“If the opera world has changed, VO is trying to change with it. Last year, in a shocker, the company announced that it would be moving after the 2015-16 season to a festival model. While some people understood the rationale and acknowledged the company’s tough position as well as the budgetary – and other – advantages of a festival model, others were vehemently opposed – most notably and vocally, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra music director Bramwell Tovey.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Tacoma Public Radio Station Buys Its Independence
“We received 24,000 donations,” KPLU station manager Joey Cohn said. The deal, he said, stipulated that KPLU pay “$7 million in cash and $1 million in ‘in-kind’ support,” meaning spot ads promoting PLU.
Gender Breakdown: Here’s Who’s Working In America’s LORT Theatres
“Phase two of the LORT designers study continues to collect data on gender of designers, and begins to look at directors and artistic directors, partially in relation to designers.”
Do Some Artists Create Too Much Art?
R. F. Luchetti has written 1,551 books. Woody Allen has directed 46 movies. Some artists are incredibly prolific – and successful – at the their work. But is there such a thing as too much? Have Damien Hirst or Stephen King made too much? Here’s a list of high producers in various art forms.
Arizona Theatre Company Says It Might Have To Close
“In a memo sent on Monday, June 27, to subscribers and donors, the company said that if it did not meet its fundraising goal by Friday, July 1, it would suspend the upcoming season — which would be its 50th — to give it time to reorganize and revamp its business model, with plans to return in 2017-18.”
Why Doesn’t Canada Have A National Theatre?
“At a time when many in the arts bemoan shrinking audiences, wonder whether live performance is losing social relevance and even predict the death of theatre, here is a new institution vigorously engaging local and global audiences through national drama. It’s enough to make you ask, why doesn’t Canada have a national theatre?”
Philosophy’s Diversity Problem (Not What You Think)
“Philosophy must become more diverse in order to make progress on its fundamental questions. But cultural diversity means something different in philosophy, compared with other humanities disciplines.”
Problem: Artificial Intelligence Starts With The Biases Of Its Programmers
“Sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination are being built into the machine-learning algorithms that underlie the technology behind many “intelligent” systems that shape how we are categorized and advertised to.”
Tempting As It Is To Think That Hard Work Matters More Than Talent…
“Far from undervaluing effort, Americans seems to overestimate the potential of their own endeavour. A 2014 study by Pew Research found that 73 per cent of Americans believe that hard work is very important to success, the highest out of all the countries surveyed. Only 49 per cent of Germans agreed. We know, from a growing pile of evidence from many different sources, that while innate ability is far from the only contributor to success, it is probably the best predictor of it.”
A Hostile University Revolution That’s Disrupting Education
“For, whomever or whatever you might blame for the current state of affairs, the recent hostilities have been distinctly unfriendly to the creating and sustaining of intellectual energy. Universities need to get beyond these disputes, at least to some degree, if they are going to retain any meaningful chance to fulfill their social missions.”