Sidewalk Labs, the smart-city startup from Google parent company Alphabet, has released its master innovation and development plan to turn a sizable swath of Toronto’s Lake Ontario shoreline into “the most innovative district in the entire world.” – CityLab
Author: Douglas McLennan
Arts Council England Plans To Include “Relevance” In Funding Criteria
“Most of us already lead creative and cultural lives: we join book clubs, we take craft classes, we stream music,” the strategy document says. “The task for the Arts Council is to enable more people to take advantage of more opportunities to develop and express their creativity, and to support them to engage with the widest possible range of culture.” – Arts Professional
Large Study: Students Who Study Music Do Better In Other Subjects
“It is believed that students who spend school time in music classes, rather than further developing their skills in math, science, and English classes, will underperform in those disciplines. Our research suggests that, in fact, the more they study music, the better they do in those subjects.” – Pacific Standard
NRA Shuts Down Production Of NRA TV, Amid Financial, Political Crisis
The development is the latest in what has been a tumultuous year for the N.R.A. It has struggled to right its finances; faced investigations in Congress and by Letitia James, the New York attorney general; and witnessed a leadership struggle that pitted Oliver North, the N.R.A.’s former president, against Mr. LaPierre. – New York Times
What Makes A Successful Theatre Artistic Director? Voices, Courage…
Joseph Haj: “When I see artistic directors who have a five-show season directing three of the shows, I think: nobody’s that interesting, nobody. I don’t care how beautiful and thrilling a maker you are, your community deserves and wants a variety of aesthetics and voices and approaches. I don’t want a season that looks too much like me.” – HowlRound
Opponents Of LACMA’s Design For A New Campus Start To Organize
The group is primarily concerned about the latest design’s 10% reduction in size and museum director Michael Govan’s plan to disburse objects from the permanent collection to future satellite exhibition spaces in South Los Angeles and elsewhere. – Los Angeles Times
Thinking About Music As Not Just The Notes But The Cultural History In The Performance
Jeremy Dutcher incorporates in his live and recorded music an unusual and affecting act of legacy, playing transcribed wax recordings from 1911 by an early anthropologist of a tribal elder singing and speaking, and following the melodies with his own heldentenor voice and mellifluous keyboard compositions. – San Francisco Classical Voice
Amazon Responds To NYT Story That Says It’s Lax On Policing Fake Books
Amazon remains defiant that it is doing more than enough to combat the issue. In its blog post, the company claimed that in 2018 alone it “invested over $400 million in personnel and tools built on machine learning and data science to protect our customers from fraud and abuse in our stores.” – Publishers Weekly
When A Philosopher Is Forced Not To Think
Being a philosopher on brain rest is like being a point guard on hand rest. The major asset for your profession is suddenly not working reliably. – The New York Times
When Norman Mailer Covered The Moon Landing (It Wasn’t Pretty)
“Mailer on the moonshot: loads of words, loads of money. A big deal for Life magazine. And for Mailer? Grim opportunism. Out of tune, bardically bereft, plucking (as it were) flaccid strands of sheep’s gut, he was ripe for anticlimax. But he needed the cash.” – The Atlantic