To women in an international industry with a depressing record on job equity in the key creative roles, the sunny but no-nonsense Serner is a guru delivering a message of cheerful determination. To hear her tell the story, at a recent TIFF industry panel about how to get more women working as film directors, all it takes is willpower to overcome systemic discrimination and unconscious bias. The Swedish numbers now vary from year to year, but in the best years, half of publicly funded film projects are lead by women, not because the institute set quotas but because it insisted that the individual commissioners who decide on funding become aware of the issue.
Author: Douglas McLennan
The Binge-Watching TV Critic’s Guilty Pleasures
Anyone who watches only “good” television reveals himself as a television skeptic. Anyone who likes only “good” television reveals himself as an automaton.
Scotland’s Performing Arts Companies Pledge Gender Balanced Boards By 2020
The National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra have all signed up to the Scottish government’s “50/50 by 2020” campaign. They join 180 other companies from across the public, private and third sectors, who have signed up to the Scottish Government’s Partnership for Change campaign launched last year.
What We’ve Learned From Studying Generations Of Gifted Kids
“As the longest-running current longitudinal survey of intellectually talented children, SMPY has for 45 years tracked the careers and accomplishments of some 5,000 individuals, many of whom have gone on to become high-achieving scientists. The study’s ever-growing data set has generated more than 400 papers and several books, and provided key insights into how to spot and develop talent in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and beyond.”
Why Not Reading Is Something To Be Proud Of
In 2011 more than 50,000 new novels were published in the United States alone. “The problem of abundance” is a problem for every person who has an internet connection, and it is a professional problem in every corner of literary study. Nonreading, seen in this light, is not a badge of shame, but the way of the future.
Book Critic: Why I Read Amazon Reader Reviews
“Here’s my semi-shameful secret: I like reader reviews. I often make a point of seeking them out. When reporters used to interview me on the subject, I’d feel obliged to note that you can find reviews on Amazon and (even more commonly) on Goodreads that are as considered, thorough, and well-written as anything that used to appear in your local newspaper. But actually I don’t care much about those reviews. I already know how people like me, people who read books professionally and with a particular set of aesthetic values, respond to a text. I go to reader reviews to see how the other half reads.”
How New York City Became The Center Of The Jazz World
“Many jazz fans assume that New York has always been the preferred destination for up-and-coming musicians, but this hasn’t always been the case. In fact, New York came late to the jazz party.”
What It Takes To Make It As An Artist In Seattle
“Creativity is often thought of as individualistic. In Seattle, though, with its game companies, design firms, and rapidly closing art galleries, creativity is becoming more corporate. The health of the arts in the region is increasingly tied to the health and success of artistic organizations. There are successful arts organizations, but not necessarily successful artists. In this context, the corporations often charged with pricing artists out of the area become not threatening, but part of the same business partnership.”
Jerry Saltz: Our Art History Is Strangling Us
“Art as we now know it has narrowed. These days our definition of it is mainly art informed by other art and art history. Especially in the last two centuries — and tenaciously of late — art has examined its own essences, ordinances, techniques, tools, materials, presentational modes, and forms. To be thought of as an artist someone must self-identify as one and make what they think of as art. This center cannot hold. Why? It is far too tight to let real art breathe. “
The Toronto man Fighting To Get His Children Out Of Music Classes
“For the last three years, he has been trying to have his children exempted from music classes in a public elementary school. He has stated that music is against his religious views. At this point in time, he hasn’t succeeded in winning an official exemption for his kids – and he’s up against a formidable barrier.”