Andrea Smardon: “To answer these questions, I talked with innovative producers who are working on projects that attempt to bridge political and cultural divides. This work is going on across public broadcasting — at local stations, by independent producers and at national organizations such as NPR and StoryCorps. Few journalists view themselves as ‘healers,’ but everyone I talked with agreed that public media does have a unique role to play in this moment.” – Current
Richard Lariviere Has Steered Chicago’s Field Museum Through Some Pretty Rough Waters
When he became CEO of the city’s natural history museum in 2012, it was in enough financial trouble that its debt was on the verge of being downgraded. Then there was the “cringeworthy” Native North America Hall. Now that hall is being reworked with input from Native Americans, the debt is steady, attendance is up, and the endowment has grown by 45% to $435 million. – Crain’s Chicago Business
National Academy Of Design In New York Will Not Be Reopening Its Museum
“After years of financial crises, shifting leadership and painful internal debate about its future, the National Academy closed its museum, separated from its school and began selling off its Manhattan properties in 2016.” Says one of the organization’s co-chairs, “The National Academy became the thing that devoured itself. The museum and school were draining all the resources. There wasn’t any money for the programmes that would actually improve the academicians’ lives.” – The Art Newspaper
The Poetry Slam Comes To Dubai
Two Dubai-resident Sudanese who met at a poetry event in Abu Dhabi (because there was no such thing in Dubai) have joined forces to open Blank Space, where they’ve basically created a spoken-poetry scene in the city. – Gulf News
At This Ballet School, They Are Empowering Their Students With Important Life Skills
“The after-school program at the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet in South Miami … provides ballet, reading, math and etiquette classes along with access to mental health professionals. The program delivers professionally taught dance classes in multiple genres, at little or no cost to 500 students ages 5-11.” – Miami Herald
Brazilians Face The Fact That Their Greatest Writer Was Black
“The traditional historical photo of [Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis] shows a man whose skin is nearly as light as his crisp white dress shirt. … Machado was known to be the descendant of freed slaves, but the new rendering, which shows him as a black man, has shaken Brazilians, prompting some to reconsider how they previously read his work and angering others who feel his legacy had been whitewashed.” – The New York Times
Once Again, An Errant Tweet Is The Last Straw: Director Of Berlin Jewish Museum Resigns
“Pressure had been mounting against the director, Peter Schäfer, over what critics said was an inappropriately political stance for the head of a cultural institution tasked with explaining Jewish traditions, history and art. … But it was a post by the museum’s Twitter account last week that sparked the backlash that Mr. Schäfer could no longer withstand.” – The New York Times
‘It’s Our Turn’ — Terence Blanchard’s New Opera Is Rooted In Black Experience
“Terence Blanchard knows from experience that an opera that sounds and looks different from the classic repertory can bring new audiences to an old art form. ‘An elderly African American man came up to me’ after a performance of Blanchard’s jazz-infused opera Champion in 2013, the trumpeter/bandleader recalled, ‘and he said: Man, if this is opera, I will come.’ With his latest magnum opus” — Fire Shut Up In My Bones, based on the memoir of New York Times columnist Charles Blow — “Blanchard wants to continue changing popular perceptions about opera — particularly, what stories it can tell, and who does the telling.” – St. Louis Public Radio
Edinburgh International Festival Faces Big Cuts
The proposal would mean the EIF has taken a 19.4% cut in its funding since 2015/16. EIF director Fergus Linehan questioned the lack of a strategic plan for the festival, which took £3.8 million in ticket sales in 2018. Linehan told The Stage: “There has been 10 years of decline and now this is accelerated decline. So what is the plan?” – The Stage
Addicted To Your Phone? Unlikely – It’s Likely Social Norms…
The distinction is critical: Whereas addiction is something people experience mostly as individuals, social norms are shared mental states shaped by the views and beliefs of other members of the society and by our subjective perceptions of those beliefs. – Fast Company
Baltimore Symphony’s Financial Situation Was Much Worse Than Outsiders Knew
Financial documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun and interviews with three of the symphony’s key decision-makers reveal that the organization’s efforts were predicated on the thinnest of margins — and wishful thinking. – Baltimore Sun
Why Short Stories Are More Creative
The short story is on a huge upwards trajectory, yet attitudes persist that collections can’t be as successful as novels. To be fair, most of those prehistoric views emanate from London rather than Ireland or the US. After all, it was we Irish who exported the short story to the US in the first place, and it’s our biggest cultural legacy – next to the Irish bar, of course. – Irish Times
Pilobolus: A Shadow Of Itself?
