New research by a British linguistic anthropologist, Gordon Whittaker, is revealing for the first time that the Aztecs’ hieroglyphic writing system was one of the most sophisticated scripts that humanity has ever produced. – The Independent (UK)
The Paris Opera “Aida” That Got Caught Up In The Culture Wars
Verdi’s 1871 tragedy, a love story set in a time of war between ancient Egypt and Ethiopia, is often given the treatment of a “Cleopatra”-like costume drama. But de Beer, who will become the director of the Vienna Volksoper next year, has offered a version so unusual that its Aida, the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, pleaded on Instagram before opening night for her fans to “open your minds to something completely different.” – The New York Times
What Does Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Bill Have For The Arts?
“The relief bill includes $470 million earmarked for cultural organizations, with $135 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and $200 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The bulk of the NEA and NEH funding — 60 percent — is set aside for direct grants and relevant administrative expenses for programming related to the pandemic. The rest will go to state arts agencies and regional arts organizations to help support local institutions and nonprofits.” – Artnet
Embracing Ambivalence
Even though ambivalence is a common experience, as a concept it’s frequently misunderstood. It doesn’t mean that you don’t care about something or that you’re indifferent. Ambivalence refers to the presence of strong feelings, but in opposition. You love your parents but find them annoying. Your successful colleague inspires you, but you also envy her. – Psyche
UK Theatre’s Darkest Year
Ridiculous as it might seem now, eight to 10 weeks was initially discussed as a likely closure period. The more pessimistic were talking about the summer of 2020. – The Stage
Boston Lyric Opera Chief To Depart
Esther Nelson added a fourth live performance to the BLO’s season, using the extra production to highlight contemporary works by both up-and-coming as well as established composers. Through the “Opera Annex” initiative, the BLO brought opera out of the traditional theater space and into the world, holding productions inside a temple in Brookline, the JFK Library and Museum in Dorchester, Back Bay’s Park Plaza Castle, and the Steriti Memorial Rink in Boston’s North End, among other locations. – WBUR
Eight Consequential Inventions Of Literature
“Project Narrative is the world’s leading academic think tank for the study of stories, and in our research labs, with the help of neuroscientists and psychologists from across the globe, we’ve uncovered dozens more literary inventions in Zhou Dynasty lyrics, Italian operas, West African epics, classic children’s books, great American novels, Agatha Christie crime fictions, Mesoamerican myths, and even Hollywood television scripts.” – Smithsonian
Hindu Supremacists Force Shutdown Of Indian Theatre Festival
“The annual theatre festival organised by the Indian People’s Theatre Association in the small town of Chhatarpur became the object of abuse and violent threats by Bajrang Dal, a hardline Hindu group linked with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). The festival has been running since 2015, with theatre groups from across India taking part in plays and workshops over five days. However, this year Bajrang Dal began a campaign, accusing the organisers of programming ‘anti-national’ and ‘anti-Hindu’ plays, despite only knowing the titles.” – The Guardian
For Digital “Creators” Everything Is For Sale
“Tens of millions of people around the globe consider themselves creators, and the creator economy represents the “fastest-growing type of small business,” according to a 2020 report by the venture capital firm SignalFire. But as the market gets more and more competitive — and the platforms and their algorithms remain unreliable — creators are devising new, hyper-specific revenue streams.” – The New York Times
Inside The Implosion Of ‘Reply All’: Where The Fallout Fell
The conflict over the podcast’s, and producing company Gimlet Media’s, diversity and equity problems unfolded amidst a fraught unionization campaign and negotiations for the acquisition of Gimlet by Spotify. While important steps have been taken as a result of the controversy, there’s been some collateral damage. – The New York Times
The Implosion of ‘Reply All’ And How Gimlet Media Went Awry
When Reply All, Gimlet’s tentpole podcast, began airing a four-part series about the reportedly unhealthy and racially exclusionary workplace atmosphere at Bon Appétit magazine, former Gimlet employees began accusing the company itself of those very problems, and the series was abruptly pulled. Reporter Nicholas Quah investigates, finding that Gimlet’s problems, especially regarding exploitation and equity are fairly typical of fast-growing startups, especially when the founders and early employees all come from the same small industry (public radio). – Vulture
How Amazon Blocks Libraries From Lending E-Books
Librarians have been no match for the beast. When authors sign up with a publisher, it decides how to distribute their work. With other big publishers, selling e-books and audiobooks to libraries is part of the mix — that’s why you’re able to digitally check out bestsellers like Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land.” Amazon is the only big publisher that flat-out blocks library digital collections. – Washington Post
Men Dancing En Pointe: Why Should Only The Women Get To Do It?
