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Jesse Green On What Makes Classic Plays Classic

"There’s a reason, aside from name recognition, that they keep coming back. Though products of vastly different times and cultures, they dig so deep into their specific truths that they reach a common, eternal one, from which many others may spring." - The New York Times

Milwaukee’s Arts Organizations Are Dangerously Dependent On Philanthropy, Finds Study

For most groups, the proportion of their budgets coming from earned income (mostly ticket sales) has fallen by a third to a half from 2012 levels (let alone the levels of the 1990s). With the trend of philanthropy turning away from the arts, the outlook in the city appears grim. - Urban Milwaukee

Indianapolis’s Arts Agency Asks City Council To More Than Double Its Funding

For a decade until 2019, local lawmakers kept Indy Arts Council's budget stagnant at $1 million, and there were only small increases and some federal money added during the pandemic. From that budget, over 100 organizations must share grants. So IAC is requesting a budget increase from $1.3 million to $3 million. - WFYI (Indianapolis)

The Industry Told Gabriela Ortíz Her Music Was Too Exotic. Now It Seems To Love Her.

For most of the past 40 years, teachers told the 59-year-old Mexican composer her works were too exotic. Critics found it too big and messy. Major orchestras ignored her when giving commissions. Now, thanks to some major breaks, especially from Gustavo Dudamel, she's hit the big time. - The New York Times

Microsoft Announces Big Layoffs At Xbox

"Microsoft Gaming will lay off approximately 650 employees, or 3% of the Xbox owner’s global workforce, in a new round of eliminations following last year’s completion of its Activision Blizzard acquisition." - Variety

For The First Time In Centuries, You Can Walk The Walls And Ramparts Of This Medieval French City

"Visitors to Carcassonne in south-western France will be able to walk a full 1.3 km circuit of its upper ramparts — the first time this has been possible in centuries. The route has been opened up thanks to a 31-month, €5.6m restoration programme by the national heritage agency." - The Art Newspaper

After 30-Year Hiatus, London City Ballet Makes Successful Return

One of director Chris Marney's plans is to spend considerable effort and time touring regional Britain, where ballet companies rarely appear. "What we're finding on the road," he says, "is that audiences want it and audiences are coming to see us." - BBC

Juilliard Gets Big Gift To Span Arts Disciplines

Juilliard announced on Wednesday that it had received a $15 million gift to help expand creative work across music, dance and drama. An additional $5 million gift will go to the school’s jazz program to support scholarships, performances and teaching. - The New York Times

Self Therapy Is Killing The Memoir

In certain bodies, to write about yourself at all is already to be pathologized. But there’s a difference between creative work conferring self-knowledge on a par with psychiatric insight and structuring that work to shore up the psychiatric diagnosis or breakthrough. - The Walrus

How The Instagram Photo Dump Is Changing Its Culture

Today’s Instagrammer no longer chooses one representative photo at a time, creating a grid of images just so; instead, users, especially those belonging to Gen Z, are putting up faux-messy but actually carefully selected compendia showcasing the detritus of their lives. - The New Yorker

Why Won’t Directors Guild Of America Include Directors Of Animated Films?

"The DGA has long kept animation directors out of the guild. And the chasm between the benefits afforded to live-action directors and animation directors is a growing source of frustration within the filmmaking community. … . But now, as animated films prop up the box office, their frustration is reaching a fever pitch." - TheWrap (MSN)

How Jimmy Carter Supported The Arts

Carter’s appreciation for the arts began at an early age and has expanded over time. In his autobiography, Why Not The Best?, he wrote that his mother was an avid reader. So was he. “Within my memory, whenever anyone has asked me what I wanted for Christmas or my birthday present, I always replied ‘books." - ArtsATL

200-Year-Old Brooklyn Museum Rebrands

Does introducing a new logo in vibrant colors across various forms of signage, digital campaigns and merchandise equate to a brand reset? Perhaps not when the “new” design is eerily reminiscent of the 1972 Massimo Vignelli Bloomingdale’s logo, which also features the signature double ‘o’ ligature. - ARTnews

Why Climate Protesters Chose Art Vandalism As Their Medium (And Why It Isn’t Working)

The group Just Stop Oil, which started the practice of vandalizing artworks in the name of stopping climate change when two students threw tomato soup at van Gogh's Sunflowers, had repeatedly blocked fossil fuel sites without the media or public noticing. Well, they've noticed now, for better or worse. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Turns Out The Humanities Are Hard To Kill

The humanities, as it turns out, are pretty hard to kill—though the twentieth century made a good fist of it. Educational modernizers in England during the First World War, around the time of the Battle of the Somme, argued that classical education was responsible for Britain’s inability to beat the Germans. - First Things

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