This “cheeky literary salon” (ahem) has been taking place for six years in an east London gay bar: curators pick readings on a particular theme and willing audience members (of varied ages and shapes) read them, on a stage and in the buff. The Economist‘s audience engagement editor shares his experience reading at a science fiction night. — 1843 Magazine
No Selling Of Secondhand Digital Recordings The Way You Can Sell Your CDs And LPs, Rules Federal Court
A company called ReDigi had developed a platform for people to offer their “pre-owned” MP3s and FLACs while making sure that the sellers didn’t keep a bootleg copy for themselves — or so they thought. Capitol Records sued, and now a federal district court and the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled that ReDidi’s business model is illegal. Cullen Seltzer explains. — Slate
Ontario Gov’t Cuts More Than $7M From Arts And Culture Funding
The Conservative provincial government, under Premier Doug Ford, “has slashed base funding to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) by $5 million, as well as [$2.25 million] to the Indigenous Culture Fund.” — Global News (Canada)
Sydney’s Ambitious Public Art Plan Fights Battles
This week the construction of Cloud Arch, a Junya Ishigami-designed steel archway planned for George Street, was deferred until after the tramline is finished. Originally dubbed “the most significant artwork built in Australia in decades” by Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, the council blamed cost blowouts and obstruction by the light rail contractor Acciona. – The Guardian
Double-decker to bring free music lessons to deprived children
UK nonprofit Lycaeum Music is raising money “to buy a double-decker bus and renovate it as a space for touring music lessons, workshops and concerts, visiting the most deprived areas of England.” The project is called Music on Wheels. — The Stage
A Great Year For Sports Architecture
Stadiums and other sports venues have become more opulent. They not only have to be functional, they more and more serve as marquee symbols on the skyline. Here are ten of the best in 2018. – Dezeen
Directors Of Major Arts Orgs Talk About Introducing Major Changes (And Dealing With People Who Hate Changes)
Indhu Rubasingham (who’s spent this year dealing with people campaigning the change of her theatre’s name from Tricycle to Kiln), Vicky Featherstone (Royal Court Theatre), Richard Eyre (he succeeded Peter Hall at the National Theatre), and Charles Saumarez Smith (ex-director of Royal Academy, national gallery, and National Portrait Gallery) discuss handling changes in direction and the challenges of succeeding a popular leader. — The Guardian
Actor Charles Weldon, Director Of Negro Ensemble Company, Dead At 78
“Following a short but successful singing career as the lead singer and singer-songwriter with the chart-topping Paradons, Weldon turned to acting in the 1960s. … [He] joined NEC in 1970 … [and] succeeded [Douglas Turner] Ward, co-founder of NEC, as artistic director in 2005.” — Playbill
An Artistic Approach To Helping People Understand Dire Issues
“When I asked Olafur Eliasson about the impact of the work, he said he thinks that fear-based narratives tend to be unpersuasive, and he prefers to create a meaningful encounter with the environment to encourage change. London’s deputy mayor for culture, Justine Simons, expressed confidence that the work will change attitudes, saying at the launch that Ice Watch ‘will bring the stark reality of climate change to thousands of people in a very direct and very intimate way. It will undoubtedly inspire action’.” – Arts Professional
Regrets: I Never Knew My Father Shared My Bond With Music
“Throughout my childhood, my family had missed out on the joys of sharing music with one another. With three kids, two parents, two loud TVs, one bathroom and rarely anything approaching silence, music served as each individual’s private escape. How surprising to realize that my father had subscribed to our secret club all along. We had never listened to opera before that brief time in our lives. And after my father died, the opera music exited quietly. Pavarotti had left the building.” – The New York Times
Minnette De Silva Was One Of The Most Famous Architects In The World, And It’s Time To Re-Remember Her Work
A pioneer of Sri Lankan modernism, de Silva was the first Asian woman to become an associate of The Royal Institute of British Architects. With Sri Lankan independence, she launched her own architecture firm in Columbo, and “her trademark was to develop modernist architecture in harmony with the landscape and traditional craftsmanship.” But her studio, home, and many of her projects have fallen into disrepair and even ruin. Will there be a revival? – The Guardian (UK)
Does Princeton Have ‘Stolen’ Eastern Orthodox Manuscripts?