Dancing on the tips of the toes has always been part of the ballerina mystique; traditionally, men have done it only for comedy. Now there’s a crop of male ballet dancers who are taking pointe work seriously, and they want the rest of us to take it seriously, too. – The Guardian
San Francisco Opera Costume Shop Creates Sing-Safe COVID Masks
The opera’s wardrobe team crafted the mask from materials used in making its corsets — with a billowy shape aimed at allowing ample room for singers to belt out song, while tightly sealing in aerosols that could potentially spread the virus. – NBC
Yahoo News Is On TikTok? Yes, And It Has Over A Million Followers
Yahoo may be seen by much of the minivideo app’s Gen Z core audience as a dinosaur, but Yahoo News has been on TikTok for only a year and is now the third most popular news outlet on the platform, ahead of CBS and NBC News and The Washington Post. The Yahoo News account’s bio reads “Yes, we still exist.” Sarah Scire reports on how the project got started and how its producers make it work. – Nieman Lab
How The Arts Can Be A Tool In Community Wealth-Building
“Too often, arts-based approaches undermine rather than support equity, as Richard Florida … now acknowledges. … How does one ensure arts-based development avoids this outcome and instead promotes equity?” One of the final reports from ArtPlace America (a ten-year, multi-institutional project researching creative placemaking that ran from 2010 to 2020) offers some promising case studies. – Nonprofit Quarterly
These Fragments Were Dismissed As Fake 140 Years Ago. Were They Actually The Oldest Surviving Biblical Manuscript?
An antiquities dealer in Jerusalem came forward in 1883 with what he claimed were fragments of the original book of Deuteronomy. After scholars at the time pronounced them forgeries, the dealer committed suicide and the fragments eventually disappeared. Now a scholar, working with old photos and transcriptions of the fragments, argues that they are an early (and somewhat different) version of the last book of Moses and that they date from before the Babylonian Exile. – The New York Times
Netherlands Is Creating Master Blueprint For Returning Artworks Looted From Colonies
” On 29 January, the government of prime minister Mark Rutte became the first in Europe to approve a central mechanism for repatriating colonial loot. … Now, a research consortium of nine museums and Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit is preparing to launch a €4.5m project in June that will develop practical guidance for museums on colonial collections.” – The Art Newspaper
Angry French Arts Workers Occupy Theatres, Demanding Reopening
“Theatres, cinemas, museums and other cultural spaces have been shut since France’s last full lockdown in October, and … thousands marched in cities across France last Thursday to demand they reopen with social distancing. The Paris march ended with around 50 people forcing their way into the shuttered Odeon Theatre and refusing to leave. Similar actions were seen on Tuesday at two other major theatres — the Colline in eastern Paris and the National Theatre of Strasbourg — and there have been similar protests at venues in Pau, Nantes and Chateauroux.” – Yahoo! (AFP)
Hollywood Made Out Big Time In The Stock Market
A month before “meme stocks” like GameStop and AMC Entertainment took flight and captured the public imagination, many of the world’s entertainment giants were the beneficiaries of a nine-figure windfall driven by retail trader enthusiasm. – The Hollywood Reporter
What Has An Entire Year Lost To The Pandemic Done To Top Ballet Pros?
“In ballet when you lose a year, you lose a lot. It takes years of sacrifice and training to become a professional, and the performing life of a dancer is short. For elite ballet dancers, a solid career lasts around 15 years — and that comes after roughly a decade of schooling. Could this pause alter the evolution of dance generations?” Gia Kourlas talks with New York City Ballet principal Ashley Bouder. City Ballet apprentice Savannah Durham, and ABT principal James Whiteside. – The New York Times
Hollywood Stars, The Theater Needs Your Help!
“In one of the more surprising revelations of the shutdown, it turns out that the American theater has no towering figure even attempting to lead it through this crisis, the way Andrew Lloyd Webber has in Britain. … In such a scarily perplexing time, there is no one to rally the troops, let alone do what I’m hoping you will: Make the theater’s case to the culture at large. You, with your incandescent charm, would be brilliant at that. Even though, in some ways, it’s a very tough sell.” – The New York Times