The murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi at the purported direction of crown prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2018 led several prominent board members to withdraw from the government-backed event. Now, the participants who remain are left wondering whether the world will be able to see through the shadow of the crime to the art. – Artnet
Want High School Kids To Get Excited About Engineering? Try Teaching Them To Make Guitars
“Unlike science and math, engineering and technology skills aren’t typically included in the standardized tests used to evaluate students and their teachers. Because the stakes are high, schools generally make the subjects that are tested their highest priority. When kids make guitars, they learn the math and science, but also the importance of mechanical precision, the design process and basic manufacturing skills, which are central to what engineers do.” – The Conversation
Bass-Baritone Franz Mazura Dead At 95
A specialist in operatic villains, he only began performing in his 30s and developed a major-house career in his 40s. Even so, he had a six-decade career, switching as he aged from major to character and comprimario roles, and he was on stage for his 95th birthday. – The New York Times
How The Broadcast Industry Convinced Americans, Gradually, To Embrace Color TV
The technology to transmit color television signals was first developed in the 1920s, and all three of the major U.S. networks had switched to color in the 1960s. But in the mid-1970s, nearly half of American households still had black-and-white sets, which didn’t disappear completely from store shelves until the 1990s. What took so long, and how was the public persuaded to make the switch? – Public Books
Racially-Tinged Strife At America’s Largest All-Jazz Radio Station
At WBGO in Newark, NJ, accusations that a largely white and elitist station leadership had lost touch with, and stopped paying respect to, the largely nonwhite people of its city led to rancor among the staff and, this week, the resignation of station CEO Amy Niles. But the roots of the station’s difficulties lie in the changing media landscape and in the tension between openness to WBGO’s local community and serving a listener and membership base that’s almost entirely outside Newark. – The New York Times
Can You Trust Political Promises About Supporting Culture?
The cultural sections of election manifestos always make for interesting reading. Wonderful-sounding aspirations rarely have detail. Proposals are mostly aspirational rather than costed. This, presumably, means that whatever the intended real-world outcomes are, they have not been factored in to any budgetary strategy. And the numbers that are given don’t always match up. – Irish Times
Book Reviews, Self-Help, And A Consumerist Approach To Reading
A consumerist vision of reading . . . presented as a form of anti-elitism” is emanating from the centers of publishing and media power, and that it is embodied by some of these trends. But I also found myself wondering: What fiction about music did they recommend? – The Baffler
How Memphis Got A Pyramid (It Might Now Regret)
The history of the Memphis Pyramid, which is now emblazoned with a massive Bass Pro Shops logo on its side, is as bewildering as its appearance, and as reflective of the people who conceived of it. – CityLab
Vienna Proposition: Leave Your Car At Home And Museums And Theatre Are Free
Starting as a pilot project next month, Vienna’s “Culture Token” will track users’ movements—and their chosen mode of transit—across the city via an app. For each car-free kilometer the user travels, the app stores up credits. Once the user has stored up 20 kilograms of carbon savings—possible with about two weeks of car-free commuting—they get a token they can exchange for a ticket to various arts venues, including Vienna’s most respected concert hall, theater, and contemporary art venue. – CityLab
Making Theater On Death Row
Playwright Lynden Harris talks about working with condemned prisoners — first, to develop scripts for them to perform before fellow inmates and prison staff, and second, to create theater pieces for the general public in which actors portray men on death row talking about life inside. – HowlRound
New Post-Brexit Visa Rules Could Keep Artists Out Of The UK
Currently, skilled workers from outside the EU need to have a job offer with a salary of at least £30,000 to work in the UK. EU citizens are not bound by such restrictions and do not need a permit to work in the UK due to freedom of movement. – The Stage
What The Font You Use Says About You
“The font you use is a form of non-verbal communication. If you meet in person, tone of voice, clothes and body language carry a huge amount of information. If you write someone a letter you have all these tools available in your handwriting. But as soon as you sit down at a computer, especially if you’re working in a program that defaults to Times New Roman, we suddenly become identical and we don’t like that.” – The Guardian
Harriet Frank Jr., Half Of One Of Hollywood’s Great Screenwriting Teams, Dead At 96
She and her late husband, Irving Ravetch, wrote 17 feature films together, among them The Long, Hot Summer, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, The Sound and the Fury, Conrack, and two for which they earned Oscar nominations, Hud and Norma Rae. – The Hollywood Reporter
Bothered And Bewildered Performing Arts Groups Struggle With California’s New Gig-Economy Law
“Assembly Bill 5 is intended to reduce worker misclassification, making it harder for companies to treat workers as independent contractors. … But the law’s ambiguous language — specifically the use of the phrase ‘fine artist’ without actually defining the term — already had led one opera company to postpone a production, prompted other small arts organizations to consider cutting programs and sent others scrambling to raise more money to comply with the law.” – Los Angeles Times
SAG-AFTRA Releases Standardized Guidelines For Employing Intimacy Coordinators
The union for film, television, and radio performers spent six months preparing the document, which gives thorough standards for actors’ contracts, communication between actors and directors/producers, modesty garments, rehearsals and shoots, and so on. – Variety
Citing Multiple Threats, Publisher Cancels ‘American Dirt’ Book Tour
“Jeanine Cummins spent five years of her life writing this book with the intent to shine a spotlight on tragedies facing immigrants,” said the president of Flatiron Books. “We are saddened that a work of fiction that was well-intentioned has led to such vitriolic rancor. Unfortunately, our concerns about safety have led us to the difficult decision to cancel the book tour.” – The Guardian
‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Will Be First Broadway Show To Play Madison Square Garden
The move to the arena, for one night only (Feb. 26), is meant to give a more diverse audience a chance to see the show; 18,000 tickets will be given for free to New York City public school students. – Variety
Due To Injury, Bryn Terfel Withdraws From Met Opera’s New ‘Flying Dutchman’
The 54-year-old bass-baritone fractured his ankle this week while in Bilbao to perform in a different production of Dutchman; he has returned home to Wales for surgery. The March 2 opening would have been his first Met appearance in eight years. – The New York Times
It’s Official: MoviePass Files Bankruptcy To Go Out Of Business
Unlike Chapter 11, where companies can be reorganized and survive, this gang is dissolving, shutting its doors and everyone has resigned. Four months after the MoviePass service closed down it’s clear it’s not coming back. – Deadline
BBC To Cut 450 Jobs From Its New Operation And Reduce Number Of Stories It Reports
“Never in my career have I felt this organisation is quite under the threat that it currently is. There are many that believe that how we are funded is no longer appropriate when consumers seem to prefer to pay just for what they use.” – The Guardian
Rally for the Right to Bear (& to scare with) Arms Prompted “Extensive Precautions” at Virginia MFA
I hadn’t wanted to write anything about this beforehand (for fear of putting a dangerous idea into someone’s head), but I was worried about the welfare of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts during the Jan. 20 gun-rights rally in Richmond. I was concerned that there might be a replay of what had happened in August 2017 in Charlottesville. – Lee Rosenbaum