The church seems to think so, since it sued the university for access. On Thursday, the church “said the manuscripts were stolen and demanded their return, asserting that they had been taken during World War I from a monastery in Kormista, a village in northern Greece.” – The New York Times
Another Actress Sues Harvey Weinstein For Repeated Harassment And Assault
The allegations cover three years and a lot of familiar territory for the producer, who has been accused by many women of both harassment and assault. – Los Angeles Times
Book Titles Can’t Be Copyrighted, And Whew, That Can Lead To Challenges
When bestselling YA author Tomi Adeyemi, author of The Children of Blood and Bone, tweeted a challenge to Nora Roberts (NORA. ROBERTS.) over that author’s new Of Blood and Bone (which debuted at #2 on the bestseller list), things got tense on social media. But – let us repeat – book titles cannot be copyrighted. – The New York Times
Is The Push To Watch ‘Roma’ In Movie Theatres Just A Snotty Anti-TV Move?
Critics have taken the idea on as a crusade, but there are real differences between big and smaller screens. “The film’s crystalline images (captured with the ultra-high-definition Alexa 65 camera) and elaborate sound design [are] key to the film’s success—and … with those elements diminished by the transition to the smaller screen, Cuarón’s deep-focus shots and leisurely pans might prove more soporific than engrossing.” – Slate
CBS Tried To Get A Sexual Harassment Suit Dismissed By Saying The Harassed Woman Swore On Set
CBS, of course, is the (former) network of Les Moonves and Charlie Rose. Perhaps not surprisingly, the network’s “Eliza Dushku swore, so she couldn’t have been harassed!” stunt backfired – but it backfired in spectacular fashion when the footage the network proposed as exculpatory showed the actual harassment. Five by five, CBS. (For more details, here’s a timeline of the network’s last 13 months with #MeToo.) – The New York Times
Irwin Hollander, Who Revived Lithography As A Fine Art, Has Died At 90
Hollander was a commercial lithographer who was also “an artist and a master printer who persuaded Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and other Abstract Expressionist painters to try their hands at lithography in his East Village workshop.” – The New York Times
Why (And How) Do Our Brains Trick Us Into Massive Procrastination?
Most chores could be accomplished in minutes, but hordes of people wait days, weeks, even years. What the heck, brains? Is it “decision fatigue,” or is it “chronic procrastination,” or is it just that doing dishes is mind-numbingly boring? – The Atlantic
In The UK, Moviegoing Increased by A Large Percentage In 2018
Despite the lack of a “turbocharged” Christmas offering from the studios, it looks as though cinemas in the UK are about to reach numbers they haven’t seen for 47 years. (And Moviepass might have something to do with that.) – The Guardian (UK)
Literary Magazine ‘Tin House’ To Cease Publication
Publisher and editor-in-chief Win McCormack: “Given the current costs of producing a print literary magazine, I have decided to shift resources to Tin House’s other two divisions: Tin House Books and the Tin House Workshop. … We will continue to publish original fiction, nonfiction, and poetry online at tinhouse.com.” — Literary Hub
Chinese Censors Yank Art Works About Technology From Guangzhou Triennial
“The artists, from Europe, Australia and the United States, were not given an official reason why their works were rejected for the show … The works, which raise questions about the social and ethical implications of artificial intelligence and biotechnology,” did not touch on any subjects known to be sensitive in China. — The New York Times
Jazz Singer And Actress Nancy Wilson Dead At 81
“Ms. Wilson resisted the label of ‘jazz singer’ for much of her career, although jazz was the form to which she returned time and again and in which she had her greatest critical and popular success. She considered herself above all ‘a song stylist,’ she once told The Washington Post. ‘That’s my essence,’ she said, ‘to weave words, to be dramatic.'” — The Washington Post