Having presided over the company’s 40th and 50th anniversaries, he was looking ahead to the 60th anniversary and planning what he could do that would “be new and different”, he explains. “And I just sort of went — you know what? Maybe it’s actually the time for a new person to have the opportunity – a new director, new vision.” – Dance Australia
Untangling Conflicting Currents Of How To Think About #MeToo
It can feel as though the public discussion around #MeToo has been designed as a training program for denial, with self-reflection rarely encouraged on any side of the issue. The appearance of perfection—which is to say, hiding and disavowal—seems to be your main aim. – The New Republic
Jeffrey Mumford — Creating A Different World
“Being a black composer is itself a very subversive act because you offend both sides. You offend these people who in the white community think that you’re encroaching on their turf and you offend people within your own community, unfortunately, who think that you’re writing white people’s music. I think I write my music. I write what I hear. I have many influences. … There’s no one such thing as black music. … If you’re a black composer, anything you write will be black music.” – NewMusicBox
A New Play Brings The #MeToo Discussion Forward In Singapore
“In Singapore, … many still hold to another century’s view of the roles of men and women. Victims of sexual misconduct often face shame and blame, and the global reckoning seems far away. … In May, [Ken Kwek’s] play This Is What Happens to Pretty Girls was performed to sold-out audiences, sparking a new wave of conversation.” – The New York Times
Motion Picture Academy Invites 842 New Members – Half Women
While for years the Academy made a concerted effort to limit the number of new member invitations and keep the number of voters to no more than 6,000, all the membership limits were abandoned in the wake of the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite controversy. In the aftermath of the protests that followed two consecutive years of all-white acting nominees, the Academy vowed to double the number of female and non-white members by 2020. – The Wrap
Venice’s Mayor, And The Cruise Companies That Control Its Port, Want The Monster Cruise Ships To Keep Coming
Despite concern over both the huge amount of daytripper traffic by passengers and the physical damage that the enormous ships cause to both the Venice Lagoon and the low-lying city itself, the mayor and city government favor continuing to dock cruise vessels at the terminal in the city. And they’re pushing UNESCO to accept their plans, despite the availability of other options. – The Art Newspaper
We Need “A Good Conversation”? Maybe Not So Much
Lazy rhetorical devices plague our political discourse. But there is something especially grating about a candidate calling for a “conversation” when asked about an issue. It rings with the echo of empty ideas. It emanates the stench of platitude and prudence. The abstractness of the language renders the sentiment meaningless: Who, exactly, should be having these conversations? Where should they be taking place, and on what terms? – The Atlantic
The War Breaking Out Among Medieval Scholars
“While squabbles over session approval are not uncommon at academic conferences, the conflict in medieval studies feels like a struggle for the future of the field, one that sometimes pits older scholars against a younger generation, and those with a traditional approach against those with a more activist bent. And it’s turned personal at times, even nasty and disturbing, with medievalists lobbing insults over Twitter, squaring off in blog posts, and calling for colleagues to be more or less excommunicated from the discipline.” – Chronicle of Higher Education
When Bad Things Happen At The Opera: Should We Applaud These Plotlines?
“When our society is having to confront the murder of women, how can we dare to applaud the killing of a woman?” said Cristiano Chiarot, the head of the opera house, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. – Sydney Morning Herald
How Medieval History Is Being Used To Fuel Conspiracy Theories
“Simple stereotypes about the Middle Ages aren’t just wrong; they have become weapons for white supremacy. As the great spire of Notre Dame fell, I knew the disaster, whatever the cause turned out to be, would fuel incendiary anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories based on white supremacist reconstructions of Western European history.” – Pacific Standard
Boris Johnson Or Jeremy Hunt — As UK Prime Minister, Which One Would Be Better For The Arts?
