When arts planning becomes the point rather than the process. Why your creativity may be dependent on being bored. Are MFA degrees a waste of time if you want to be an artist? Broadway breaks more records. And three new ways to see traditional art. Boston Arts Plan - All Process, No Beef? The new mayor of Boston aspired to to his city being an arts town, a place where culture flourishes. So … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2016
Five Stories From Last Week’s AJ: Likes And Dislikes Edition
Why aren't the arts something we can all get behind? Maybe it's somewhere in the psychology of how we like what we like? Revealed: nobody reads arts reviews anymore (says an editor who hates to run them but wants to "support" the arts). Where the money is in music (hint: not for musicians). And is "This American Life" undermining public radio? Go Team! Why Don't The Arts Unite Communities … [Read more...]
Doug’s List: Last Week’s Eye-Catching AJ Stories, Playing God Edition
Disrupting the orchestra model, doing away with artistic directors, a cure for what ails the Met Opera, how our ideas about knowledge are changing, and recreating Leonardo (no kidding!) What does Disruption Look Like In The Orchestra World? Does it seem odd that there have been so few experiments in orchestra models? Of course many of the things that make an orchestra are fixed - musicians, … [Read more...]
Doug’s List: Highlights From This Week’s AJ, Cautionary Tale Edition
This week: a great example of the de-monetization of audience, the deadening burden of being a critic, some contradictions about how we use data in the arts, why technology is complicating our fetishment of original art, and remembering a time before words were processed and forever changed how we write. Cautionary Tale: I created a video. It went viral with hundreds of millions of views, but … [Read more...]
Five Notable Stories From Last Week’s ArtsJournal: Alternative Reality Edition
What Does "Inclusive" Mean To A Performing Arts Center? The Kennedy Center held an event to talk about inclusiveness of its offerings. But no one seemed to be able to define exactly what that means. Why is it that many in the arts believe that "inclusiveness" means getting more people to define culture the way in ways that might not feel inclusive to a lot of people? Is inclusivity merely another … [Read more...]