Just last week, L.A. MoCA announced that it will eliminate admission charges; earlier this year, MoCA Cleveland did the same thing, while Toronto’s AGO made itself free for visitors under 25. Other cities have made their museums free for limited groups such as public benefits recipients or library card holders. Many museum administrators now find themselves torn between the public library model (“where you can walk in for free and learn something”) and “a gut feeling that people value things more when they have to pay for it.” – The New York Observer
Where Everybody Knows Your Name: The Art Of The Regular Patron
“No matter the establishment — cafe, trattoria, dive bar, coffeehouse, doughnut shop, pharmacy, even — those who make themselves permanent fixtures almost all say the same thing about what makes a regular. When they walk in, the people behind the counter know who they are.” – The New York Times
Legacy: IM Pei’s Remarkable Concert Hall
Scott Cantrell: “Thirty years later, week after week, I still marvel at the acoustics of my favorite modern symphony hall — maybe my favorite of any age. The sound seems a physical, tactile presence in the room; one senses it moving around, expanding and exploring and inhabiting spaces both seen and unseen.” – Dallas News
Why Do Artists Get Exploited? (Hey – Work For Free!) New Study Explores The Causes
On one hand, passion for one’s work can lead to greater satisfaction. But the researchers’ new paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “Understanding Contemporary Forms of Exploitation: Attributions of Passion Serve to Legitimize the Poor Treatment of Workers,” lays bare the unique ways passionate workers can be taken advantage of in a culture that encourages us to find our life’s calling at work. – KQED
Libraries Have Indeed Become Our New Community Centers
Libraries step in to fill gaps and offer help when normal channels are inaccessible. Pima County, Arizona, pays for a team of nurses to come to the library to help with medical questions for those who can’t or won’t go to a hospital, clinic, or doctor. In Charleston, West Virginia, librarians told me that they have launched searches for people to research health issues or concerns. In some libraries, librarians have Narcan training. – The Atlantic
In Praise Of Attending The Arts By Yourself
When it comes to fun activities done in public – having a drink in a bar, going to the opera – being alone becomes socially loaded. And it runs deep: entire Reddit forums are dedicated to the question of going to the movies alone. – The Guardian
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unbuilt Projects Turned Into 3D Images
Spanish architect David Romero, has been using advanced techniques of 3-D representation over the last few years to transform those visions into images so detailed they almost look like contemporary photographs. – CityLab
Daniel Libeskind On Making Art At Auschwitz
The artist/architect, whose parents survived the Holocaust (though more than a dozen aunts, uncles and cousins did not), talks to Tim Teeman about Through the Lens of Faith: Auschwitz, an installation he opens this summer at the death camp-turned-museum and his work at the Ground Zero site in New York. – The Daily Beast
San Francisco Museums Offer Free Admission This Summer To All City Residents Receiving Public Assistance
“The program,” called San Francisco Museums for All and involving 15 institutions, “will run June 1 to September 2, with no limit to the number of institutions or times eligible participants can visit.” – Hyperallergic
I Tweeted As Susan Sontag
Starting in January 2018, Rebecca Brill started sending out short excerpts from Sontag’s published diaries on Twitter every day. And what happens when one does this? “You will start talking about Susan Sontag incessantly. You will bring her up at meetings … and in chats with your favorite bartender. … As hard as you try to refrain, you will constantly quote Susan Sontag’s journals and notebooks on dates. … You will not get many second dates. Another thing is that you will have trolls.” – Literary Hub
Detroit Opera House To Get A High-Rise Built On Top Of It
Michigan Opera Theatre has issued a Request For Proposals to developers for a tower up to 480 feet high that “may include mixed use, corporate, residential, restaurants, retail, etc.” – Crain’s Detroit Business
Broadway Adaptation Of ‘Magic Mike’ Suspended Following Exodus Of Show’s Writers
“The musical has canceled its [preview] engagement at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, which was supposed to start this November. … Magic Mike: The Musical‘s writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, composer Tom Kitt, and lyricist Brian Yorkey recently left the production over ‘creative differences’ just before a developmental workshop that was supposed to take place earlier this month.” – Vulture
Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer To Depart In 2022
When the Swiss conductor, now 61, steps down, he’ll have been at the orchestra’s helm for 13 years. The end of his contract term coincides with that of the musicians’ labor agreement. – The Salt Lake Tribune
Should Rio De Janeiro Commemorate Its History Of Slavery Or Move On From It? No One Seems To Be Able To Decide
“For some, commemorating slavery is a vital part of addressing contemporary injustices. For others, it is a distraction [from those injustices]” and other pressing problems. The debate is playing out (again) over the remains of the wharf where slave ships arrived. – The Economist
Trying To Combat Trolls, Rotten Tomatoes Changes Its Audience Rating Scoring
The site’s standard user rating will now reflect only moviegoers who can prove they’ve bought a ticket to see it in a theater. – Variety
Philanthropy Fail: How Museums Got Hammered at the Major Spring Auctions
“The evening Impressionist/Modern and Contemporary sales at Christie’s this month felt like a bit of a throwback to the old days when more museum-quality works graced the sale catalogues.” – Lee Rosenbaum
A Few Recent Releases
The staff gauged the rate at which the postwoman is depositing new releases in the Rifftides mailbox and decided that we should pick up the pace of telling you about some of them. – Doug Ramsey
Hollywood Has Spent Lots Of Money Setting Up Production Facilities In Georgia. With Controversy Over Abortion Laws, Will The Studios Back Away?
“Georgia’s recent passage of a highly restrictive abortion law has turned its once cozy relationship with Tinsel Town into a fraught one, and put Hollywood’s liberal politics on a collision course with its own economic interests in the state. … But the industry’s response to the law has been far from unified. There have been pledges to boycott Georgia and promises to stay. Most strikingly, there has been near total silence from top studio brass.” – The New York Times
Actor Geoffrey Rush Wins Largest Defamation Payout Ever Awarded In Australia
A federal court in Sydney ordered that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. must pay the Oscar winner A$1.98 million (US$1.36 million) compensation for economic loss on top of the A$850,000 (US$584,000) in punitive damages awarded in April for a Sydney Daily Telegraph story accusing Rush of “inappropriate behaviour” towards the actress playing Cordelia to his King Lear at the Sydney Theatre Co. in 2015. (Rush had earlier offered to settle for A$50,000; News Corp. rejected the offer.) – Reuters