I suspect we may be at the end of the age of the canon, for now at least. For all those mixed bills at festivals, and playlists that place Beyoncé next to Black Midi, I suspect best-ever lists, from here on, will be specialised. They are more likely to go by genre, in specialist titles: the best hip-hop album ever, the best metal album ever, the best electronic album ever. It’s simply easier to do it that way than to attempt to evaluate the relative worth of Lemonade against Led Zeppelin IV.
Author: Douglas McLennan
A New Museum That Has Taken Pains To Be Off The Beaten Path
When Glenstone opens its new facility to the public next month in Potomac, Md., the art museum will do so at a moment when something new is stirring in the art world: a powerful sense that too many museums have become a victim of their own success, and a new paradigm for experiencing art is desperately needed.
A Plan To Diversify Auditions For Orchestras
Black and Latino musicians make up less than 5 percent of orchestra members. A group made up of 700 orchestras and several nonprofits wants to change that — so the National Alliance for Audition Support launched an effort this year. It provides training and financial assistance to get more black and Latino classical musicians into auditions.
Finalists For “New Nobel” Prize Announced
The 47 names put forward were opened up to a public vote, with an expert jury, chaired by editor and independent publisher Ann Pålsson, set to consider the final four authors before announcing a winner in October.
The Implications Of Accepting A Piano
You can’t just throw out a piano. You can’t just turn one down, either. We enter a glittery fugue state that blinds us to the likelihood that no one will play this piano unless forced to. Because in this vision, it’s not us playing; it’s our kids.
Toronto International Film Festival Has A Plan To Diversify The Critics Who Write About It
Using funding from a combination of corporate donors, industry donors and public donations, TIFF offered almost 100 of the critics hotel accommodations for four nights during the festival and a reimbursement of their flight costs to get to Toronto. TIFF is also encouraging press to sign up for the Time’s Up Critical database, which aims to create greater diversity among critics and entertainment reporters. The initiative stems from the Time’s Up movement.
Toronto’s Soulpepper Gets A New Executive Director
She is taking over an organization that recently experienced significant turmoil following allegations of sexual misconduct against founding artistic director Albert Schultz, and his departure from the organization in January along with executive director Leslie Lester. (Schultz recently settled with his four accusers out of court).
In Defense Of Romance Novels
Many romance novels actually function as more than “imaginative opposition,” providing a very real space for enjoyment and relaxation, which might be otherwise missing from readers’ lives. The best romances can do this without lulling readers into a false sense of complacency.
The Op-Ed-ization Of The Internet
Everything about the recent past, and the generalization of the op-ed form across the internet, suggests there is an inexhaustible fund of such figures, a reserve army of op-ed labor waiting in the wings. Twitter has helped turn the internet into an engine for producing op-eds, for turning writers into op-ed writers, and for turning readers into people on the hunt for an op-ed. The system will not be satisfied until it has made op-ed writers of us all.
Louisville Courier-Journal “Recommits” To The Arts. Why?
From the paper’s editor: “Louisville’s arts scene also means big bucks. It’s estimated our A&E ‘industry’ has an economic ripple effect in the region of more than $450 million, providing jobs to thousands — from bartenders and waiters to parking garage operators, musicians and the performers themselves.” This after laying off the paper’s longtime arts writer last year.