The much-respected director of a University of British Columbia writing program “was fired as creative writing chairman in June under a veil of secrecy.” The action galvanized star Canadian writers who rose in his defense. “He said in the statement issued Wednesday by his lawyers that the ‘harm flowing from UBC’s conduct’ has reached such a level that he asked his counsel to provide clarity. Galloway confirms that he was accused of sexual assault but says the only complaint substantiated by a former judge’s investigation was that he had an affair with a student.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Seriously? Baltimore Gets Its First Resident Professional Dance Company Since 1993
“On Saturday, the Ballet Theatre will officially make Baltimore one of its three performing homes. For the first time since 1993, the city will have a fully professional resident ballet company, though that means sharing the troupe with Annapolis and Bowie. No longer will Baltimore be just a stop on a national ballet company’s tour — and in recent years, the city has barely been even that.”
This Week’s Top AJ Stories: Does Pittsburgh Symphony Strike Settlement Solve Anything? Should Arts Funding Be Dependent On Encouraging Bad Behavior?
This Week: Did settling the Pittsburgh Symphony strike just kick the can down the road?… The idea of progress is a fragile (and recent) notion… Why should this arts funding depend on encouraging bad behavior?… The art establishment is caught in an increasingly high-stakes investment battle… We celebrate reading – but has the dissemination of ideas and knowledge moved on?
Shanghai Wants To Be International Cultural Capital. But Already There Are Issues
“The cultural transformation of Shanghai has been astonishing. But it risks threatening the kind of complex, nuanced and sustainable engagement that a lively arts sector needs. If local government can encourage affordable spaces for young artists and help promote a climate in which artists and art professionals can thrive, then this most dynamic of cities might truly have it all.”
Think The Critics Decide Whether Or Not You’re An Artist? Nope. It’s The IRS
“It is all well and good to say that artists need to be businesslike, rather than bohemian, but those who want the IRS to accept work-related deductions (price of materials, studio rent and insurance, travel expenses, advertising and promotion, photography, postage, shipping and other costs) on their federal tax returns do not have a choice. Because, if the IRS believes someone isn’t really in business, those deductions will not be allowed.”
Climate Dance: Dancing In Paris Amid Icebergs From Greenland
“All of the sounds of the ice—stop-stop-stop, melt-melt-melt, crack-crack-crack—can be transferred to the body. It was an amazing experience, in the middle of Paris, in the middle of the night, in the cold. Everything was changing, second by second. I’ve been to Iceland, and to the Faroe Islands, but I have never been surrounded by ice before. And then the people of Paris stopped to watch us, watching the ice. It was a mirror.”
Venice Has Become A Replica Of Itself
Today, visitors outnumber Venetians by 140 to 1. If tourism development continues apace, the city center may soon have no residential lodging at all. Among the institutions that have closed since 2000 along the Grand Canal: the National Research Council, the Mediocredito bank, the transport authority, the local education agency, the German Consulate. Souvenir shops have replaced grocery stores. Luxury hotels have replaced medical offices. “A tourist monoculture now dominates a city, which banishes its native citizens and shackles the survival of those who remain to their willingness to serve.”
Japan’s Theatre Of Old People – A Golden Perspective Born Of Many Years
Yukio Ninagawa “founded Saitama Gold Theater and held an open audition for people aged 55 and over, from whom he chose 48 for the troupe — there are now 38, with an average age of 77. Although he conceived it to stage one particular work, word of the troupe spread and they soon found themselves doing more shows and earning praise from critics, both domestically and abroad.”
Chicago MoCA Plans $16 Million Renovation – A Restaurant And A “Commons”
There will be a “hybrid lounge-workshop-performance space inside the museum called the Commons, which is being designed by the Mexico City design team Pedro y Juana, with custom furniture that can be flattened and hung on the walls when not in use. The space will also feature plant-shaped lamps, some with actual greenery, hanging from the ceiling. This gathering space will be free to the public, whether or not they pay the $12 suggested admission fee to see exhibitions. “Audiences today want a space where they can come together and interact. We are finding that people are really hungry for civil and civic dialogue — now more than ever.”
Florence Henderson, 82
Ms. Henderson was asked in a 1999 Archive of American Television interview how she would like to be remembered. She answered, “Probably as someone who survived for a long time in a very tough business and, hopefully, managed to retain a sense of humanity.”