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Kansas City Ballet Took A Long Time, But Finally Canceled The Rest Of The 2020-2021 Season

The ballet joins Kansas City's other major performing arts organizations, which will certainly have an economic impact on KC's central performing arts center. - Kansas City Star

Author Jacqueline Woodson Gets A Lot Done, But How?

The MacArthur Fellow, who has also won the National Book Award and lives with her partner and two children in Brooklyn, is building Baldwin Arts, an artists colony for writers, composers, and visual artists of color. Lots of free time there, right? "We all find our space. In my bubble, I’m working on a book or a screenplay, going...

With A New Book Called ‘I Hate Men,’ A French Author Has Truly Hit A Nerve

That's not the only work making a claim that France has an extremely long way to go in reckoning with gender inequality in every arena of life, including and perhaps especially the arts. The author of I Hate Men: "Feminists have spent a lot of time and energy reassuring men that no, we don’t really hate them, that they’re...

The Double Whammy Of Brexit And Covid On Britain’s Touring Musicians

This isn't great, since each musician needs rather a lot of paperwork - and it's possible, though unclear, that their instruments may need a deal too. "The new agreement means British orchestras may choose to reduce the number of European countries they visit to cut down on administrative costs." - The Guardian (UK)

Thieves Made Off With Most Of San Jose Dance Theater’s Handmade Costumes

The carefully designed and handmade costumes are priceless for the ballet company, but not useful for almost anyone else, says costume director Renee Forbes. "They can only be used in something like ballets and dance performances. It is not something everyday people need or use. ... These costumes are like my children." - KTVU (San Jose)

Freelancers, The Lifeblood Of British Theatre, Are In For Another Terribly Rough Year

The situation under the third lockdown is, if anything, worse than in March because the freelancers don't have anything to fall back on. "In telephone interviews this week, four theater freelancers said they had set up their own businesses to get through the pandemic; another said he was working as a delivery driver; and another said she was relying...

The Book That Predicted, And Probably Was The Blueprint For, Last Wednesday’s Coup

In a way, The Turner Diaries shows how white supremacists carried out the insurrection - and it provides a pretty clear idea of what's coming next. Historian Kathleen Belew says that even in the 1980s, supremacy groups "kept stacks of them, not just one copy but 15 copies in the book house of one white power terrorist group. They...

The Day Tacoma’s Movie Theatre Burned Down

During The Birds, even. The loss of the venue deeply affected Seattle's southern neighbor. "Before it was the Music Box the building was originally called the Tacoma Theater. Built in 1890 as an opera house, all that remains today is a single stone wall." - KING 5

The Pandemic Saw A Return Of Space To Listen To And Really Appreciate The Album

The lack of touring, time to sit with songs instead of performing them every night, and a ton of time in or near recording studios has made musicians remake, remix, rethink, and re-release albums even in the not-quite-year of the pandemic in Europe and the US. - The Guardian (UK)

Check Out The Massive Investments In An Immersive Art Future

Can the arts return after more vaccinations and herd immunity? The investors certainly think so. "While traditional museums are discussing closures and mergers, the for-profit industry around experiential or immersive art is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into a business that currently has no audience in the U.S. because of the pandemic. It’s a gambit that has surprised market...

How Romance Writers Funded, And Spread Interest In, The Georgia Races With One Of Their Own

Writer Alyssa Cole explains why it makes sense that romance writers came together to raise money for Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the Georgia Senate runoff races (Stacey Abrams, who has engaged in massive voter turnout since her defeat at the ballot box in 2018, is also a romance writer under the pen name Selena Montgomery). "As...

Instagram Has Turned Into A Source Of Funding, And Patronage, For Indigenous Beadwork Artists

When artists drop collections on Instagram, they often sell out in a matter of minutes. Beadwork takes time; there's no way to mass-produce, and that's part of the value. For artist Jaymie Campbell, Anishinaabe, from Curve Lake First Nation near Ontario, "the amount she puts into every piece means it isn’t possible to fully scale up to meet demand,...

How Do Recent And New Films Handle Elder Decline?

There's a mix, from viewer disorientation - meant to mimic that of a person experiencing dementia - to body horror. - The Hollywood Reporter

The Royal Shakespeare Company Attempts A Return Of A Midsummer Night’s Sax Comedy

Swinging the Dream, a 1939 musical that flopped after 13 performances despite (or because of?) having a cast of 150 and three bands. It's being revived, rewritten, and live-streamed during the pandemic. - The Guardian (UK)

Homage To A Mentor And A Muse

Kambui Olojimi, an artist from the Brooklyn neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant, addresses his childhood and his block, and the idea of collective memory, in his work - especially in 177 portraits of the block president, Ms. Arline. "Initiated in grief, the series is a mourning practice that has carried Mr. Olujimi through the political and social turmoil of the last few...

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