“Politics has always been present in French humour. But standup brought forward a whole population left out by the system – the poor, uneducated sons and daughters of immigrants.” – The Guardian
‘I Was In ‘Riverdance’ — A Dance Critic Fesses Up
Siobhan Burke: “Divulging this information has never been simple, not during the four and a half years I spent touring, on and off, with the Irish dance extravaganza, and not in the decade since I last set foot onstage with the show. … The mere sight of a Riverdance billboard … fills me with an uneasy mix of affection and anxiety, embarrassment and pride.” – The New York Times
What’s The Hot New Sustainable Building Material? Stone!
“‘Stone,’ says architect Amin Taha, ‘is the great forgotten material of our time. In 99% of cases, it’s cheaper and greener to use stone in a structural way, as opposed to concrete or steel, but we mostly just think of using it for cladding.'” – The Guardian
Think NEA Funding Is Safe? It Still Needs Defending
The Heritage Foundation is still promoting its 1997 report authored by “distinguished fellow” Laurence Jarvik, titled “Ten Good Reasons to Eliminate Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts,” as the definitive source on “why there is no need for the federal government to be spending your money on these programs.” It remains a go-to reference in debates today, and its language has sunk into the ground water of conservative argument about the NEA—which is, after all, the job of a conservative think tank. – Artnet
Global Art Sales Down 5 Percent In 2019
Trade conflicts between the US and China, political unrest in Hong Kong and a protracted Brexit all contributed to a 5% dip in the global art market, which totalled $64.1 billion in 2019. – The Art Newspaper
Iran To Imprison Director Who Just Won Golden Bear At Berlin Film Festival
“Mohammad Rasoulof’s [one-year] sentence came from three films he made that authorities found to be ‘propaganda against the system,’ his lawyer [said]. … Rasoulof [received] the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize for his film There Is No Evil. The film tells four stories loosely connected to the use of the death penalty in Iran and dealing with personal freedom under tyranny.” – Yahoo! (AP)
Patricia Barretto, CEO Of Chicago’s Harris Theater, Dead At 45
After a career spent largely in Toronto, most recently running the city’s Opera Atelier, Barretto came to the Harris as a marketer in 2015 and became CEO in 2017. One of her “singular achievements … was her ability to marry the needs (and the calendar) of the Harris’ fleet of resident companies, part of the original mission of the initially troubled theater, with her wish to expand the so-called Harris Theater Presents series of high-profile but risky [international touring] presentations.” – Chicago Tribune
Sheri Greenawald, Longtime Leader Of San Francisco Opera’s Young Artist Programs, To Retire
“Greenawald’s position has put her in charge of both phases of the San Francisco Opera’s training wing, which attracts young opera singers from around the world. Each summer, around 30 artists show up for [the] Merola [Opera Program], an intensive 11-week residency. Then a handful of them go on to become Adler Fellows, getting instruction and coaching and taking smaller roles on the main stage of the War Memorial Opera House.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Portlanders Hate The City’s Arts Tax. So Do Portland’s Major Arts Organizations
The $35 annual levy passed in a 2012 referendum by 62% to 38%; now its unpopularity is a running joke in town. Regular taxpayers don’t like it because it was badly designed and implemented, but why don’t the likes of Portland Center Stage, Oregon Ballet Theatre, the Portland Art Museum, Portland Opera and the Oregon Symphony? For a start, it turns out they’re now getting less funding from the city than they were before the tax was there. – Willamette Week (Portland)
Henry Cobb, Architect Who ‘Designed Modern Boston’ And Longtime Business Partner Of I.M. Pei, Dead At 93
Co-founder of the firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Cobb did have well-known buildings in other cities: Place Ville-Marie (Montreal), Fountain Place (Dallas), the U.S. Bank Tower (Los Angeles), Torre Espacio (Madrid), the International African American Museum (opening next year in Charleston). But he made his biggest mark in his hometown, with the Moakley Courthouse, Harbor Towers, One Dalton, and, most famously, the John Hancock Tower. – The Boston Globe
Louvre Reopens Following Coronavirus Strike
“Since Sunday, the Louvre’s staff had been refusing to work, fearful they might catch the coronavirus from someone among the museum’s more than 30,000 daily visitors. … The museum’s management, its doctor and staff representatives met throughout Tuesday to consider measures to protect workers from the virus, and employees voted Wednesday morning to accept them.” – The New York Times
Simon & Schuster Up For Sale
It is unclear how much ViacomCBS, which has owned the publisher for more than 25 years, might fetch from the sale. Book publishing is no longer a growth business but its revenue has been relatively stable in recent years. Simon & Schuster has some of the world’s most recognizable authors, including Mary Higgins Clark, Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough. – Los Angeles Times
Calls To Cancel SXSW; Concert Industry Shudders
This was going to be one of the busiest summers ever for festivals and stadium shows, so any disruption is going to have an impact,” said Dave Brooks, senior director of live and touring for Billboard. “If there are cancellations, and if it’s a down year for the industry, [top concert promoters] Live Nation and AEG could probably weather it, but it could be a death knell for some independent promoters.” – Los Angeles Times
How Quickly Rome Collapsed Under Coronavirus
“I had not noticed anything strange, but then I walked through the historic center, and it hit me: in the past few weeks, as the virus spread, the city emptied out. The crowds lining up to enter the Colosseum or visit the Forum have thinned; the mobs throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain or climbing the Spanish Steps have all but vanished; restaurants and bars usually overflowing with patrons are almost vacant. It is customary, of course, to lament the phenomenon of mass tourism in Italy; even the tourists themselves grumble and dream (as I do) of how nice it would be to visit the Sistine Chapel in solitary splendor. But the actual effect of the emptying out, at least for the current reason, is terrifying.” – The New Yorker
Publishers Pull Out Of Emerald City ComicCon In Seattle Over Coronavirus Fears
The event drew 98,000 attendees last year and, as COVID-19 spreads in Washington state, many are worried that a large public setting such as ECCC may be a breeding ground for infection. Notably, in 2009, PAX, a video gaming convention in Seattle, spread H1N1 virus, or swine flu, to at least 100 attendees. Washington’s Department of Health has already advised people, especially people over 60, to stay away from large gatherings. Yet, ECCC is still happening. – The Stranger
The Show Must Go On – How Performers Are Adapting During Coronavirus
While the coronavirus has taken a big toll on the arts world in terms of closed venues and canceled events, it has also spurred plenty of show-must-go-on creativity in some of the hardest-hit areas, as performers and organizations have tried to adapt to trying circumstances. – The New York Times
London Book Fair Canceled Over COVID Fears
The event was already set to be a ghost town when it opened its doors, after publishers and rights agencies began withdrawing en masse over the last week. Some of the world’s biggest, including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and Hachette had already pulled out, as had Amazon and a host of literary agencies including Curtis Brown. – The Guardian
Misplaced Priorities? We’re Studying “The Brain” But Not People
The more we learn about genetics and the brain, the more impossibly complicated both reveal themselves to be. We have picked no low-hanging fruit after three decades and $50 billion because there simply is no low-hanging fruit to pick. The human brain has around 86 billion neurons, each communicating with thousands of others via hundreds of chemical modulators, leading to trillions of potential connections. No wonder it reveals its secrets only very gradually and in piecemeal fashion. – Aeon