Author: Douglas McLennan

How The Influential New-Play Conference PlayPenn Blew Up

PlayPenn doesn’t have new leadership yet, but its old leadership is gone. Earlier this week the organization’s board accepted the resignation of its founding artistic director, Paul Meshejian, and dismissed associate artistic director Michele Volansky, after a firestorm on social media, amplified in the Philadelphia press, brought to light longstanding practices many artists and former staff identified as racist and exclusionary. – American Theatre

Public Art In An Activist Time

“I think that’s an exciting direction for public art to take, for people to feel a sense of authority and ownership over their shared space and what it should look like. We have a city full of blank walls, of boring, drab streets, of spaces where we could have more public conversations. We have a city full of brilliant artists who want to contribute to those conversations, and a city full of activists who have messages to share, so this is a really exciting moment during which people are taking to the streets and just making art.” – SpacingToronto

How Long Can New Orleans Survive Without Its Music?

Many New Orleans artists make at least 50 percent, and some as many as 75 to 100 percent, of their income during festival seasons. “New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Essence Music Festival, Voodoo Festival, those big events provide a big source of income and opportunity for our artists,” she says. “They sell at the festival, yes, but they make contacts that might give them commissions for the rest of the year.” But now, of course, there are no festivals, and tourist attractions like jazz bars have all gone dark. – Slate

Brandon Sanderson Had 13 Books Rejected Before Hitting It Big And Earning Millions

Most writers have novels that never see the light of day. But 13? That’s serious dedication. The books were written over a decade while Sanderson was working as a night clerk at a hotel – a job chosen specifically because as long as he stayed awake, his bosses didn’t mind if he wrote between midnight and 5am. But publishers kept telling him that his epic fantasies were too long, that he should try being darker or “more like George RR Martin” (it was the late 90s, and A Song of Ice and Fire was topping bestseller charts). His attempts to write grittier books were terrible, he says, so he became “kind of depressed”. – The Guardian

Atlanta’s Woodruff Center CEO Steps Down

Doug Shipman said he informed the Woodruff in February of his intentions to leave after three years of leading the organization. The Woodruff Arts Center is Atlanta’s foundational arts organization, overseeing the High Museum of Art, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Alliance Theatre. It is the third-largest arts center in the United States. Shipman said he wants to be more directly involved in addressing injustices of the past and present. “I do not know exactly what pathway I will take, and I will need friends to help me navigate the road ahead,” he said. – ArtsATL