The funds are divided into two grants. The first will help start a new fellowship program to support poets laureate of states, cities, United States territories or tribal nations across the country. … The second grant will go toward the Poetry Coalition, a national alliance of more than 20 poetry organizations.” — The New York Times
Author Francine du Plessix Gray Dead At 88
“[Her] novels and biographies often examined the lives of women as creative forces and as muses, and [she] published an acclaimed memoir that explored her complicated personal history … [with] what she later recognized as the monstrous egos of mother and her stepfather.” — The Washington Post
As Senegal Opens New Museum Of Black Civilizations, It Wants France To Return Objects Taken During Colonial Period
“The scale of artifacts in question is staggering. Up to 95 percent of Africa’s cultural heritage is held outside Africa by major museums. France alone holds 90,000 sub-Saharan African objects in its museums.” — The New York Times
Top Carnegie Hall Exec To Lead Berkeley’s Cal Performances
Jeremy Geffen, who has been Carnegie’s top artistic administrator for 12 years, succeeds Matias Tarnopolsky, now CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra. “New York is wonderful,” said Geffen, “but it can be difficult to get people’s attention … whereas in Berkeley, I was struck by the degree to which people are aware of, and open to, great attractions.” — San Francisco Chronicle
As Drag Queen Story Hour Spreads, Christianists Stage Protests (And Scream At Children)
“Drag queen storytime began popping up in 2015 in San Francisco and have spread across the country to libraries, community centers, and increasingly, bookstores. … Protests are commonplace at the readings and some communities have even seen lawsuits attempting ban such readings, though these efforts have largely been thwarted by the courts.” — Publishers Weekly
New Psychological Studies Try To Answer Classic Questions About Art
“Today, experimental philosophers and philosophically inclined psychologists are designing experiments that can help to answer some of the big philosophical questions about the nature of art and how we experience it – questions that have puzzled people for centuries, such as: why do we prefer original works of art to forgeries? How do we decide what is good art? And does engaging with the arts make us better human beings?” – Aeon
We Live In An Adversarial Culture. Historians At Their Best Offer A Different Approach
“The virtue of reading like a historian is that critique or disavowal is not the primary goal. On the contrary, reading historically provides something more destabilising: it requires the historian to put her own values in parentheses.” – Aeon
Why It Matters That The Met Opera’s Music Director Is Openly Gay
“While he hasn’t wanted to make what he called ‘a big fuss’ about his relationship, [Yannick] Nézet-Séguin sees himself and [partner Pierre] Tourville as symbolic of a widening conception of what a conductor can be.” — The New York Times
Carol Channing, 97
“The blonde, saucer-eyed Broadway musical comedy star … was associated with one role — Dolly Gallagher Levi in Jerry Herman’s Hello Dolly! … Ms. Channing was said to have never missed a performance in Dolly during its first Broadway run beginning in 1964, and played the part countless other times over the years in a variety of national tours.” — Playbill