But you won’t hear its curators call yəhaw̓ a decolonial exhibition. So what is it, if not that?” – Hyperallergic
Decolonizing the Future: museums as agents of generational equity
Elizabeth Merritt: “All too often the decisions we make as individuals, companies, or countries are only good decisions if examined in a very short time frame. I call this phenomenon temporal colonialism. … We’re still working out how to decolonize the present (in so far as that is possible). What would it look like to decolonize the future? How do we give future generations a voice in the decisions we make today? … As you knew I would, I am going to make the case that museums can play a role in decolonizing the future as well.” – American Alliance of Museums
How Libraries Are Bridging the Digital Divide
“There are about 5 million households in rural areas without broadband internet … [and] there are 15 million households outside of rural America where people don’t have broadband internet. When people don’t have the internet at home or are unsure how to use digital tools, they turn to their local library — no matter where they are in the country. Librarians are at the forefront of understanding our digital divide, and they know it’s far more complicated than having, or not having, internet.” – The Takeaway
New Grant Program Focuses on Artists Working with Social Change Organizations
“The Arts and Activism ColLABoration, a pilot project funded jointly by The CrossCurrents and Compton Foundations to support the work of artists in partnership with organizers and activist organizations, announced five projects that were awarded $30,000 to engage in arts-integrated organizing through themes of democracy, power, and freedom in the United States.” – Grantmakers in the Arts
Philadanco Founder Joan Myers Brown Gives Up One Of Her Many Jobs
Brown, at age 87 still the company’s artistic director, will remain at least through next year’s 50th anniversary celebrations, but she has turned over the executive director position, on an interim basis, to administrator, professor, and former company dancer Elgie Gaynell Sherrod. Her main task will be stabilizing the company’s long-precarious financial situation; Brown has, over the years, lent Philadanco hundreds of thousands of dollars of her own money. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
A Longtime Political Artist Turns To Business To Drive Social Change
Tom Greyeyes’ art career started in a jail cell after an activist installation he created was considered vandalism by the Flagstaff police. Now the artist, who has had residencies and big gallery shows, and who has been featured on NPR, has pivoted a bit (though art and social justice are still involved): He is starting a graphic design business “that he hopes will help boost the economy on the reservation, provide jobs and give other Native American artists experience — and a steady income — creating logos and websites across the region.” – Arizona Daily Star
Kehinde Wiley’s New Statue In Times Square Directly Takes On Confederate Idols
Who could say it better than Philip Kennicott? “The old-fashioned, ceremonial unveiling of a statue is mostly extinct as a cultural spectacle. New art works are generally introduced quietly, amid white wine, canapés and polite chatter at exhibition openings. Now and then, perhaps a new museum may open with a ribbon-cutting. But Kehinde Wiley, the man who painted the portrait of Barack Obama that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, tried to reinvent the unveiling Friday afternoon in Times Square, complete with a brass band, gawking crowds, speeches by a phalanx of political notables and, finally, a few tugs on a shimmery silver cloth draped over his latest work, a monumentally scaled bronze equestrian statue.” – The Washington Post
Doyenne Of Black Dance Writers (And Maybe All Dance Writers) Takes On New Role: Curation
Eva Yaa Asantewaa “wasn’t looking for a curatorial position when she got a call from Gina Gibney, the artistic director and founder of Gibney, a performing arts and social justice organization that includes Ms. Gibney’s dance company and features classes and studio rentals. … ‘She had a whole plan mapped out,’ Ms. Yaa Asantewaa said. ‘It took me about two minutes to just say yes.'” – The New York Times
The Night Broadway’s ‘Slave Play’ Was Performed For An All-Black Audience
The producers of Jeremy O. Harris’s daring drama set aside all 804 seats on Sept. 18 for Black theatregoers, and they marketed the event almost entirely through direct outreach. Harris was thrilled by that night’s atmosphere: “People got out of their seats to go to the bathroom when they needed, people spoke, people laughed loudly, talked back, people (mon dieu!) texted with their ringers off and screens turned low. And the whole room felt free.” – American Theatre