“Pack was host of KUER’s classical-music programming from 1960, when the station went on the air, to March 2001, when the station’s midday format was changed from classical music to all news and talk.” – The Salt Lake Tribune
A Sociologist Explores Explanations For Why Art By Men Gets Higher Prices Than Art By Women
“Who and what defines art and quality, which institutions matter and how they are accessed, who knows whom, whether advantage is accumulated from a prejudiced past, and where conscious and subconscious biases of culture interrupt economic valuation—these are the questions that sociologists ask to explain greatness. It is not a denial of quality, talent, innovation, or genius, but a way to contextualize them.” – Artsy
Oakland Ballet Needs a Home. Oakland’s Civic Center Needs A New Purpose. Is It A Match?
“We want this public asset used for the maximum public benefit. Not only is there a housing crisis, there’s also a crisis in terms of us being able to preserve culture.” – KQED
The Singing Nuns: In 17th-Century Italy, Convent Choirs Were Practically An Industry
“Music was really profitable for convents: it brought in money from the community, donating to hear mass on their behalf, while a great musical reputation brought in girls of higher status and wealth.” Cloistered life meant choirs sang together for many years, and while only aristocrats could hear the chapel choirs of royals and nobles, while anyone could listen to convent services — so the best nuns’ choirs became genuine tourist attractions. – Bachtrack
Why Are So Many Ancient Egyptian Statues Missing Only Their Noses?
It isn’t just the normal wear-and-tear of millennia; too many figures have their other features intact for that. In fact, it’s because of a particular set of Egyptian beliefs, and a particular type of iconoclasm that resulted. – Artsy
Museum Staffers Ask, If You Can Spend Millions On Expansions, Why Are You Underpaying Us?
“The most noteworthy example may be the New Museum, which is in the midst of an $85m expansion. Despite the institution’s progressive founding values, its staff have never been unionised — until now.” But there are others: MoMA (Manhattan and PS1), Vancouver Art Gallery, SFMoMA, etc. Jillian Steinhauer surveys the current lay of the land. – The Art Newspaper
Should We Just Get Rid Of The Nobel Prize In Literature?
There are last year’s scandals, the excessive secrecy, the ridiculously overdue reforms. (Only after the 2018 debacle did the Swedish Academy decide that it would expel any members with conflicts of interest or criminal investigations.) “The Nobel Prize in literature must become more transparent, more inclusive, and more positive,” argues Carrie Mullins, “or it risks being nothing at all.” – Electric Literature
UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund Has New Loan Program For Buying And Restoring Historic Buildings
“The £7m Heritage Impact Fund will provide charities, social enterprises and community businesses – which could include venue operators – with loans to help them deliver ‘positive economic and social impact’ through the re-use of heritage buildings. But the Theatres Trust … has expressed concerns about the viability of the fund for the theatre industry in particular.” – Arts Professional
The US Arts Economy Is Now Bigger Than Agriculture, Transportation
The arts generated 4.2% of the overall U.S. GDP, with roughly 4.9 million Americans working in the sector in 2015, the latest year for which data is available. Collectively, those employed in the sector earned over $370 billion, according to the findings. – Artsy
Edinburgh Fringe Teams Up With Kickstarter
As part of the collaboration, Kickstarter will offer a series of incentives to companies using the platform to crowdfund their show, including support for artists before and during the festival through online videos about fundraising and one-to-one coaching. – The Stage
Report: Despite Efforts, London’s Creative Workforce Has Failed To Diversify
Covering the breadth of the creative industries – from design, fashion and crafts to performing arts and TV – it notes there has been a 24% growth in creative jobs in London since 2012, but says 95% of workers still come from advantaged backgrounds. – Arts Professional
The Greatest Jazz Photo Ever?
