The Bjarke Ingels Group proposal was unveiled with great fanfare in late 2014 as a reimagining of the campus on the southern edge of the Mall, stretching from the Freer Gallery of Art at 12th Street to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at Seventh Street. The splashy concept had been in development for two years, with construction expected to begin this year. Officials estimated it would take 20 to 30 years to complete its multiple phases. The Smithsonian spent $5.5 million on architecture and research fees associated with the project. – Washington Post
The Important Privilege Of Being An Absolute Beginner
“For most of us, the beginner stage is something to be got through as quickly as possible, like a socially awkward skin condition. But even if we’re only passing through, we should pay particular attention to this moment. For once it goes, it’s hard to get back.” – The Guardian
France Guarantees Unemployment Funds For Artists
In the U.S., some artists have turned to philanthropic or community support to get by. But in France, dancers, musicians, even the set-builders, costumers and lighting designers who work on the production enjoy regular unemployment support. – NPR
How One Arts Funder Is Trying To Diversify Its Selection Process
“The ‘X-factor’ that drew me to an organization was their organic feel. Anyone with money or political ambition can rent a space, start a 501(c)(3) and write a fancy application. The part you can’t fake is the organic passion and joy that comes from serving your community. I kept my eyes and ears open for that, and that’s how I came to my conclusion.” – Inside Philanthropy
Why We’re Still Fascinated By Gatsby
“Were you to lay this thing out by the sentence, it’d be as close as an array of words could get to strands of pearls. ‘The cab stopped at one slice in a long white cake of apartment-houses’? That line alone is almost enough to make me quit typing for the rest of my life.” – Paris Review
New Memoir’s Accusations of Incest Rattle French Intelligentsia And Its Culture Of Silence
In the book, La familia grande, prominent attorney Camille Kouchner, the daughter of Bernard Kouchner, former foreign minister and co-founder of Doctors Without Borders, says that her stepfather — political scientist and well-known pundit Olivier Duhamel, chairman (until last week) of the body that oversees the renowned Paris university Sciences Po — sexually abused her twin brother for two years beginning when they were 13. What’s more, she says she and her brother, twenty years later, told their mother and a number of the family’s famous friends, and no one said a word or took their side. – Forbes
Why Government Needs To Invest In The Arts — Particularly Now
Political developments have revealed a nation split more fiercely than most people ever imagined. Many of the civic institutions that have sustained American life — both for good and for ill — are beginning to teeter. – San Francisco Chronicle
The Philosophy Of Wine? But Of Course…
“Not content to simply establish the origins of our belief systems, philosophers focus on the evidence that supports our belief systems and whether we have good reasons to believe what we believe, which requires an inquiry into what exactly counts as a good reason. In other words, philosophers think about thinking and try to develop concepts that help us think more clearly.” – 3 Quarks Daily
Ancient Buildings At Palmyra, Destroyed By ISIS, May Really Get Rebuilt
“The ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, which was severely damaged by ISIS militants in 2015, appears to be heading toward reconstruction. In November, a memorandum of understanding on rebuilding the city’s Triumphal Arch was signed between Syria’s Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums and Russia’s Stone Industry Association, which is based in Yekaterinburg.” – The Art Newspaper
NEA Releases A Blueprint For Arts Organizations Reopening
“The NEA conducted in-depth interviews with nine arts organizations to identify common practices among those who have successfully reopened their doors to audiences or visitors during the pandemic. In addition to these case studies, the NEA also drew from national service organizations in the arts, document scans, and interviews with arts management consultants.” – American Theatre
Frank Gehry’s Dream Of Turing The LA River Into A Vast Cultural Space
Architect Frank Gehry has unveiled a bold plan to transform the river into more than just a concrete flood channel and establish it as an unprecedented system of open space. – Los Angeles Times
Meet Someone Who Has Worked At ABT For 50 Years
“[Susan] Jones was first hired by ABT co-founder Lucia Chase [in 1971] when the company needed a short woman for the corps. She spent eight years as a dancer, … and began transitioning to the artistic staff in 1976 while assisting Twyla Tharp in Push Comes to Shove. … Maybe more than anything, Jones has been a trusted right hand for three artistic directors, guiding and coaching multiple generations of corps dancers at the company. As she celebrates her 50-year milestone, Dance Magazine decided to pick her brain about what she’s seen as the key elements of success.” – Dance Magazine
