“This is the second time in recent years that the Overture [Center] resident company has announced shows only to cancel them. Despite a solid showing for Nutcracker in December, the organization has struggled with cash flow, lower than expected ticket sales for Dracula and flagging fundraising.”
No, Amazon Is (Probably) Not Opening Hundreds Of Bookstores
“Mutter says it’s not far-fetched to think the great online retailer would turn to physical stores. E-book sales have plateaued. They’re popular for niche use, but printed books, he says, are experiencing a resurgence.”
How A Looted Artifact In Iraq Filled In A Piece Of The Ancient Gilgamesh Puzzle
“In 2011, Farouk Al-Rawi, an Iraqi Assyriologist now living in Britain, was shown a group of cuneiform tablets by an antiquities dealer in the Kurdish part of Iraq. He spotted among them a large, unusually shaped fragment and urged the Sulaymaniyah Museum to acquire the whole group.”
The ‘Dark Web’ Gets Its First Literary Magazine
“Depending on who you ask, the ‘Dark Web’ – the Internet’s mysterious undercurrent accessible only through specialized software – is either a libertarian utopia or a criminal hellscape run by cryptoanarchists trading stolen bitcoins. Now it’s more than either.” A Q&A with the founders of the new literary magazine The Torist.
UK’s National Theatre Commits To Gender Parity By 2021
“National Theatre director Rufus Norris has committed to ensuring gender equality in terms of the directors and living writers the venue employs by 2021. … He added: ‘There are a lot of women playwrights and women directors coming through, so it’s our responsibility to encourage that and reap the benefits.'”
Where Classical Music Meets Social Justice: The Sphinx Organization
“We’re looking at classical music and the broader arts as being woefully under-representative of the communities in which they reside. That’s one piece of the puzzle, but it’s only the art form. Then I see key minority communities that are strongly represented in the population but not represented in the field. There’s this reciprocal void that has to do with history, barriers, lack of opportunities, lack of access. To bridge that gap is where Sphinx comes in.”
How Music Festivals Shape Medium-Sized Cities
“Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles are three exceptional American cities, with robust economies and a surfeit of culture. I was interested in comparing a triad of slightly smaller metros and their festivals because they seemed very different in their histories, culture, and senses of place.” Richard Florida talks to sociologist Jonathan R. Wynn, author of Music/City: American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Newport.
Wooster Group Press Fail – Can You Really Ban Critics?
Jeremy Gerard of Deadline noted, “There’s no other kind of journalism where the journalist says, ‘Is it OK if I report this kind of story?’” That said, the allowance for theatrical productions to be developed and previewed in front of paying audiences has become generally standard practice and important to countless creative artists, the result of a détente between the natural instincts of the press and the creative process of artists.
Neuroscience And Free Will Seem To Be Rethinking Their Divorce
Three decades of studies seemed to “point in the same, troubling direction: We don’t really have free will. In fact, until recently, many neuroscientists would have said any decision you made was not truly free but actually determined by neural processes outside of your conscious control. Luckily, for those who find this state of affairs philosophically (or existentially) perplexing, things are starting to look up.”
Why An Outback Village Of Two Dozen People Needs A 350-Seat Arts Venue (For Opera, Of Course!)
“The official population of Morundah in NSW is 76 but Councillor David Fahey says only 24 people ‘actually live in the village’. … But the first time the local Morundah Bush Entertainment Committee put on an opera in 2006, it sold 1100 tickets in three hours. … Since then the tiny Riverina town has become a regional cultural hub serving not only the Urana Shire population of about 1200 but also drawing regular tourists from around Australia.”
Why Innovation Needs To Be Anchored In The Familiar To Be Embraced
To generate creative ideas, it’s important to start from an unusual place. But to explain those ideas, they have to be connected to something familiar. That’s why so many startups are introducing themselves as the “Uber for X.”
Eugene, Oregon’s Gallery Scene Collapses
“Artists and arts writers can list many galleries that have closed or moved towns during the last decade. With few major spots left, artists were shocked when the board of The Jacobs Gallery, located in the city’s performing arts center, announced that it would close at the end of January.”
