“Again and again, the same answer: maybe it’s not fair to say that nothing has changed, but here we are, answering the same fundamental questions about diversity. Very few people seemed wholeheartedly optimistic about change.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
How The Frieze Art Fair Ate London
“The sprawling scale of the event, centered on a five-day fair here, in Regent’s Park, that opens to the public Wednesday, reflects how dramatically London, and its commercial relationship with art, has changed.”
How Natural History Museums Got Hijacked For Kids. Time To Give ‘Em Back To Adults
“Museums were originally meant to be places of inspiration, literally the ‘seat of the Muses’. In our 21st-century interpretation, however, we expect them to function as providers of kid-oriented entertainment more than anything else.”
Theatre And Politics In A Time Of Political Theatre
Can theatre serve the political moment? Some recent works on stage in New York all attempt it.
How The Insecurity Of Adjuncts Figures In To The University “Safe Spaces” Debates
“Insecurity, endemic to a profession heavily reliant on short-term labor, is usually omitted from discussions regarding safe spaces. But the instructor’s role in the construction of safe spaces is unquestioned: They hold the balance of power in the classroom, even if they know themselves to be nearly powerless in other areas of life. As a result, they need to concede a great deal of that power if a space is indeed to remain safe for their students.”
The Cost Of Becoming A “Prestigious” University
“It seems to me that prestige only accrues to those at the very top—not top 20, more like top five—and when we’re talking prestige, we’re almost exclusively talking about private institutions. Unfortunately, the only way to survive in a culture that continues to turn away from education as a public good is to “compete,” and the only way we know how to compete is for “prestige.” But what is the cost on public institutions of chasing prestige?”
Canadian Architect Bing Thom, 75
“He was one of the people who was a key input into this thing we call the Vancouver model or ‘Vancouverism’… He was one of these people who challenged the idea that only Vancouver would be an urban place… and he was quite right about that.”
How You Choreograph Dance For “Hamilton”
“For every one step in Hamilton, I probably cut eight steps. Only one makes the final cut. For the transition out of the opening number, I choreographed a 30-second transition for the entire ensemble. That 30-second transition is now one second long, a drum beat and a pose.”
University Of Southern California Opens Major New Dance Facility
“Groundbreaking took place in 2014. The dance school welcomed its first class in fall 2015, with 33 students collaborating with dance professionals while studying styles including ballet, ballroom and hip-hop. Classes were held in a temporary facility on campus, then moved into the new 54,000-square-foot building in August. “
Can We Separate What We Know About The Celebrity From Their Work Onscreen?
“It’s only natural that we struggle to separate the performer or the artist from the art, because the way we consume entertainment is designed to conflate our concept of a person’s identity with the fictional one they project onscreen. We sometimes know too much about an actor, certainly our most elite A-listers, to fully forget who they are while we’re watching them work.”