Orwell Topped Book Bestseller Lists This Weekend. But…
“1984” rose to the top of Amazon’s top-selling book list over the weekend. On Monday, it reached the No. 1 spot. Not bad for a book published in 1949. Too bad few people citing the book’s dystopian horrors in earnest seem to understand the usage. – USA Today
Do Critics Shape The Theatre Of Their Time? Ben Brantley Says —
“Has it really happened that way, though? To go back to my paragon, Pauline Kael, she was perceived as shaping the course of Hollywood, and I’m not sure she did when you look back at it. Culture — like history, and we know how perverse and also cyclical history can be — follows its own inevitable patterns. … I don’t think critics are shapers. I think we’re mirrors.” – American Theatre
Streaming Revenue In US Should Go Well Over $100 Billion This Year
“Total spending on streaming services and software is projected to reach a record $112 billion in 2021, an 11 percent growth over 2020, according to Consumer Technology Association projections announced on Monday. … This follows 31 percent growth in 2020 over 2019.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Smithsonian Gives Up On Long-Planned $2 Billion Redesign
“When the Smithsonian introduced a futuristic plan for the 17 acres around its iconic administration building, the National Historic Landmark known as the Castle, officials predicted it would be a game-changer that would remake the structure into a visitor gateway to the storied institution. Six years later, a new Smithsonian administration has jettisoned the eye-popping elements of the $2 billion design by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, opting instead for a dramatically downsized version.” – The Washington Post
Patricia Loud, Matriarch Of America’s First Reality TV Family, Dead At 94
“Ms. Loud was a California mother of five. She drank, she plotted her divorce, she adored, and accepted, her openly gay son. She did it all in Santa Barbara and all on camera — in 1973. Loving, boisterous, witty, resilient and sometimes angry and hurt, she did not act like most women on television at the time. But she was ostensibly not acting at all. She was the first reality television star on the first reality show” — An American Family, aired on PBS — “and she paid a price for breaking new ground.” – The New York Times
St. Louis Symphony Musicians Accept 15% Pay Cut
“Musicians will retain 85% of their base pay and 80% of other compensation, including career track and overscale … in addition to health benefits and pension contributions. Musicians agreed in the fall to a 40% pay cut in addition to a further 20% reduction in overscale.” – St. Louis Business Journal
What I Learned About Myself When I Got Amnesia
“We all forget things, of course – who your 6th-grade social studies teacher was or what you had for lunch a month ago are washed away by the river of time. Looking at memory alone (as some of Locke’s early critics did) is much too narrow a way to think about what it is to be psychologically connected to earlier versions of oneself.” – Psyche
For-Profit Immersive Museums Are Investing Big For After The Pandemic
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. – The New York Times
Miami Museum Planned Exhibition As Investigation. That Proved Problematic
By the time the exhibition closed in March, because of the pandemic, the college had scaled back a plan to host programming that directly focused on the investigation. Forensic Architecture complained strongly but without success. Ultimately, the college told the curator who had coordinated the exhibition, Sophie Landres, that her contract would not be renewed. – The New York Times
After 43 Years, Chicago Tribune Arts Critic Howard Reich Retires
He reflects on his career and (in typical fashion) leaves readers with a basketful of music, book and video recommendations. – Chicago Tribune
The Center Of Hollywood’s COVID Outbreaks
Eleven more cases came from The Kominsky Method, a Michael Douglas-starring Netflix series where aging actors confront mortality. Around the same time, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 database, which tracks workplace outbreaks from the past 14 days, Netflix had nine more positive cases; NBC Universal, including some crew of the show Mr. Mayor, had 23; CBS reported 45. – The Daily Beast
Simon Rattle To Leave The London Symphony For Munich
Rattle said his reasons for accepting the Munich job were “entirely personal, enabling me to better manage the balance of my work and be close enough to home to be present for my children in a meaningful way”. – The Guardian
Sign Of The Times: Choir Rehearsals And Concerts Via Car
The founder and conductor of Canada’s Luminous Voices, which now uses the cars’ FM transmitters, a mixer, and wireless mics for rehearsal and, crucially, performance too, says, “For us not to be able to [sing together], it’s like a whole part of our soul is sort of taken out. And we need to find ways to somehow fill that gap.” – NPR