“The Royal Court theatre in London has named Vicky Featherstone, head of the National Theatre of Scotland, as its first female artistic director. Featherstone, who kicked off her career as an unpaid assistant director at the Royal Court, will succeed Dominic Cooke when he steps down in April 2013.”
Month: May 2012
Revived Arts Festival In Iraq Leaves Out Song And Dance
A spring arts festival returns to Babylon, Iraq, near the infamous “Triangle of Death” – but without its previous singing and dancing. Is that to counter memories of Saddam Hussein’s festivals or to cater to religious hardliners?
What The F*&%, Hollywood? Back Off The F-Bombs
“Despite what anyone claims about the modern acceptance of and appetite for language of the roughest, rawest, most graphic sort, the truth is that a huge contingent of the paying crowd objects to it still.”
The Arts And Political Protest In Chicago
As Chicago activists turn up the heat for NATO protests, many of them are making art. It’s a messy business with uncertain results – like democracy, they say. “There really has been a resurgence in the visual culture of protest. … It is all about branding the message effectively. Whether you’re selling a product or promoting an idea, a picture really can be worth a thousand words.”
Trove Of Ira Gershwin Letters Cleared For Sale
“The typed and handwritten letters are a treasure trove of insight into Ira Gershwin’s thoughts about his family’s music and musicians of his generation in the musical theater scene.”
French Comedian’s Concerts Cancelled In Montreal After Accusations Of Anti-Semitism
“Dieudonné’s current show, titled Rendez-nous Jésus (Give us back Jesus), has been criticized in France because it features Holocaust denial, slurs against the Talmud and praise for Hitler. In France, he has to book his shows into smaller venues because established event planners won’t handle him.”
John Cheever At 100: The Original Don Draper (Except Not As Straight)
“The master of the American short story was the original purveyor of midcentury mystique, especially its darker facets. The endless drinking, ever-present cigarettes, infidelities, secrets of suburban life and anxiety regarding America’s place in the postwar world — they’re all in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Stories of John Cheever.“
Design School Meets Urban Decay, And Shakes Hands
“The challenge is an old one in urban areas across the country: How do you resuscitate a community without condescending to it, while ensuring that long-time residents won’t be pushed aside, or worse, priced out? The partnership here in Savannah, though, is a particularly unlikely one, pairing the well-off students of a pricey art and design school with the low-income, minority residents of a community with scant interest in art and design.”
Three Reasons Newspaper Paywalls Simply Won’t Work (Not Even At The New York Times)
“It makes more sense to try and figure out how to take advantage of the Web in order to provide something that the current market is likely to value, instead of focusing on how to squeeze as much as possible out of a declining market. What is The Huffington Post doing right, or Buzzfeed, or Politico, or The Atlantic? Why don’t they need paywalls? Coming up with creative answers to those questions is likely to play a much larger role in the survival of traditional media entities than a paywall.”
American Ballet Theatre Corps Members Talk Movies, Pain, And Guest Stars
“Proving yourself over and over: it never ends. I’ve been in the company for 11 years. It’s almost like [audience members] see a show, they’re thrilled, and then the next day their memory was erased, and you start from scratch.”