Attracting visitors was not the problem Emilie Gordenker thought she’d be facing when she became director of one of Amsterdam’s most popular museums in February. A profile in the Dutch national newspaper NRC Handelsblad at the time heralded her move from the tranquil Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in the Hague to the Van Gogh Museum with the headline, “It Will Never Be Quiet in the Museum Again.” Famous last words. – The New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
Hollywood’s Damaging Images And Stereotypes
“The south supposedly lost the civil war. There is an overused cliche which suggests that the winners write history. Is this true? If it is, then why do all these relics of the losing side still circulate in this society so many years after the civil war ended? The point is, films like Gone With the Wind should have been held accountable a long time ago. Further, Hollywood’s role in disseminating such demeaning, dehumanized, stereotypical images can no longer be ignored.” – The Guardian
Midsize Music Ensembles In Peril – Most Members Are Freelance
Even in Europe, which has a reputation for generous governmental arts subsidies, midsize ensembles have found it difficult to support their musicians. – The New York Times
Karen Kain’s Farewell To A Lifetime At Canada’s National Ballet
Kain claims she never imagined herself becoming the National Ballet’s artistic director. In this she is in a minority of one. After hanging up her pointe shoes in the fall of 1998 Kain accepted a position as part of the company’s artistic management team under then director James Kudelka. When he resigned in May 2005 it was generally assumed Kain was his obvious successor. – Toronto Star
Inigo Philbrick, A 33-Year-Old Art Dealer Wunderkind Is Arrested
The dealer, who operated galleries in London and Miami, has been the subject of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Major Theft Task Force/Art Crime Team in New York. A U.S. citizen, he is believed to have been living as a fugitive on Vanuatu since October. – The New York Times
Celebrity And The Art Of Quarantine
The currency of fame has always been deeply unstable. But, with movie theatres and live venues closed and the devices in our pockets quickly becoming our primary media machines, it can feel as though famous people are suddenly on the same footing as everybody else. Despite this illusion of a level playing field, many people are still holding on to stardom as a meaningful category, as something that validates their experiences of isolation. – The Walrus
The Radio Broadcast That Convinced The Irish Public They Love “Ulysses”
Listening on transistor radios and Walkmans, many Dubliners who had long been intimidated by the book found that they not only understood it but enjoyed it and recognised themselves in it. – Irish Times
Apple To Close Its Apple U App
The app, founded in 2007, is credited with playing a central role in opening up higher education to the public. Institutions such as Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley; Duke University; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all shared free educational content on the app in audio, video or ebook format. – InsideHigherEd
American Theatre: We Don’t Want Your Messages of Solidarity
How many of the people who authored those statements actually visited the Black Lives Matter website before posting is unknown. What is known, however, is that the stirrings of support statements coming from the American theatre community was too late and certainly not enough. – Howlround
The Intellectual Underpinnings Of Populist Strongmen
Populism is not just a bull-in-a-china-shop way of doing politics. There is a theoretical tradition that seeks to justify strongman rule, an ideological school of demagoguery, one might call it, that is now more relevant than ever. – Aeon