The government’s recent proposal to cut funding for arts higher education by 50%, covering music, dance, drama and performing arts, art and design, media studies, and archaeology, appears somewhat contradictory. – The Conversation
A Theory Of Our Identities As Our Networked Selves
Some philosophers have pushed against such reductive approaches and argued for a framework that recognises the complexity and multidimensionality of persons. The network self view emerges from this trend. It began in the later 20th century and has continued in the 21st, when philosophers started to move toward a broader understanding of selves. Some philosophers propose narrative and anthropological views of selves. – Aeon
Six Stolen Roman Frescoes Returned To Pompeii
“Six fragments of wall frescoes stolen from the ruins of ancient Roman villas have been returned to Pompeii’s archaeological park after an investigation by Italy’s cultural protection police squad. Three of the relics, which date back to the first century AD, are believed to have been cut off the walls of two Roman villas in Stabiae, a historical site close to the main Pompeii excavations, in the 1970s before being exported illegally.” – The Guardian
Amazon Makes Deal To Lend Books Through The Digital Public Library of America
The deal represents a major step forward for the digital library market. Not only is Amazon Publishing finally making its digital content available to libraries, the deal gives libraries a range of models through which it can license the content, offering libraries the kind of flexibility librarians have long asked for from the major publishers. – Publishers Weekly
Why People Hate The Sound Of Their Own Voices
The discomfort we have over hearing our voices in audio recordings is probably due to a mix of physiology and psychology. For one, the sound from an audio recording is transmitted differently to your brain than the sound generated when you speak. – The Conversation
Veiled Threats: A New Sitcom About An All-Female Muslim Punk Band (?)
In We Are Lady Parts, “the stakes are high: can an extra guitarist give Lady Parts the edge they need to get out of playing in their bedrooms (and occasionally the halal butcher) and break into the toilet circuit?” (That’s British for the dive bar circuit.) “What follows is an exuberant exploration of female self-expression and sisterhood, complete with slapstick dream sequences, surreal puppet outtakes and tongue-in-cheek earworms performed by the cast.” – The Guardian
Critic And Comic: Sarah Silverman And AO Scott Talk About A Provocative Review
“This sounds corny, but that’s what I love about art, especially comedy. It’s not evergreen. It changes so much every time you return to it, and as the world changes and as hopefully you change. That’s how art can teach us, whether it’s good stuff or bad stuff, problematic or inspirational, it’s all the same.” – The New York Times
If You’re Incorporating ASL In Your Play, Please, Please Don’t Do These Things
Brian Cheslik, theatre teacher at the Texas School for the Deaf: “Please know that I am writing this from a place of love and support, in hopes of giving guidance for theatre educators and producers nationwide. While I wrote this to focus on theatre education in schools, these tips do apply to the entertainment industry in general, so you can substitute the word student for person, actor, or artist.” – American Theatre
Garth Drabinsky — Back On Broadway
“The show is produced by Garth H. Drabinsky, the Tony-winning producer behind Kiss of the Spider Woman, who was sentenced to seven years in a Canadian prison in 2009 for fraud and forgery. That sentence was reduced on appeal to five years. Drabinsky served 17 months before being released on parole in 2013. Subsequent US charges were dismissed in 2018, clearing the way for Drabinsky to resume work as a theatrical producer south of the border.” – Theatre Mania
Seeing How Musical Instruments Actually Get Made
“The process of making musical instrument is generally out of the public eye, and there’s often a mystique about how those particular tools-of-the-trade are created. During some idle hours of the long lockdown, I went deep down the YouTube rabbit hole and discovered scores of fascinating videos capturing all manner of fine artisans — luthiers, brass wranglers, wood turners, and more — exploring the alchemy of turning raw materials into the precision instruments musicians depend on to work their magic.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
Art Gensler, Who Founded World’s Largest Architectural Firm, Dead At 85
“Over the decades, Gensler’s firm has designed universities, hotels, sports stadia and universities, touching almost every part of the built environment. It has created corporate headquarters for the likes of Facebook, Burberry and Hyundai, and airports from Detroit, Michigan, to Incheon, South Korea. In the process, the company has grown into giant of global architecture, employing thousands of people at offices in 50 world cities.” – CNN
Asking The Museums That Have Benin Bronzes About Repatriation
“The contentious objects, known to have been looted from the Benin Royal Palace in 1897, are scattered across some of the most prominent museums the world over. … Artnet News reached out to 30 museums known to hold Benin bronzes to ask for an update on their position on restitution, and the status of objects in their collection.” Here are responses from 14 of them, from Vienna to Vancouver to Washington, DC. – Artnet
Actor Charles Grodin, 86
“[He] made his mark in both comedy and drama, onstage and on screen and as a writer and director. He often adopted a quirky style that could be simultaneously self-effacing and self-important. He was a master of the cringeworthy moment, when it wasn’t clear if he was being funny, naive or insulting — or a little of all three.” – The Washington Post
Newark’s Old Works Offloaded: NJ’s Most Prominent Art Museum Sells “Outdated” Outcasts Tomorrow
As part of her reinvention and rebranding of the Newark Museum (which, in 2019, added “of Art” to its name, even though it also includes science exhibits and a planetarium), its current director, Linda Harrison, less than three years into her tenure, appears to be running roughshod over its own policies, not to mention the AAMD’s deaccession guidelines. – Lee Rosenbaum
Words to live by: Don’t shoehorn grand opera
The return to the stage (though not their own) of the Met and of Opera Philadelphia, along with a streamed Aïda from the Paris Opera, have a few lessons for us. – David Patrick Stearns
London’s West End Reopens Yet Again, Hoping This Time Will Stick
There were two attempts in the second half of 2020 to start British theatres up after the pandemic lockdown, and both were quickly ended as COVID cases rose. “Monday’s comeback felt like it was actually permanent, 15 audience members said in interviews, many highlighting Britain’s speedy vaccination campaign as the reason for their optimism. (Over 55 percent of the British population has received at least one dose, a higher proportion than in the United States.)” – The New York Times
On The Rediscovery Of Black Composers Of The Past
“Black composers have been emerging over the past year at a dramatically accelerated pace that’s particularly rare amid the normally glacial progression of the classical music world. Young figures such as Valerie Coleman – whose highly appealing Seven O’Clock Shout for the Philadelphia Orchestra was an instant hit – shouldn’t be such a surprise, but what about figures from the past who aren’t around to give a living face to their respective musical outputs? And why are we only hearing about them now?” David Patrick Stearns considers the question. – Classical Voice North America