The arts offer an evidence-based solution for promoting mental health. While practising the arts is not the panacea for all mental health challenges, there’s enough evidence to support prioritizing arts in our own lives at home as well as in our education systems. – The Conversation
Author: Douglas McLennan
Neighborhood Minneapolis Dance Spaces Lost During George Floyd Protests
George Floyd’s murder may ultimately be a catalyst for positive change in Minnesota and beyond, but in the short-term, the local dance community has lost vital spaces and resources, including El Nuevo Rodeo, the cantina and dance club where both Floyd and his accused killer worked as security officers. By day, the cantina served as a rehearsal space for Latin American children’s dance groups, and by night it was the place to salsa. – Dance Magazine
The Public Art In The New LaGuardia Airport
With three of the four works accessible without a boarding pass, Terminal B just may be the best indoor space for contemporary art — no appointment needed — that the public is welcome to visit in phase one of New York’s reopening. – The New York Times
Norton Museum Director Suddenly Resigns Just 19 Months Into The Job
Elliot Bostwick Davis came to the Norton from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, after spearheading the addition of its groundbreaking Art of the Americas Wing. She joined the Norton in March 2019, a month after its $100 million Foster + Partners-steered expansion opened. The expansion triggered a growth spurt during which the museum welcomed 218,000 visitors, mounted 19 exhibitions and served 9,000 students with its schools programs in the year after its unveiling. – Palm Beach Post
“Lateral Thinking” Was Hugely Popular. Too Bad It Was Also Wrong
From the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies to schools and government ministries, few concepts in popular psychology travelled as far and wide as lateral thinking. Garnering in excess of 20 million readers across almost 40 countries, a BBC TV series, hundreds of paid-up and certified ‘Master Thinkers’, a network of educational and business champions, de Bono had, by the 1980s, become a peculiar type of public intellectual: one who refused to engage with critics and detractors. Criticism was, according to the father of lateral thinking and founder of the Cognitive Research Trust, a vestige of the adversarial and ‘intrinsically fascist’ Socratic method. – Aeon
HBO Max Drops “Gone With The Wind” From Its Library
The move followed an article in the LA Times by John Ridley, Oscar-winning scriptwriter of 12 Years a Slave, in which he described it as “a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color”. – The Guardian
How Diversity Is/Has Changing/ed American Theatre
In fostering greater identity complexity, the American theater today is realizing more of its mimetic potential — a potential long curtailed because of the restricted access of artists on the margins. As the theater belatedly opens up, the repertoire of representations expands, creating a more extensive vocabulary and grammar for self-understanding for us all. – Los Angeles Times
Paul McCartney Slams Italian Law That Forbids Refunds For Canceled Concerts
He wrote on Facebook that when his shows across Europe were cancelled on 7 May, it was in the belief that fans would receive a refund. While this was the case in the other countries the singer had been scheduled to visit, a decree passed by the Italian government offered only vouchers for scrapped music events. – The Guardian
Are Young Dancers Specializing Too Soon?
In sports medicine, a growing body of research suggests that specializing in one form of training increases the risk of injury and burnout in young athletes. Not all sports medicine research is analogous to dance, but some dance-medicine practitioners, and dancers, say it might be best for students to mix it up. – Dance Magazine
#100DaysofPractice: Musicians Put Their Practicing Online
The accounts are a way for musicians to hold themselves accountable for consistent, productive practice and to receive feedback from other musicians. They are also an archival tool, a way to track progress over time. Practicing, long an activity completed in solitude, with only a metronome and tuner as company, has now become its own sort of performance. Playing to a virtual audience has become one of the few remaining incentives for musicians who are otherwise holed up at home, away from their schools, orchestras, and teachers. – The New Yorker