The show that night was billed as the Thelonious Monk Trio. Monk, 35, was already a prolific composer and piano innovator, yet it would take a decade for his brilliance to be fully appreciated by mainstream America. The trio was rounded out by Charles Mingus, 31, on standup bass and the youngster Roy Haynes, a 28-year-old hotshot drummer everyone called “Snap Crackle.” – The New York Times
A New AI Tool To Predict Whether The Text You’re Reading Was Written By AI
Why do we need it? Automatically produced texts use language models derived from statistical analysis of vast corpuses of human-generated text to produce machine-generated texts that can be very hard for a human to distinguish from text produced by another human. These models could help malicious actors in many ways, including generating convincing spam, reviews, and comments — so it’s really important to develop tools that can help us distinguish between human-generated and machine-generated texts. – Boing Boing
Talent Agency Endeavor Returns $400 Million To Saudis
Just a year ago, talent agency Endeavor helped throw a huge, splashy party to celebrate Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. “The soiree, with guests including the Disney chief executive Robert A. Iger, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the former N.B.A. star Kobe Bryant, took place as Saudi Arabia’s government investment fund was completing an agreement to invest $400 million in Mr. Emanuel’s firm.” Then, in October, journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. – The New York Times
At The End Of Its Run, An Oral History Of Twentieth Century Fox
As Fox’s film and television operations (not including Fox News and Sports, or the lot itself) prepare to go to Disney, “The Los Angeles Times spoke to dozens of actors, executives and other Fox veterans to reminisce about the studio’s 106-year legacy, its family atmosphere, its moguls, its filmmakers and the magic they made.” – Los Angeles Times
Tracing A Passion For Theatre To The Performance That Sparked It All
Theatre can be magical, yes – but if you work in the theatre,”it’s easy to forget what compelled us into the profession in the first place. It can be lost amid the realities of the job at hand, chasing the next opportunity and our familiarity with the things that enthralled us once upon a time. It is also easy to forget what a personal experience theatre can be, where actors walk out of stage doors every night to waiting fans. It’s an experience that cannot be replicated by movies and television.” – The Stage (UK)
Gillian Freeman, Writer Of The Groundbreaking Novel And Movie ‘The Leather Boys,’ Has Died At 89
She published the novel in 1961 under the pen name Eliot George, and then the “three years later, when Ms. Freeman wrote the screenplay for a film of the same title, she used her real name. (The opening credits said Ms. Freeman’s screenplay was based on the novel by Eliot George.)” – The New York Times
Music Programs In England’s State Schools Have Dropped 21 Percent In Five Years
It’s bad – and far worse in poorer areas. “One in five primary school teachers reported there was no regular music lesson for their class, and only 12% of schools in deprived areas have an orchestra, compared with 85% of independent schools.” – BBC
Making Dance After Merce
Celebrations of Merce Cunningham’s choreography (and life) spread across the globe this year, cand horeographers who were part of his company at some point are dealing with “the anxiety of influence” as they make works for the celebrations. Four of the choreographers “spoke of Cunningham’s example as a life-changing liberation. They all spoke of gratitude and ambivalence.” – The New York Times
Action on diversity, instead of talk
Stuart Murphy isn’t hiring consultants, just making immediate change at the English National Opera. – Greg Sandow
Mexican Cinema And TV Have A Long History Of Making Fun Of Indigenous People
Last week’s utter foolishness over Oscar-nominated Roma star Yalitza Aparicio (Yeka Rosales, a TV personality for the Mexican-based Televisa network wore a prosthetic nose and thick lips to make fun of Aparicio) isn’t new to Mexico. In fact, one professor says the mocking of indigenous peoples is “as old as film” – Los Angeles Times
Some Directors Get A Second Chance With The Same Movie
No, not with director’s cuts, but with literal remakes of their own earlier movies. “For the studio heads tasked with squeezing as much money out of the project as possible, it’s a can’t-fail proposition even safer than sanding off all of a foreign hit’s edges to prep it for Stateside viewers.” – The Guardian (UK)
Artists In Argentina Join Protest On International Women’s Day
Violence against women and girls, and lack of access to abortion services, led the list of things activists and artists were protesting. The artists – a group known as Nosotras Proponemos – focused on inequalities in the arts last year, but this year widened their focus to safety for women and girls in Argentina. They created a huge green braid to snake through the protests as they were “singing joyfully, hoping for ‘the patriarchy to go down and Latin America to be feminist.'” – Hyperallergic
The Next Big Tech Battle Will Be Between Apple And Facebook
And it will be about messaging. For more than a decade, they didn’t compete: “People bought iPhones, downloaded Facebook and Instagram, and spent large chunks of time on those social networks, while using Apple’s native apps for calling and texting. Facebook made money from the targeted ads in people’s feeds. Apple made money on the hardware, while its software kept users loyal.” – Slate
The Music For ‘Captain Marvel’ Is Also Woman-Composed And Led
Pinar Toprak was the first woman to score a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, a brass ring that she won after an extraordinary effort: “I went and hired a 70-piece orchestra and did a big production of it so that they could see me in front of the orchestra conducting, and I did another video inside my studio where I talked about the character and the theme.” – Vulture