Expect the cornonavirus era, say theme park experts, to accelerate a play-driven evolution that has steadily been increasing in parks — in part because they naturally lead to exploration, but also because they appeal to locals and regular park-goers, a demographic that’s more vital than ever if plane travel continues to dip. – Los Angeles Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
Reflections On A Music Theory Fight Over Race
Insisting that music theory, musicology and ethnomusicology are separate disciplines with no shared ground impoverishes all of our work. By narrowing our focus and policing our boundaries, scholars miss connections and opportunities, and we remain frozen in disdain for all that we don’t know. A distinction between applied and academic music may have its uses, but hyper-specialization leads ultimately to a belief that scholars can’t be creative and that artists are incapable of critical thought. – The Conversation
What It’s Like To Go Back Into A Museum
“The argument for reopening our cultural institutions has been made with force: art sustains us, say the museum executives over the morning airwaves. But when I enter the exhibition, the first thing I wish is that, in the quest for sufficient sustenance, I’d brought a bottle of water—the mask dehydrates you quickly.” – Prospect
Call For “Radical Shakeup” Of UK’s Cultural Sector
RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and the British Council published a paper ‘Heritage for Inclusive Growth’ which says the sector’s potential has been stunted by “outdated” views of what – and who – it represents. – Arts Professional
How A Record 100 Years Ago Changed Music
With “Crazy Blues,” Mamie Smith opened the door to a surge of powerfully voiced female singers who defied the conventions of singerly gentility to make the blues a popular phenomenon in the 1920s. Indeed, the blues became a full-blown craze, with listeners of every color able to buy and listen at home to music marketed as “race records.” – The New York Times
Five Things to Fix in the Arts (and Now is the Time to do it)
The shutdown has suspended usual rules, positions and behaviors, suggesting there may be opportunities to not just rethink but take action. – Douglas McLennan
Warner Henry, 82 – Quintessential LA Classical Music Funder
A central figure in the rise of classical music in the city, Henry supported numerous arts organizations including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, the Colburn School, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Camerata Pacifica and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. – Los Angeles Times
Is The British Theatre Critic Tradition Coming To An End?
It is hard to think of a leading critic under fifty. There is no new generation in sight. This is unprecedented. Billington was barely thirty when he began at The Guardian, older than Nightingale when he started at The Statesman. Much is made of the fact that Tynan took over at The Observer when he was 27, but Hobson was only 31 when he began as a theatre critic and James Agate was 30 when he began at The Guardian. The great critics, in short, always began before they were forty. Who are their equivalents today? Where are the new, young voices in theatre criticism? – The Critic
Meme Me – How Memes Work
The chaotic creativity of remixed internet memes and the new linguistic structures that rapidly evolve from them allow us to express certain states of mind and have others immediately get it and respond in kind. This has been called an “asynchronous, massively multi-person conversation.” – JSTOR
The Trump Book Industry
Taken en masse, the books paint a damning portrait of the 45th president of the United States. But the sheer volume of unflattering material they contain can have the paradoxical danger of blunting their collective impact. After the 10th time you read about Mr. Trump’s short attention span, your own attention is in danger of wandering. – The New York Times