Brian Seibert: “It all feels, in the end, like what it is: a late-generation copy. After a five-year absence, the fungus is still alive but not showing many signs of growth. ” – The New York Times
Cuba’s Tiny Movie “Palaces”
During Cuba’s Special Period, a time of deprivation following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many cinemas closed due to lack of funding, so the state opened small “video rooms” to screen movies on VHS. For mere pennies, Cubans across the island can enjoy a day at the movies. It’s so cheap that some locals pay the admission simply to enjoy the air conditioning, which seems to be more modern than some of the cinemas’ technical equipment. – The Daily Beast
Funders Are Asking For More Data From Arts Organizations. This Is A Trap
“Constantly demanding data, while changing formats, metrics, methodology and requirements every few years, creates the illusion of order and control, while actually making meaningful insight more difficult. The situation is convenient for funders, as it reinforces their power while making it harder to hold their own performance to account. It also provides useful work for consultants and researchers. For arts organisations themselves, however, the advantages are less obvious.” – Arts Professional
YouTube’s Content Problem Can’t Be Fixed With An Algorithm Tweak
YouTube’s recommendation engine can lead you astray pretty quickly, jumping down rabbit holes of unsafe or misleading content. Figuring out an algorithmic fix is more difficult than it seems. – The New York Times
What If We Could Rewrite Classic Operas?
In fact, David Lang is, with a re-imagining of Beethoven’s Fidelio. Anne Midgette explores the idea of revisiting classics in new form. – Washington Post
Strand Bookstore Owner: Why Landmarking The Strand Will Kill It
Nancy Bass Wyden: “My dad’s proudest moment came in 1996, when he finally saved up enough money to buy the building that had housed the store since he was a young man. He’d watched rents climb and he’d seen enough competitors go under to know that making that purchase was key to ensuring the Strand’s survival. This week, that security vanished. By designating the store a landmark, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission put the Strand in peril.” – New York Daily News
The 14-Year-Old Music Prodigy: Carnegie, Vienna State Opera, Etc…
“An accomplished pianist and violinist, she is also a composer, having written concertos for piano and violin and an opera. In December, she will make her debut at Carnegie Hall, where she will play the solo violin and piano in her two concertos, while the orchestra will play selections from her opera and her most recent work, a Viennese waltz. Next month, she will record a retrospective album with Sony of piano melodies she composed going back to when she was just 4 years old.” – The New York Times
Choreography As Conflict Resolution — A Retired Dancer Becomes A Professional Mediator
Dana Caspersen, William Forsythe’s wife and a former member of his company, Ballett Frankfurt, “develops choreographic methods that let groups address differences in nonverbal ways. Many of her projects center on participatory ‘action dialogues,’ which allow groups as large as 250 to tackle fraught issues like racism and polarization.” – Dance Magazine
How Do You Put An Ayahuasca Trip Onstage?
You cast an actual Peruvian shaman, of course. And you get the entire rest of your cast do ayahuasca rituals furing the rehearsal period. Lyndsey Winship talks with Peruvian director-choreographer Oscar Naters, and with said shaman, about their performance piece, Ino Moxo. – The Guardian
Mexican Government Calls Out Fashion Designer For Cultural Appropriation, Calls For U.N. Involvement (?!)
Alejandra Frausto, Mexico’s secretary for culture, wrote an official letter to designer Carolina Herrera and her creative director, Wes Gordon, about a recent Herrera collection that Frausto described as “plagiarism”: “This is a matter of ethical consideration that obliges us to speak out and bring an urgent issue to the UN’s sustainable development agenda: promoting inclusion and making those who are invisible visible.” – The Daily Beast
Calder & Noguchi Air Balls: SFMOMA Lobs Some Foul Shots for the Golden State Warriors
Having controversially deaccessioned a classic Rothko (given to it by the artist himself) in order to fund future acquisitions, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is now raiding its collection for another dubious purpose — adorning a new for-profit sports arena. – Lee Rosenbaum