“Every European Capital of Culture offers a unique selling point – it goes with the territory for those attempting to brave the European Commission’s exacting selection process. For sheer boldness of vision, Matera 2019 seriously breaks the mould.” – The Stage
Month: September 2019
Seattle Artists: Time To Move To Detroit
“Making art takes lots of time, and when time in a city becomes nothing but making that rent, you will not make art or the kind of art that requires (for its greatness) not just productivity but lots of time for leisure. This is the part of artistic production that’s almost always missed by those with practical minds, men and women with middle-class common sense, the judges of contests for art grants. A big part of making poems, paintings, novels, music, films, sculptures involves aristocratic waste or doing stuff unrelated to the direct or obvious act of creativity. Young artists of Seattle must stop smelling the coffee and do something about it. Move to Detroit.” – The Stranger
How To Stage A Dance Piece Overseas When The Choreographer Won’t Fly
Jérôme Bel has decided to do his part to reduce greenhouse gases by ending his travel by air. Catherine Gallant is dancing his new solo work, Isadora, in New York. Reporter Roslyn Sulcas visits Bel in his Paris kitchen to see how he choreographs on Gallant via Skype. – The New York Times
The Downsides Of Meritocracy
“Merit is a sham,” the preacher saith. “Merit itself is not a genuine excellence but rather—like the false virtues that aristocrats trumpeted in the ancien régime—a pretense, constructed to rationalize an unjust distribution of advantage.” – The New Yorker
Geena Davis Just Made Children’s TV More Feminist
“In 2012, after receiving a $1.2 million grant from Google and working with computer engineers and social scientists, Davis launched the Geena Davis Inclusion Quotient, or GD-IQ, a method of using facial and voice recognition technology to analyze movies, TV shows and ads. The software … is able to ascertain the number of women relative to men, as well as the amount of screen and speaking time they’re afforded. – The Washington Post
Cleveland Orchestra Extends With Franz Welser-Möst Through 2027, Returns To Recording, Launches Diversity Initiative
By the time Welser-Möst’s extension runs out in 2027, he will have been the orchestra’s music director for 25 years, one year longer than George Szell. Early in 2020, the orchestra will begin issuing a series of recordings (CD and digital) of concert performances, and the new fellowship program, called Nurturing Diverse Talent, aims to give young Black and Latinx musicians “people a chance to rise to the level of the Cleveland Orchestra.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
L.A.’s Free-Shakespeare-In-The-Park Will Finally Get A Permanent Stage Of Its Own
“The Independent Shakespeare Co., which has put on [the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival] since 2010, said the city soon will build a $4-million permanent stage where the temporary stage was located, pushing forward the stalled project.” – Los Angeles Times
Collector Paid $600 For Unknown Anthony Van Dyck Painting
A deteriorated oil sketch that Albert B. Roberts bought for $600 at an upstate New York auction in 2002 has turned out to be a study from circa 1620 for Van Dyck’s Saint Jerome with an Angel. The sketch — in as-is condition (including bird poop on the back) — is currently on view at the Albany (NY) Institute of History and Art. – artnet
Let’s Face It: Book Publishing Has A Serious Fact-Checking Problem
“In the past year alone, errors in books by several high-profile authors … have ignited a debate over whether publishers should take more responsibility for the accuracy of their books. … While in the fallout of each accuracy scandal everyone asks where the fact checkers are, there isn’t broad agreement on who should be paying for what is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process in the low-margin publishing industry.” – The New York Times
Anne Midgette Resigns As Washington Post’s Classical Music Critic
“I am resigning from @washingtonpost as of Nov. 22 to work on my book, be home at night for my son, and see what the next chapter holds. … The Post is committed to replacing me, and it will be exciting to see a new voice in the role. This was completely my choice. Excited to see what comes.” – Twitter