In Saudi Arabia apostasy is punishable by death. Unless artists are willing to make their host’s state control of expression an explicit subject of their work, those who participate cannot escape compromise from the polluted context.” – Los Angeles Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
800 Musicians Say They’ll Boycott Amazon Festival Over Company’s Work For ICE
The letter — organized by a group of artists and activists including Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, Downtown Boys’ Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Evan Greer, Adult Mom, @k8_or_die, Carmen Perry, and Jes Skolnik, according to Rolling Stone — comes in response to the announcement of Intersect, Amazon’s first music festival, which will be held in Las Vegas from December 6-7. The company is promoting the festival as an event “where music, technology, and art converge.” – Hyperallergic
Max Exodus Of Leadership Of Vancouver’s Arts Organizations
It’s an impressive roll call (and all women): Executive director of the Vancouver International Film Festival, Jacqueline Dupuis. Ballet BC artistic director Emily Molnar. Vancouver’s Chutzpah! Festival artistic managing director Mary-Louise Albert. Kathleen Bartels executive director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Kelly Tweeddale, executive director of the Vancouver Symphony. And Kim Gaynor, general director of Vancouver Opera. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Surprise: Vancouver Opera General Director Steps Down Over Disagreement On Company’s Direction
Kim Gaynor joined the opera three years ago, and was given the challenge of moving the company from a traditional season (or “stagione”) model to a festival with a number of events during a concentrated period in the spring – a decision that had been made by the board and her predecessor, James Wright, ahead of his retirement. The move had been made in response to financial and organizational challenges. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Artists For Our Pre-Internet Brains
“The part of our brain that regulates our time perception has been overloaded and exhausted, causing our sense of past, present and future to melt together.” – The Guardian
The Bumper Sticker Is Wrong – Mistakes Do Define Us
General infallibility is a tempting proposition. Treating an individual’s attitudes and preferences as givens – as matters beyond debate or criticism – might seem to promote human dignity by forcing us to treat all views as equally worthy of respect. But such an outlook is likely, if anything, to have the opposite effect. This is because taking seriously a person’s capacity to make mistakes is critical to taking seriously their capacity for rationality. Only by recognising that people are capable of error can we properly value anyone’s goals or engage in rational debate. – Aeon
Streaming Wars Are Getting Serious This Fall (And It’s Going To Be Expensive And Inconvenient)
In a couple of weeks, you’ll have so many options to pay for content à la carte, you won’t really know where to start. And yes, you’ll be paying extra for the inconvenience. – Shelly Palmer
DirectTV Loses Staggering 1.2 Million Pay-TV Customers Last Quarter
ATT&T said Monday its DirecTV and its U-Verse television business in the third quarter lost a staggering 1.2 million customers, as more consumers cut the cord and migrate to video streaming platforms. – Los Angeles Times
Netflix To Let Customers Speed Up/Slow Down Viewing Speeds
Whip through that “Seinfeld” at double speed? Audio books already come with this feature, allowing readers to speed up the playback. But video producers object to the idea as it changes how viewers will see their work. – The Hollywood Reporter
Seattle Area Libraries Boycott MacMillan E-Books Over New Policy
In response to a new policy on e-book purchases imposed by Macmillan Publishers and effective Nov. 1, King County Library System will be boycotting the publisher’s upcoming e-books, declining to purchase any new Macmillan books in that format. Seattle Public Library will not be boycotting, but warns readers that they may notice long delays in obtaining new Macmillan e-books. – Seattle Times