This show turned out to be more timely than the NYBG could have known when it began to organize what it billed as its “largest botanical exhibition ever.” – Lee Rosenbaum
Month: September 2019
Goodbye, Tula’s
It’s been a busy month at Tula’s, a jazz fixture in the US Pacific Northwest for more than two decades, as most of the top jazz musicians in Seattle are playing their last gigs at the club and it’s been a full house every night. – Doug Ramsey
Orange County Museum Of Art Breaks Ground On New Home
OCMA’s new three-story, nearly 52,000-square-foot building will rise from a dirt lot next to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The project is slated for completion in 2021. – Los Angeles Times
Congressional Fan Fiction — Slash Fiction, Really — Is Now A Thing
“Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are nestled in one another’s arms, sweat glistening on their muscled chests. They kiss softly and tenderly. It’s the middle of the night in a hotel somewhere on the campaign trail, and they are in love.”
“Since the 2016 election, as American political engagement has boomed … fan fiction scholars have noted a spike in stories featuring the U.S. Congress. … [And] the more I spoke to authors, the more congressional fan fiction began to make perfect sense as a response to our high-strung political moment.” – Longreads
Time For Peter Gelb To Step Down From The Met Opera
Zoe Madonna: “It’s time for Gelb to go, and take the board with him. Time to bring in a team that wants to reclaim the beautiful living tradition of opera for the 21st century, this messy epoch that people still see as a newborn despite its being old enough to vote and almost old enough to drink. And until that happens, the Met Opera deserves every empty seat inside that house.” – Boston Globe
Staff Versus Board: Seattle’s Intiman Theatre On Verge Of Closing?
At a contentious meeting Wednesday night, Intiman’s board of directors laid out a stark vision for the nearly 50-year-old arts organization, saying it was out of money and would probably have to close in October. Intiman’s staff, led by artistic director Jen Zeyl, and a collection of roughly 10 arts leaders and philanthropists from around the city, seemed to think otherwise. – Seattle Times
Shakespeare’s Globe Begins Writers-In-Residence Program To Create New Plays For Its Old-Style Stages
“The 12-month residency will mentor three writers each year, during which time they will create new work for the outdoor Globe Theatre and the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, as well work together to create a production for the main stage. This will take place in summer 2020.” – The Stage
New Queens Library As “Third Place”
“With this project, Steven Holl ran with the idea that architecture could sculpt the experience of bringing together a community in a free-of-charge, 22,000-square-foot “third place,”—reflecting the belief popularized by urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg that people need a place to socialize that is neither home nor the ubiquitous privatized realm.” – Architectural Record
Ex-New York City Ballet Star Joaquín De Luz Takes The Reins At Spain’s Compañía Nacional De Danza
De Luz, who retired from NYCB last spring, has just begun a five-year term as artistic director at Spain’s national company, which came to international renown under the leadership of choreographer Nacho Duato (1990-2010). De Luz tells Wendy Perron that (among other goals) he’d like to bring some of Duato’s works back to the CND’s repertoire. – Dance Magazine
The Troubling Symbiosis Between Museums And Their Rich Funders
The contradiction between the lofty stated values of the museum and the predatory exploits of its patrons would be great fodder for satire if it were not so deeply disturbing. – The New Republic