Although the challenging of books and curriculum is hardly new in the United States, what we’re facing now is somewhat different. It is not parents or even school boards driving many of these challenges. It is the power of the state. - Los Angeles Times
In a statement released this week, Ken-Matt Martin writes, "I have decided that I need to take a break from nonprofit theatre administration and would not immediately return if asked. ... (This case is an) example of the industry-wide need to seriously reevaluate our models and modes of operating." - American Theatre
The upshot of all this change is the emergence of a company that is more diverse, and more versatile, than ever before. Taylor dancers are ready to take on the movement style of any creator, and to tackle works from different eras and traditions. - Dance Magazine
"Picasso, deeply apolitical, had shown little interest in the Spanish Civil War. ... Nor had he ever done a public mural, let alone one about a bombed city. And the work was so disdained when it was first shown that it very nearly didn't make it." - MSN (The Atlantic)
"In the 2023 round of negotiations with the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, the discussions are sure to be more charged than usual because of the tectonic shifts across TV and film that were accelerated by pandemic conditions in 2020 and '21." - Variety
"A new dictionary — the Oxford Dictionary of African American English — will attempt to codify the contributions and capture the rich relationship Black Americans have with the English language." The book is a project of Oxford University Press and Harvard's Hutchins Center." - The New York Times
In a 40-part tweetstorm, Erin Overbey argued that she was put under a performance review after complaining that female and male staffers at the magazine were not treated equally — and that, during her review period, errors were put into her work in an attempt to trap her. - The Daily Beast
Lincoln Center president Henry Timms: "In terms of volume, probably, the amount of classical music being presented hasn't changed much. The nature of it has changed, to some degree, though not fundamentally." New York Times classical critic Zachary Woolfe: "Uh-huh." - The New York Times
"The performing artists recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture include actor and filmmaker George Clooney; contemporary Christian and pop singer Amy Grant; venerable gospel, soul and R&B star Gladys Knight; Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor and educator Tania León; and four Irish musicians you may know as U2." - NPR
Jonathon Heyward, now 29 and chief conductor of the Northwest German Philharmonic, will be (after the late James DePreist of the Oregon Symphony) the second African-American music director of a major US orchestra in history. He begins his initial five-year term in the fall of 2023. - Yahoo! (The Baltimore Sun)
I went to a therapist. She told me (ready?) to stop consuming the news. That felt wrong. Wasn’t it important to be informed? Quitting the news felt like quitting the world. Then one day a journalist friend confided that she was avoiding the news, too. - Washington Post
He was the first Indian artist who successfully combined Indian iconography and subjects with Western techniques and styles. His art influenced Indian literature, music, films, advertising and textiles, and even India's largest selling comic book series. - BBC
The 2018 Chaos Machine by the artist collective Distributed Gallery is an early example of a blockchain sculpture where the use of randomness and algorithmic code also classifies it as generative art. - The Art Newspaper
Mahler and Beethoven left several tantalizing blueprints of their 10th Symphonies behind. Now, computer scientists are developing algorithms for artificial intelligence (AI) to lift the “curse of the ninth” and complete the unfinished works of these classical masters. - Mental Floss
