The Arts Council of Ireland has engaged London-based consultants to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the Republic’s national theatre company. While the Abbey has a high reputation in the U.S., observers at home have lately found it to have serious problems with both costs and artistic quality.
Why Is Opera Still Thought To Be Elitist?
Today, opera is routinely styled as the antithesis of everyday life. The clash of opera (assumed to be “posh”) with “ordinary people” is a formula wheeled out repeatedly in reality TV series such as From Pop Star to Opera Star and Maestro at the Opera.
London Mayor To Investigate Shortage Of Affordable Artist Studios
“London is home to almost two-thirds of all artists’ studios in the UK, the majority of which are concentrated in the boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, according to the most recent numbers compiled in the 2010 Cultural Metropolis report.”
Did The CIA Fund a Generation Of Creative Writing In America?
“What drew writers to Iowa was not the innate splendor of a spontaneously good idea. What drew writers to Iowa is what draws writers anywhere: money and hype, which tend to be less spontaneous than ideas. So where did the money and the hype come from?”
Broken Trust: College Sells Art For $25 Million To Benefit Its Endowment
“In selling the painting, the college disregarded the policies of several art and museum groups, which state that museums (including those run by colleges) should sell art only to buy more art, not to improve their finances.”
Funding Cuts In Canadian Theatre Spark Existential Debate
Almost all of the 117 English-language groups that were getting funding are seeing cuts – many as much as 7 per cent to 8 per cent – so that 11 new groups could be added to the list. What began as an exercise in the much-vaunted “generational renewal” is raising some hard questions about how thin the gruel can be spread.
How Fast Food Might Be Killing Our Attention Spans
Researchers at the University of Toronto investigated how fast food–which they call an “icon of time efficiency”–affects patience levels, and therefore our ability to “savor” the world around us.
Folio Prize Announces Inaugural Shortlist of Eight Books
“Born from frustrations with the Man Booker, the Folio chose eight writers from the US, Canada and Britain, all of whom ‘take risks’.”
A Child Sex Abuse Survivor Explains Why He Willingly Worked With Roman Polanski
Rafael Yglesias, who adapted Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden for Polanski to film, recounts his own ordeal and explains – with unusual clarity and eloquence – how it has affected his life. He goes on to explain why he gladly agreed to collaborate with Polanski despite the longstanding allegations against the director.
Only Publicly-Funded Theatre Could Have Created a Show Like Matilda
Dennis Kelly, who co-wrote the West End and Broadway hit, writes, “I know with absolute certainty that at that time no commercial producer would’ve gone near me. … If it was my money I wouldn’t have come near me either.”
José Manuel Carreño Era Begins at Ballet San Jose
“After 16 years as a highflier at New York’s famed American Ballet Theatre, José Manuel Carreño has landed a new role: trying to get the struggling Ballet San Jose back on its feet.”
Armenia’s National Opera Begins Strike Right Before Performance
Joining widespread and growing protests against a partial privatization of the national pension scheme, the staff and performers of the National Opera and Ballet Theater in Yerevan walked out just before curtain time. (in English)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.10.14
What Are the Arts For?
Source: CultureCrash | Published on 2014-02-10
Unconventional Partnerships: Let’s Have More
Source: Real Clear Arts | Published on 2014-02-11
New Trails for Traditions
Source: Dancebeat | Published on 2014-02-10
Shostakovich Decoded
Source: Unanswered Question | Published on 2014-02-11
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FCC Chairman Ponders A Move On Net Neutrality
Tom Wheeler “has yet to speak plainly about his plans to overcome the net neutrality decision. Critics say that in doing so he has hidden just how much power the F.C.C. had gained from the decision.”
Can Wikipedia Survive In an Increasingly Mobile World?
“The fact that people increasingly use the Internet with a smartphone, and only a smartphone, has disrupted television, books and news, among other things, and media companies have scrambled to adjust. Wikipedia, the world’s fifth-largest website, but one with a relatively minuscule operating budget, has been especially slow to adapt to a mobile world.”
Royal Ballet Cancels Ballet In Mid-Performance After Collision
“Natalia Osipova, who recently joined the Royal Ballet as a principal dancer, sustained a mild concussion on Saturday afternoon in a collision with a fellow dancer… The cancellation of a ballet is highly unusual, because a second cast or understudies are usually available to replace an injured dancer.”
New Data: Our TV-Watching Habits Are Changing Quickly
“In the past year, time-shifting of television content grew by almost two hours, averaging 13 hours per month, the study found. Viewers averaged nearly 134 hours of live TV viewing a month in 2013, down nearly three hours from 2012.”
European Parliament Supports New Rules For How Airlines Deal With Musical Instruments
The European Parliament has agreed to a revision of air passenger rights, which includes a reform that would mean air carriers “must accept smaller instruments into the passenger cabin” and “must clearly indicate the terms and conditions for the transport of larger instruments in the cargo hold”.
German Museum Cancels Balthus Show After Charges Of Pedophilia
In December, the German newspaper Die Zeit criticised the planned exhibition at the Essen museum, calling the images “documents of paedophile greed”.
Cultural Theorist Stuart Hall, 82
“Hall was always among the first to identify key questions of the age, and routinely sceptical about easy answers. A spellbinding orator and a teacher of enormous influence, he never indulged in academic point-scoring.”
The Evidence Mounts: Violent Video Games Influence Behavior
“Many real-world decisions require self-regulation of moral behavior. Our study indicates that playing violent video games can interfere with this ability.”
Why The New “Occupy Art” Meme On Facebook Is A Bad Idea
“In an attempt to liberate Facebook from ‘photos of lunch,’ that circa-2009 shorthand for all things annoying and self-promotional on the Internet, Facebook ‘occupiers’ are actually engaging in the exact same behavior — posting self-indulgent poems or images to show off how sophisticated they are.”
Matching “Mozart In The Jungle” Characters To Real-Life – Now The Guessing Begins
“Mozart in the Jungle” is a satirical, behind-the-scenes look at a fictional American orchestra. But the magnetic Rodrigo doesn’t feel fictional at all. In fact, he’s a dead ringer for Gustavo Dudamel.