“The art of creating the connections and building communities of others who also come to believe and amplify them is a virtuous circle that keeps growing and strengthening increasingly wacky beliefs.” – Post Alley
Black Dancer Sidelined At Berlin State Ballet Won’t Give Up Struggle
“Berlin [Staatsballett’s] first black dancer, Chloé Lopes Gomes, said she has been made to feel different because of her skin colour since she first donned ballet shoes as a child. But after she was again subjected to what she described as ‘racism’ at Germany’s largest dance company, she has launched a fightback that has forced the State Ballet to launch an internal investigation into her complaints.” – Yahoo! (AFP)
Exit Interview: Architecture Critic Blair Kamin
It’s really, really important to have critics who, at their best, can deliver lighting bolts that say, “This is a horrible idea. Don’t do it.” “Don’t put a Holiday Inn glass box on top of Chicago’s Union Station.” (It didn’t happen.) Or, ‘The lakefront in Chicago is divided by the chasm of race, address it.” Over the last 22 years since I wrote that series on the lakefront, it has really changed. – Fast Company
Mark Swed: My Picks For Culture Secretary
“A Secretary of Culture would serve not as advisor to the president but as a conscience to government itself. Mr. or Madame Secretary would set a national tone of cultural ambition. If you are worried about politicizing culture, don’t be. Artists are rebels. Any benighted culture czar who happens to come along will have to contend with socially nourishing revolutionary art. We can’t lose.” – Los Angeles Times
The Different Flavors Of Change
The paradox of change is that while it impacts us on a very subjective, personal level and each of us perceives it very differently, on another level it also unites us because of its universal aspects, aspects that can help us define our common humanity. – 3 Quarks Daily
Is American History As We’ve Been Taught It Wrong? Trump Commission Says So
The commission’s report charges, in terms quickly derided by many mainstream historians, that Americans are being indoctrinated with a false critique of the nation’s founding and identity, including the role of slavery in its history. – The New York Times
How Did American Theater Deal With The Trump Era? Urgently
“For the most part, it didn’t aim straight at the president. … Rather, producers elevated formally adventurous, politically incendiary plays — like Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me and Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play — that spoke meaningfully to our nation’s troubled soul. Audiences, hungering for that holiest of dramatic experiences, catharsis, used the ritual of theatergoing to think and hurt and heal.” – The New York Times
Black Ballet Dancers Talk About How To Move Toward Equity And Inclusion
Black artists From Boston Ballet, ABT, New York City Ballet, BalletMet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Tanzcompany Innsbruck, the Trocks, and the pool of freelance dancers describe the challenges they face and what would be genuinely helpful. – Dance Magazine
Perhaps We’d Be Happier If We Stopped Pursuing Being Happy?
As well as reducing everyday contentment, the constant desire to feel happier can make people feel more lonely. We become so absorbed in our own wellbeing, we forget the people around us – and may even resent them for inadvertently bringing down our mood or distracting us from more “important” goals. – The Guardian
Streaming Giants From U.S. May End Up Saving Canadian TV Industry
“Canada forcing Netflix and other foreign streamers to pour $800 million annually into local Canadian content will be a lifeline for world-beating creators, say Bill C-10 supporters.” – The Hollywood Reporter
UK Courts Are Leasing Theatres For Courtrooms – Artists Are Objecting
Three national lockdowns in Britain, as well as tough social distancing guidelines, have hampered the business of England’s court system this past year, creating a huge backlog of cases. Since July, the country’s courts service has been renting suitable spaces — like theaters, but also conference centers and local government buildings — then turning them into temporary courtrooms. – The New York Times
The Baby Blimp Of The U.S. President Will Be Memorialized At The Museum Of London
The crowd-funded helium balloon made its first appearance during the 45th president’s first UK state visit in 2018, and has since made something of a world tour. The creators: “We hope the baby’s place in the museum will stand as a reminder of when London stood against Mr Trump – but will prompt those who see it to examine how they can continue the fight against the politics of hate.” – The Guardian (UK)
Ireland Is One Country That’s Done Well For Classical Music Online
Or so says pianist Finghin Collins, who’s also artistic director of Music for Galway and the New Ross Piano Festival. Collins: “Ireland has done extremely well in the arts, in the sense that many, many classical music organisations, and others, have pivoted very quickly into the online space. If I speak to my colleagues in France, Germany, Switzerland, continental Europe, they haven’t. … We really managed in August, September, October to get ourselves into this online space where we were able to do a lot of either livestreams or prerecorded concerts.” – Irish Times