In fact, that’s what it was created to do. Installed in response to neighbors’ noise complaints following the opening of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport’s fifth runway, the Buitenschot Land Art Park was designed by landscape architects and acoustical engineers to dampen the noise from passing airplanes. – 99% Invisible
Post-Alicia Alonso, New Director Promises To Modernize National Ballet Of Cuba
Viengsay Valdés: “I will always defend classical technique as the artistic base for a good dancer, and from there one can grow into other types of choreography. What we must do is enrich what we have today, develop what we have. Without studying the past we can’t progress and, yes, we have to modernize.” – Yahoo! (AP)
Dance Critic Don McDonagh Dead At 87
“[He was] a fervent supporter of experimental choreographers as a dance critic for The New York Times and the author of critical biographies of George Balanchine and Martha Graham … [as well as] managing editor of the quarterly Ballet Review from 1969 to 1995.” – The New York Times
Citing Months Of Unpaid Wages, Workers At Mexico City’s Major Museums Walk Out
Staffers at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, the organization that oversees the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Museo Mural Diego Rivera, and Museo Tamayo, shut down buildings and set up picket lines last Wednesday to protest up to seven months’ worth of missing paychecks. – Hyperallergic
Are The Arts In Crisis Or Is This A Great Opportunity?
While some have reacted to this trend with protests of ‘art for art’s sake’, perhaps we should view the increasing focus on the usefulness of the arts as an opportunity. The cultural sector now has the chance to define how it would like to be valued. Perhaps having to prove “relevance” will seem a light touch when compared to metrics like gross value added or wellbeing adjusted life years. – Arts Professional
Homecoming: Simone Young Is Next Chief Conductor Of Sydney Symphony
“She will take up the position at the start of 2022 when the orchestra returns to its home at the Sydney Opera House following the two-year closure of the Concert Hall for a major upgrade, including an acoustic refurbishment. In 2021, she will be the orchestra’s Chief Conductor Designate as she puts the 2022 program in place.” – Limelight (Australia)
The landscape architect who’s confronting climate change
In Los Angeles, Portland, Shanghai,. and especially San Francisco, Pamela Conrad has worked on solutions to the problems of invasive plant species, sea level rise, and earthquake readiness. And now she’s working to get the rest of her profession to pay attention to those issues. – Curbed
How this nomadic music group is bridging cultural divides
“The band Tinariwen hails from the deserts of Mali in North Africa. Its sound blends ancient Saharan instruments with electric guitars, and has earned the band devoted fans around the world. During a recent U.S. tour,however, band members experienced a darker side of America. Before a North Carolina show, they received a barrage of Islamophobic comments on social media. But as producer Ali Rogin reports, the city of Winston-Salem banded together to give them a warm welcome.” – PBS NewsHour
After Years Of Upheaval, The American Jazz Museum Hires A Director
The Jazz Museum in Kansas City has had financial and leadership struggles during the past couple of years, but it’s clearly hoping that Rashida Phillips (a performer herself) will right the ship. – Kansas City Business Journal
The Justice Department Is Preparing A Lawsuit Against Live Nation For Ticketing Practices
And literally no one who has ever bought a ticket through them is sad. But more seriously: “The impending civil action… is expected to claim that Live Nation violated terms of its 2010 settlement with the government that allowed it to complete its controversial, $889-million merger with Ticketmaster.” – Los Angeles Times
Lowrider, A Magazine That Will Shutter This Year, Shaped California Culture
The magazine, an icon of culture, “played a critical role in forming the culture and image of lowriding, its lifestyle and aesthetics. Particularly popular among Mexican Americans, the magazine was as much a statement about Chicano identity as it was about the long, ground-hugging vintage cars.” – Los Angeles Times
How Composer Lei Liang Won The Grawemeyer Award
Breaking down his award-winning “A Thousand Mountains, a Million Streams” – and hearing from the composer himself: “It’s a challenge to see myself as a vessel, as an imaginative and creative force that has a place in history — so that you create while you preserve at the same time. Today, in a different world, that encompasses the environmental, cultural and spiritual responsibilities an artist has.” – The New York Times
The Metropolitan Opera Conductor Who Originally Wanted To Be The Pope
Yannick Nézet-Séguin says that after many years of wanting to conduct the Mass, he decided one day when he was 10 to play-act at conducting Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. That day, everything changed: “At that moment, my fascination with religion was transferred to music and the liturgical aspect of the church became the ritual of the concert.” – The New York Times
Better To Be Cautious When Giving Books As Presents
There are really only two rules, says a man who knows a particularly painful story of an inscribed book that had been passed on. “‘The first is, always save a receipt’ – the reason being, if a book has jumped into your mind as the perfect present for someone, it has doubtless occurred to someone else. … And the second rule? ‘Never write an inscription in a book, unless you’ve written it yourself.'” – The Guardian (UK)
Elizabeth Sifton, Editor And Tamer Of Literary Lions, Has Died At 80
Sifton was also an author, including of a memoir that cemented her father, Reinhold Niebuhr, as the author of the Serenity Prayer. The authors she edited – burnished, as The NYT puts it – included “Isaiah Berlin, Don DeLillo, Ann Douglas, Susan Eisenhower, Carlos Fuentes, Philip Gourevitch, Michael Ignatieff, Stanley Karnow, Stephen Kinzer, J.R. MacArthur, Robert MacNeil, Peter Matthiessen, Jules Witcover and Victor S. Navasky.” – The New York Times
There *Is* A Reason Sondheim Is In All Of Our Movies Now
It’s not just a coincidence or an accident: “Sondheim references and homages are hardly new. While there happens to be a bit of a pile-up at the moment, that’s because Sondheim’s songs have passed into the public vernacular in a way that few theatre composers’ works manage to nowadays: they have become standards.” – The Stage (UK)
Dancing To, And Around, Bach [VIDEO]
In The New York Times‘ dance coverage, this week’s Instagram video hashtagged #SpeakingAboutDance features solos, duets, trios, and ensemble work to pianist Simone Dinnerstein’s performance of The Goldberg Variations. – The New York Times
No, Reading’s Not For Comfort, Says An Irish Author
Sinéad Gleeson, an Irish Book Award-winning author, says that reading offers connection and perhaps an escape – unless you’re slogging through the “great American” canon. – The Guardian (UK)
The Grammys Tend To Be Pale, Male, And Somewhat Stale
Can the Recording Academy’s new plan change that? – Los Angeles Times
Hungary’s Theatres Protest Orban’s Culture War And Attempted Control
Actors and audiences alike participated in protests against Viktor Orban’s new law around who controls theatre funding. “The change comes as Mr. Orban’s government has become increasingly authoritarian and eroded democratic institutions. It has widened its control over the news media and education, and has given allies roles in overseeing the country’s cultural institutions. And after winning a third term last year, Mr. Orban set the tone for a battle over the arts, saying, ‘We must embed the political system in a cultural era.'” – The New York Times
Britain’s 70-Something-Old Nightclubbers Who Just Won’t Quit
Oh, well, why not dance, listen to music, and party into your 70s? After all, Mick Jagger still does it. “For those who do keep dancing, it can be much more than just a night out. What starts as an act of teenage transgression becomes radical in middle age.” – The Guardian (UK)
What’s Behind #PayUpHollywood?
“In recent weeks, hundreds of TV and film assistants … have begun to speak out about their experiences on the bottom rung of the industry, mounting a fight for better pay and fair treatment.” Many of those assistants are paid only $12 and hour, California’s minimum wage, and the stories of bizarre demands and mistreatment by bosses are legion. – The Guardian