A groundbreaking musician who had been one of only four women in the BSO in the mid-1960s, Ms. Schaefer was 95 when she died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on Jan. 31 in Sequim, Wash., where she lived in retirement with her older sister, a former cellist with the orchestra. – Boston Globe
Author: Douglas McLennan
Why Today’s Musicians Are Better Than Those 30 Years Ago
“There are more and more people that are really, really good at their instruments, and the amount of competition has certainly gone up. It’s getting increasingly challenging to win a job even in a small market orchestra — the level of playing across the board is greater.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
Using Art To Engage How People Learn
“There’s a rich history of thinking about how we learn across our lifespans in library settings and other community-based arts programs. But museums have only started to look at this arena pretty recently. Our goal is to create a space where patrons can absorb information and feel intellectually stimulated. But we also want to provide a starting point to help them make new and lasting connections . . . because simply trying something new and coming together around a shared interest can be life-changing at any age.” – Arts ATL
What We Learn From Ruins
Ruins excite our imagination with the lesson that our greatest structures will one day return to the ground, while reminding us that in their fallen states these sites are endowed with beauty, even redemption. – Washington Post
Our Central Need: Meaning
Viktor Frankl argued that literature, art, religion and all the other cultural phenomena that place meaning at their core are things-unto-themselves, and furthermore are the very basis for how we find purpose. In private practice, Frankl developed a methodology he called ‘logotherapy’ – from logos, Greek for ‘reason’ – describing it as defined by the fact that ‘this striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man’. He believed that there was much that humanity can live without, but if we’re devoid of a sense of purpose and meaning then we ensure our eventual demise. – Aeon
Study: Why There’s So Little Critical Coverage Of Theatre Made By Disabled Artists
Factors contributing to a “noticeable gap in critical coverage” include a crisis in mainstream arts criticism, a lack of diversity within mainstream theatre critics and a reluctance to be critical when it comes to artists with learning disabilities. – The Stage
Why Is There No (Or Little) Arts Programming On The Streaming Platforms?
When asked about cultural programming, the streaming services are tight-lipped. Both Netflix and Apple TV+ declined to say if they plan to produce more original content and whether visual arts programmes will be a priority. A spokeswoman for HBO—which bought the rights to show The Price of Everything—says it “will feature documentaries about art in the future. However, it’s too early to discuss the projects as they are in development.” – The Art Newspaper
Systems Of Creativity – How Ideas And Culture Come Together
Cultural institutions are a kind of technology – a social technology. Just as physical technologies – agriculture, the wheel or computers – are tools for transforming matter, energy or information in pursuit of our goals, social technologies are tools for organising people in pursuit of our goals. While we are fascinated and sometimes frightened by the pace of evolution of physical technologies, we experience the evolution of social technologies differently. – Aeon
Travel Is A Mind-Expanding Cultural Experience. But What If It’s Killing Us?
Over-tourism is damaging popular cities and cultural attractions. Instagram is sending mobs to previously bucolic places. Then there’s the carbon cost of all that air travel, which is killing the planet. The best thing you can do for the planet? Maybe stay home! – Post Alley
Journalism Is Broken. Can It Be Saved?
What has happened in journalism in the twenty-first century is a version, perhaps an extreme one, of what has happened in many fields. A blind faith that market forces and new technologies would always produce a better society has resulted in more inequality, the heedless dismantling of existing arrangements that had real value, and a heightened gap in influence, prosperity, and happiness between the dominant cities and the provinces. – New York Review of Books