“After its most successful edition so far, this May the volunteer-run festival received confirmation that it had qualified for Arts Council Ireland’s band C funding range. However, this doesn’t mean it will receive the €20,000 to €35,000 this rating is supposed to provide.” – The Stage
Native Theatre, Inclusion, and Shakespeare on the Great Plains
“Anchored by her Native terminology, [Mohegan theatre director Madeline] Sayet [has] embraced a matriarchal theatre leadership model that, as she put it, ‘invests in the community rather than itself.’ As the director of South Dakota Shakespeare Festival’s recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sayet exemplified her heartfelt, community-centered approach to directing.” – HowlRound
Louvre Moves Into Luxury Cruise Business
“The Louvre Museum has partnered with French luxury cruise company Ponant to organize two culture cruises in 2020: one across the Persian Gulf, and one of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, which will draw to an end in Venice.” (Controversy notwithstanding.) – Designboom
There’s Nothing Wrong With The Internet That Using It The Right Way Wouldn’t Solve
“We don’t need digital detox. Or more accurately, we do need a detox, but we have misidentified the toxin. Interacting online is not inherently poisonous, and online interactions are no less meaningful than talking face to face. Different, yes, but just as valuable. If we experience problems relating to each other online, I believe it’s because we’re doing it wrong.” – NewMusicBox
Sixty-Six Questions About That ‘CATS’ Trailer
Some samples: “2. So clearly this is a town for cats, created by cats—hence the Milk Bar. But what kind of milk are they drinking? 3. Cow milk? Do cows exist in this world? How would cats, which weigh eight to 10 pounds on average, be able to domesticate cows, which weigh—[Googles]—roughly 1,600 pounds? Or … uh … are they drinking cat milk?” – The Ringer
Study: Music Works As Well As Drugs In Calming Nerves Before Surgery
The patients in the trial were either given the drug midazolam or played the song Weightless by UK band Marconi Union for three minutes, while having an anaesthetic to numb a region of the body. – BBC
A Sneak Peek At George Lucas’s New LA Museum
A 30-minute slide presentation provided a brief snapshot of what will be in the museum — a collection, curators said, that will include the poetic paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the bright and rounded comic art of graphic novelist Chris Ware and the work of celebrated L.A. muralist Judy Baca. The pieces that generated oohs and ahhs from the San Diego audience, however, were of a more pop variety, namely those connected to the “Star Wars” franchise. – Los Angeles Times
London’s Mayor Canceled Norman Foster’s Flashy 1000-Foot Observation Tower. Here’s Why
Do We Have An Internal GPS Tuned In To The Earth’s Magnetic Field?
Perhaps our distant evolutionary ancestors, millions of years in the past, also had an innate navigational ability that exploited magnetic field lines. This would be extremely useful, offering advantages not only in barren environments, but when exploring new territories to find resources for survival. – Aeon
The Rise Of Ambient (Background) Music
Ambient is often as haunting and uncanny as it is gorgeous. But the idea of music that eschews gestural rhetoric—there are no statements, no returns, no developments—is still highly experimental, avant-garde territory in the current state of the classical tradition. – Van
A Tiny Russian Town Of Artists Has Made Icons For Centuries. Now Its Livelihood Is Failing
It survived the Soviet Union, changes in taste, the rise of cheap knockoffs and fakes. But the modern world might prove too much. – The New York Times
A Fierce (And Weird) Battle Over Who Gets To Be New Hampshire’s Poet Laureate
“At issue is a controversial nominee for state laureate, private negotiations with a governor who says he’s ‘not a poetry expert,’ and a bit of verse that an elected official described to me as ‘a misogynistic poem about sex with Condoleezza Rice on Air Force One.'” – Slate
Mezzo Sarah Connolly Withdraws From BBC Proms And English National Opera For Emergency Breast Cancer Treatment
“She had been due to star in the ENO’s Orpheus and Eurydice, which is choreographer Wayne McGregor’s opera directing debut, this October. Alice Coote will step in to play the role of Orpheus, while Julie Boulianne will now take her place at the BBC Proms, singing Berlioz’s [L’Enfance du Christ]. – BBC
