“Our longtime home at 6th and Hennepin in downtown Minneapolis … has now become an environment that is hostile to the arts,” said the fundraising letter, signed by founding artistic director Linda Z. Andrews. “Many factors have contributed to this change, including the recent development of downtown sports centers with escalating parking fees; ongoing street construction right outside our door; and social unrest on Hennepin Avenue.”
Month: July 2016
The Pyro-American: New Yorker Art Critic Peter Schjeldahl Tells Tales Of His Legendary Homemade Fourth Of July Fireworks Show
“It was a ragged little affair, taking place at first dark, after an afternoon of beer and hot dogs and participatory firecrackers and bottle rockets, ending with a bonfire of cleared brush. People liked it. I resolved to top it the next year, and that became a rule: ever bigger, ever better. (The final show, in 2015, was colossal. Ask anybody.)”
Why Most Fiction Is Being Marketed To Women
“Most readers of fiction in North America are, by a wide margin, women. The books are being marketed to them. I am perfectly happy with this. I know where my bread is buttered.”
Oslo’s Opera House In Financial Crisis
“Playing out behind the sleek, elegant lines of Oslo’s Opera House is a financial crisis so dramatic that it prompted Opera management to close the publicly owned building to the public itself last weekend, in order to rent it out for a ‘considerable’ sum for a private wedding. Now that’s stirring additional drama as well.”
Toronto’s MoCA Hires City’s Ex-Culture Director As Temporary CEO
Announcing his retirement from the city in April this year, Terry Nicholson said he thought he’d probably do some consulting and keep his hand in what he called “his passion projects,” the Museum of Contemporary Art being one of them. “But [the vision] was nothing as extensive as this,” he said with a laugh during an interview Wednesday.
Too Darn Hot: Why White-Hero-In-The-Jungle Movies Just Won’t Go Away (It’s Not Only About Colonialist Myth)
“Jungle films have never really toed the ideological line of these colonial creation myths, however. They’ve always been more interested in getting bums on seats – and on screens, if possible. When pondering Tarzan’s enduring screen popularity, the potential for depicting male beefcake cannot be discounted. Acting skills are a bonus for the role; a great physique is non-negotiable.”
‘In The Zone’: When ADHD Becomes ‘Flow
“Writers, entrepreneurs, and creative leaders of all types know that intense focus that happens when you’re ‘in the zone’: You’re feeling empowered, productive, and engaged. Psychologists might call this flow, the experience of zeroing in so closely on some activity that you lose yourself in it. And this immersive state, as it turns out, also happens to be something that some adults with ADHD commonly experience.”
Samurai Spirit: The Exit Interview Of Signature Theater’s Founding Artistic Director
“On his last day as the leader of Signature, [James] Houghton – his voice raspy from recent chemotherapy but still suffused with passion – sat down to reflect on the origins and evolution of his theater. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.”
Can A Neon Mural Help Clean Up A High-Crime Alley? South Philly’s Finding Out
“The Electric Street [is] an illuminated neon mural … down the block from the iconic cheesesteak spots Pat’s and Geno’s, in an alleyway hidden by the unusual curve of the block. … Sam Albright, who owns one of the houses covered by the mural … said he’s already noticing more people on the block – to take pictures, not to buy drugs.”
Fifth-Century Mosaics Of Bible Scenes Found In Ancient Synagogue
“Archaeologists excavating a Roman-era synagogue at the site of Huqoq, Israel, have uncovered two new panels of a mosaic floor with instantly identifiable subjects – Noah’s ark, and the parting of the Red Sea during the Israelite exodus from Egypt.”