Soprano Collapses Onstage As She Finishes Her Death Aria; Audience Thinks It’s Planned, But It’s Not
Véronique Gens, 49, was singing Béatrice in a concert revival of Benjamin Godard’s 1889 opera Dante at the old Royal Opera in Versailles. As she reached her final phrase – “Where the angels gather human tears to change them into stars” – she lost control of her voice and collapsed, first into the arms of the mezzo and then to the floor, her head lolling on her chest. The mezzo signaled to stop the music and an ambulance was called. The cause was evidently a sudden loss of blood pressure. (in French; Google Translate version here)
Is This Why The Pinter Estate Clamped Down On The Wooster Group?
Samuel French chief Bruce Lazarus “maintains that the Pinter estate had not been prepared to grant any subsequent license [for The Room] because the British agent had lined up a ‘first-class’ production in the UK, which had an option for a U.S. transfer. Lazarus points out that French could have simply said no but said his company persuaded the U.K. agent to allow the L.A. production, with restrictions.”
Harper’s Editor Fired After Three Months On The Job
“A person familiar with the dispute said that tensions flared during a recent meeting, when [editor Christopher] Cox presented his plans to redesign the magazine’s cover. [Publisher John R.] MacArthur opposed the change. … Harper’s, published monthly, is a nonprofit publication that is supported in large part by Mr. MacArthur’s personal wealth.”
Bob Elliott, 92, Half Of Comedy Duo Bob And Ray
“He and the late Ray Goulding were among the drollest and most inventive pop-culture satirists of their generation as writers, producers and actors. … A hallmark of Bob and Ray comedy was bone-dry delivery of the absurd. With masterly comic timing – Mr. Elliott with a nasal deadpan, Goulding with booming authority – Bob and Ray mocked the cliches and banalities of newscasts, politics, sports and advertising.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.03.16
We Asked: What’s the Biggest Challenge Facing the Arts?
Last week we conducted our first ArtsJournal poll, asking: What’s the biggest challenge facing the arts? We had 3,191 votes, with the largest percentage – 37% – answering funding. Second at 24% was “relevance/changing tastes” … read more
AJBlog: Diacritical Published 2016-02-03
History boy
There are productions I’ve never seen that are burned onto my brain. As a teenage Shakespeare geek, I devoured books on stage history, describing landmark productions staged long before I was born. I read … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2016-02-03
Bob Elliott, R.I.P.
Bob Elliott, who died yesterday at the age of ninety-two, was the longer-lived member of Bob & Ray, a much-loved comedy team whose subtle, at times near-surrealistic routines were developed for radio and never sounded … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-02-03
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Report: Millepied Will Quit Paris Ballet
“Benjamin Millepied — who is married to Hollywood star Natalie Portman — took over France’s most prestigious ballet company little more than a year ago, bringing a dash of glamour to one of the capital’s most venerable institutions. He had been due to unveil his new season next week, but it was clear that all was not well after he lambasted the ballet’s hierarchical structure in a French television documentary.”
Can YouTube Really Get People To Pay To Watch Videos?
“YouTube execs hesitate to compare their efforts to Netflix, Hulu or Amazon, but Red gives the streamer, which boasts more than 1 billion viewers, a foothold in the lucrative paid video business. It also diversifies YouTube’s business beyond its estimated $8 billion-plus in annual ad revenue.”
First Look At The Results Of SFMoMA’s Huge Expansion
“It will be all about the collection when the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art opens its doors to the public May 14 after a three-year rebuilding that roughly doubles its size and triples its gallery space.”
London’s National Theatre Downsizes, Cuts Sunday Performances
“National Theatre director Rufus Norris said Sunday performances had been axed as the venue looks at ways of “contracting”. The theatre faces the loss of revenue from the West End production of War Horse and a 30% cut in real terms to its subsidy since 2010.”
Zaha Hadid Is *Not* Giving Up The Battle Over The Tokyo Olympic Stadium
“Citing rising costs that by some estimates had reached $2.5 billion, the Japanese government announced last July that it was scrapping Ms. Hadid’s plan for the 80,000-seat venue.” This did not make her happy. “Her studio has stepped up the attack in recent weeks, saying that [the replacement] design closely copied hers in significant ways, and … raised the possibility of legal action … for copyright infringement.”
Custody Battle Over Picasso Bust Sees Temporary Ceasefire
“The mystery of what will happen to Picasso’s 1931 plaster bust of his mistress and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter after the Museum of Modern Art’s blockbuster show closes on Sunday has been temporarily resolved. The two parties disputing the sculpture’s ownership … both claim that they own the bust and that it was sold to them by the daughter of Picasso and Ms. Walter.”