Ed Vaizey, who was Conservative PM David Cameron’s minister for culture: “Safe to say, the arts and cultural policy have not featured highly in the many debates and hustings that have taken place in the last few weeks of campaigning. Nevertheless, there is some hope for the arts, when one analyses the background of the main contenders.” (Vaizey goes on to compare Johnson to Marmite.) – The Art Newspaper
At Youth Festival In Crimea, Play Shows Girls Kissing; Russian Right Fumes About ‘Gay Propaganda’
“The production was staged by the Gogol School theatre lab during the Tavrida Festival, an annual art event organised by Russian state youth agency Rosmolodyozh. Reaction has been mixed, with some praising the audacity of the director, Ilya Romashko, and others calling it pure provocation. Given Russia’s 2013 law banning the spread of ‘gay propaganda’ among under-18s, the festival’s organisers have since issued an apology.” – BBC
Northern Ireland Rescinds Strict Prison Ban On Books About Terrorism Or Paramilitaries
“A review by the Northern Ireland Prison Service deemed the ban ‘not proportionate’ … Books and other reading material will now be permitted unless they overtly promote or encourage the commissioning of criminal acts or otherwise break the law.” – The Guardian
My But We’ve Become So Literal (When Sometimes A Metaphor Would be Better)
We want to quantify, data-fy and measure everything. And if not, then see literal images that we can quickly grasp. Are we losing the ability to imagine (and to dream)? – Aeon
David Koloane, Major South African Artist Of Apartheid Era, Dead At 81
“Koloane’s work — which comprised art-making, curating, activism, and writing — dealt head-on with colonialism and the continued oppression of black South Africans. His [art], which often takes the form of semi-abstract cityscapes, evokes the tensions felt in his country through clusters of swirling lines and compositions that evoke violence.” – ARTnews
Watch Paul Taylor Dance Company Director Michael Novak At Work
“No one was more surprised than Novak when Taylor tapped him to be his successor last year, three months before the legendary choreographer died. Dance Magazine recently caught up with Novak during the company’s appearances at the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Bach Festival.” (video) – Dance Magazine
‘Undisturbed’ Ancient Roman Shipwreck Discovered Near Cyprus
“Not many details have been released about the shipwreck, but the Department of Antiquities notes that it ‘is the first undisturbed Roman shipwreck ever found in Cyprus.’ The vessel is still packed with amphorae — jugs that the ancients used to hold foodstuffs like oil and wine — that likely came from Syria and Cilicia, a region that is now southern Turkey.” – Smithsonian Magazine
Pakistan Would Love To Restrict Bollywood Movies, But Its People Just Can’t Quit Them
After brief military hostilities between India and Pakistan in 2016, Pakistani cinema owners boycotted Indian movies; attendance promptly fell to 11 percent, and the boycott was over within a few months. Something similar has happened each time there’s a crisis between the two countries. Pakistani audiences’ addiction to Bollywood has withstood every attempt to introduce movies from other Muslim countries — and has kept the country’s own film industry from growing. – The New York Times
Celebrating African Music and Artists with the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice
“A key part of the Western musical tradition, opera is an art form that’s, unsurprisingly, associated mainly with white artists and white audiences. But, as with so many aspects of culture and society, opera’s history has its share of vital black performers, patrons, and parallels. With this in mind, the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, which celebrates the power of the human voice in music, is honoring African American artists and African-related themes as part of its milestone 10th season this year. … We spoke with the festival’s general director, Maria Todaro about this year’s programming.” – Chronogram (Kingston, NY)
Employers who recruit graduates for entry-level jobs are preventing diversity in the arts – report
“Employers in the creative industries risk alienating diverse young talent by ‘needlessly asking for degrees’ for entry-level jobs, according to a new report. This was identified as one of a number of barriers that are ‘excluding young people from [Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic] and lower-income backgrounds’ from working in the arts that were revealed in the study.” – The Stage
Nan Goldin’s P.A.I.N. Group Stages Anti-Sackler Protest at Louvre
“Artist Nan Goldin, her P.A.I.N. group, and other opioid activists staged an action at the Louvre in Paris this afternoon, calling on the museum to remove the Sackler name from one of its wings. The activists accuse the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma of fueling the opioid crisis in the United States and beyond through the sale of the painkiller OxyContin.” – ARTnews
La Scala Picks A New Leader
Dominique Meyer, who is French and has been director of Vienna State Opera since 2010, has been celebrated for increasing revenue at the Austrian institution at a time when many opera houses are struggling. – The New York Times
JFK’s New TWA Hotel Reminds Us When Air Travel Was Fun (And Glamorous)
Michael Kimmelman: “When was the last time you lingered for pleasure at Kennedy Airport? When was the last time you felt happy to be there? An architectural advertisement for the thrill of air travel at the sunny dawn of the jet age, Saarinen’s reincarnated terminal is an unavoidable reminder of just how sad and degrading the experience of flying has become, if you’re not rich.” – The New York Times
Revealing Toni Morrison: A New Film Shows The Public-Averse Author
Given her absence from my generation’s digital public square, it is a gift to “see” Morrison through reflections from Angela Davis, Oprah Winfrey, the critic Hilton Als and the poet Sonia Sanchez among others. – Washington Post
Hot Nights at the Barbican
The hottest tickets in London last Saturday, on the hottest day in London for at least forty years, were both at the Barbican — the Lee Krasner retrospective and Rattle conducting the LSO in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen – Paul Levy