“The departure of Colin Bailey, director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco since June 2013, to become director of the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan. throws FAMSF back into a quandary, if not a crisis, of leadership. … Most museum directors who change jobs in less than two years’ time leave under a cloud of dissension or discontent, but Bailey told The Chronicle by phone that he had not been looking for a job elsewhere.”
Surely You Can’t Be Serious: An Oral History Of “Airplane!”
“Yes, we’re serious. And don’t call us Shirley.” The three writer-directors and several cast members give their memories of life on the set.
The American-Born Ballerina Dancing For $8 A Day At The Kremlin
“When she left the Bolshoi in 2013, [Joy] Womack joined the Kremlin Ballet Theatre where she still works, aged 20, as a principal ballerina; dancing close to the Russian president’s office, next to the cathedrals inside the red walls of the Kremlin.”
Talking About ‘Resilience’ In Theatre Can Lead To Bad Ends
“We are so reliant on the resilience narrative that it has become our intuitive response to every event, from audience development to fundraising to how we generate our creative work. This is a terrifying trend for the practice and production of contemporary theatre.”
Why Is Western Orientalist Art Making A Comeback?
“The rise of modernism rendered the Orientalists old-fashioned; later on, the fall of the European empires and the rise of cultural criticism made them politically incorrect. But now Orientalist art is having something of a comeback.”
Author Louise Erdrich Uses Art To Create A Reading Where She Doesn’t Have To Be There
“The show, ‘Asynchronous Reading,’ features several telephones placed throughout the gallery, each offering a different message. As one woman picked up a vintage telephone and listened intently, Erdrich couldn’t help but smile.”
Did The Artists’ Boycott Of The Sydney Biennale Do Any Good? (And Many More Questions For A Curator/Artist)
Peter Nelson: “Obviously it didn’t change anything in terms of government policy – mandatory detention still exists. I think we’ll have a better way of seeing how all this stuff all plays out in 10 years time.”
Should Media Pay For Using ‘Citizen News’ Photos And Video?
“News stations benefit financially from videos like Santana’s, so why shouldn’t the people who shot them?”
A Day In The Life Of A Los Angeles Graffiti Buster [VIDEO]
“Larry Bender has spent 20 years covering up graffiti in and around the L.A. area. He’s a professional ‘graffiti buster,’ splattered in paint, who drives around the city on the lookout for tags.”
The Dance World Is Suffering From A Shortage Of Tutu Makers (For Real)
“Many opera and ballet companies employ stitchers on a freelance basis, making it an unattractive career choice for fashion graduates. And unlike general tailoring, which leading fashion houses now outsource to China, tutu-making is so specialised that it can’t be done on the cheap on the other side of the world.”
The Guy Who Became The Most Famous Musician In Children’s Music
“Polisar went home and wrote a song about a mean teacher. Then teachers at other schools heard about the mean teacher song and asked him to come sing it. Then he wrote some more songs. Then more schools called. And so it went, until he had enough music to make two albums by the time he graduated and enough gigs to forget about teaching and try music for a living.”
Kenneth Branagh Sets Up New Theatre Company With Judi Dench, Lily James, Rob Brydon
Also, the guy who plays Robb Stark on Game of Thrones. “The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company will take up residency at London’s Garrick Theatre for a year in October. The Cinderella director said he wanted ‘to have a creative home where you could do a programme of work, rather than just one-offs'”
Why Did Somebody Steal Einstein’s Brain?
“While Einstein’s bones (and most of the rest of his body) were cremated and his ashes scattered at a secret spot on the Delaware River, in accordance with his wishes, his gray matter took a different course. Thomas Harvey, the pathologist who performed Einstein’s autopsy at Princeton Hospital in New Jersey in 1955, took a bone saw to Einstein’s famous cranium, then a chisel, and snipped out the century’s most famous brain. Then he kept it.”
Shock Move: London National Theatre Executive Director Suddenly Quits Six Months Into The Job
Announcing her resignation, Tessa Ross said only one person should be in charge. “It has become clear to me that the new leadership structure, with a separate role of chief executive, is not right for the NT at this time,” she said.
The Words Used On Food Packaging Are Orwellian At Worst, Misleading At Best
“Food-packet rhetoric, like most advertising, is mainly in the business of selling nice feelings. Especially on-trend these days is an ersatz, kitschy friendliness. On a bar of chocolate, for example, the manufacturers boast that “we use only the finest quality organic beans from our friends in the Dominican Republic”. (Isn’t it nice that they are friends?)”
Two New Books Claim Le Corbusier Was An Active Fascist
Both books—Xavier de Jarcy’s Le Corbusier, un fascisme francais (Albin Michel, 2015), and Francois Chaslin Un Corbusier (Seuil, 2015)—claim the architect was active in several fascist groups in France beginning in the 1920s, but did a good job of keeping his involvement under wraps.
Do We Have Too Many Music Festivals?
They are a rite of summer, a reminder of the changing season and of the changing sound of young America (and sometimes older America). But how much festival is too much festival?