The 1990s saw two ill-starred projects, “American Memory” and the National Digital Library Program, and a series of recommendations in a 2001 report ended up being laid aside and forgotten. And the results of a 2015 Government Accountability Office investigation were, well, painful.
Month: July 2016
Here’s A Kind Of Synesthesia We Haven’t Encountered Before: Seeing Ideas As Shapes
“[Jonathan] Jackson sees his thoughts as shapes. Every person he meets, every sentence he reads, and every decision he makes are presented as data points on a kind of continuously moving mental scatter plot, creating figures he compares to constellations.”
Oops: Museum Admits It (Unwittingly) Put Up A Show Full Of Forgeries
“A local museum has announced its final conclusion on the authenticity of a scandal-hit painting art exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, and the results are probably far from what the collector had been hoping for.”
‘A Musical Whose Time Has Gone’: Three D.C. Critics Have At ‘Phantom Of The Opera’
Anne Midgette: “With its emphasis on spectacle and size, Phantom certainly reflects a particular era of musical theater: the stage equivalent of 1980s-style big hair.”
Philip Kennicott: “Phantom looks better today than it did when it was new … [it] seemed to me then as it does now a testament to the degradation of theatrical taste.”
Nelson Pressley: “Now I sort of like the kitsch.”
Ballet Company Still Reeling Financially Three Years After Cancelled Joni Mitchell Project
“On the heels of a series of successful pop productions, [Alberta Ballet] was working for a second time with singer Joni Mitchell, working to stage a production based on her love songs.” But an artistic disagreement with Mitchell and the consequent cancellation “cost [the company] about a million dollars … in single ticket sales that were budgeted for but were then lost.”
Canada’s State Of The Arts: Kennicott Looks (Enviously) North Of The Border
“After winning the national elections, [Justin] Trudeau made good on the pledge: In U.S. dollars, the new government has promised almost $1.5 billion over the next five years to Canada’s complex and robust cultural infrastructure. … For Americans, the announcement of a $1.5 billion investment in culture is unthinkable.”
What Makes Cuban Ballet Cuban?
“For those used to the more reserved style of the French or the bravura of Soviet Russian ballet, the Cuban style can appear distinctly different. … Here are a few things to watch for.”
Europe’s First Underwater Art Museum
“Off the coast of the Spanish island of Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, lies the completely submerged Museo Atlántico, an oceanic exhibition of the sculptures of British artist Jason deCaires Taylor.”
Tim LaHaye, Co-Author Of ‘Left Behind’ Novels, Dead At 90
Following a first career as an evangelical preacher and political activist (Time magazine once called him and his wife Beverly “the Christian power couple”), LaHaye conceived and co-wrote what was possibly the most successful Christian publishing property since the Bible itself, a 16-volume series of action novels depicting those “left behind” to face the end times following the Rapture.
Edinburgh Festivals’ Economic Impact Has Grown By 25% In Five Years: Study
“The value of Edinburgh’s festivals has soared by almost a quarter to £313 million in the space of just five years … They are also now supporting 6,021 jobs – up by 26 per cent – according to findings released ahead of next month’s 70th annual season.”