Examining The Ethics Of Partnering In Dance
Ilya Vidrin was a competitive ballroom dancer until the day he fractured his back while partnering. “In the years since, the incident has led him into a deep exploration of the less tangible elements involved in partnering: motivation, trust, interpersonal chemistry and implicit agreements.” His studies, including a PhD, have led him to form what he calls the Reciprocity Collective, with which he’ll be offering a “partnering and science lab” at Jacob’s Pillow. – Times Union (Albany)
Will Other Museums Follow The Louvre In Removing The Sackler Name? Probably Not, And Here’s Why
Other institutions have said they’ll stop accepting Sackler money, but none have said they’ll drop the name from any existing buildings. “That is because removing a name, even one that has become culturally toxic, is an enormously complicated decision, mined with legal, financial and moral concerns. Here are some of those issues.” – The New York Times
‘Grand Theft Brancusi’: Collector Claims He Was Tricked Into Selling Sculpture, Sues Philadelphia Lawyer For $200M
“In a lawsuit filed this week in New York State Supreme Court, Manhattan collector Stuart Pivar, a one-time friend of Andy Warhol, says he was swindled out of a 1920 cast of the sculpture [Mademoiselle Pogany II] by John H. McFadden, a Philadelphia lawyer, arts patron, and scion of a prominent Main Line family.” As Pivar puts it, “Philadelphia lawyer hornswoggles savvy New York collector out of $100 million. That’s my story.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Four Members Of All-Female Afghan Orchestra Disappear During European Tour
“Zohra, a 35-member orchestra, performed at a concert on July 13 at the Pohoda Festival in the [Slovakian] town of Trencin … Four members went missing from their hotel on July 14, police said.” – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
This Year’s Kennedy Center Honorees
This year’s class of honorees, the 42nd annual since 1978, is eclectic as usual. – NPR
Elon Musk Wants To Implant Computers Inside People’s Brains
The company is developing a device to implant inside the brain that supposedly will allow people to control computers and other devices with their minds. At the announcement, Musk said the company is on track to begin testing the implants in human patients as soon as next year. – The Atlantic
Netflix Reports It Lost Subscribers In Q2; Stock Dives
The company on Wednesday reported a loss of 126,000 domestic paid subscribers compared with analysts’ expectations for a 352,000 gain. Netflix also missed its own forecast for global subscriber growth by 2.3 million. Its shares plunged more than 11% Thursday. – CNBC
The British Ballet Legend Americans Don’t Know: Beryl Grey At 92
“[She] danced her first Swan Lake on her 15th birthday, … went on to be the first western ballerina to perform with Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in 1957 and became director of the London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet) in 1968, rescuing the company from crisis.” And she dealt with Rudolf Nureyev, as difficult a divo as ever there was. – The Guardian
Everyone Thinks They Can Do A Podcast. But Can They?
There are hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there, and it’s amazingly difficult to determine how popular any of them really are (popularity can be purchased). But there are an awful lot of really bad podcasts, and the form may be waning. – The New York Times
Paul McCartney Will Turn ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Into A Stage Musical
“[The 77-year-old ex-Beatle] will write music and lyrics for the project. Lee Hall, author of Billy Elliot and screenwriter for the recent Elton John biopic Rocketman, is also writing lyrics and the show’s book.” – The Guardian
At Least This Time It’s Not Classical Music They’re Using To Chase Away Homeless People
City officials in West Palm Beach, Florida have been playing an endless loop of the songs “Baby Shark” and “Raining Tacos” to drive away a group of homeless people who’d been camping on the patio of a banquet hall. “The city has previously attempted to use classical music to deter drug dealers, but the unit powering the speakers was smashed.” – The Guardian
Fire Island Dance Festival: A Full-Circle Community Experience
“Born during the AIDS crisis to raise money for dancers, the festival turns 25, mixing celebration with sorrow.” – The New York Times