“[I]t remains unclear how substantial those offers are and whether they are enough to save the institution. In its most recent blog post, the company stated that it has ‘been inundated with generous messages of support and many have offered to pledge money to help keep this venerable institution operational.'”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Nathaniel Ayers, Soloist Musician, Records A CD At Last
It was a long road to the studio. “Some days Mr. Ayers is fine; some days not. Some days he wants companionship; other days he needs to be alone. As for the CD, he’d back off one day, calling it a terrible idea. And then he’d be ready to roll the next day. Finally, a few weeks ago, it all seemed to be coming together.”
Philadelphia Unveils An Arts Festival (Minus The Content)
The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts was hailed “as a breakthrough for what [the city’s mayor] called ‘the arts-and-culture-economy community,'” but what the festival will be remains a mystery. Organizers’ strategy, “unveiling packaging before content” for the 2011 extravaganza, created puzzlement.
How Our Obsession With Thinness Harms Life Drawing
“It’s a challenge that’s been around since the aerobicized decades of the ’80s and ’90s…. The goal, teachers say, is for students to learn how to draw different bodies, learn a sense of proportion, and get a perspective on reality. You can’t get that from drawing the same kind of body” — that is, a young, slender body — “all the time.”
Countless Authors Are Forbidden In Texas Prisons
“Novels by National Book Award winners Pete Dexter, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Proulx and William T. Vollmann have been banned in recent years. Award finalists Katherine Dunn and Barry Hannah are on the Texas no-read list, too, as are Pulitzer Prize winners Alice Walker, Robert Penn Warren and John Updike.”
Picasso Portrait Goes For £8.1 Million At Auction
“Tete de Femme (Jacqueline), a 1963 portrait of the artist’s second wife, had not been seen in public since 1967. A spokeswoman for Christie’s auction house said the painting had been expected to fetch between £3m and £4m.”
Barbican Box Office Manager Jailed For £33K Refund Scam
“Over a period of 13 months, Christopher Todd, 35, transferred cash into his own bank account through scores of transactions involving unsuspecting arts lovers.” A co-worker turned him in.
Choreographers’ Rock-Star Moment
“So You Think You Can Dance (‘the search for Britain’s favourite dancer’) now features certain choreographers regularly, announcing them with X Factor-style fireworks ahead of the dance they have created…. Is the dance world excited by this – or horrified?”
On YouTube, Prop. 8 Trial Reenactments Fill A Video Gap
“Frustrated by a Supreme Court decision barring broadcast of the trial, two Los Angeles film types are translating the courtroom testimony into elaborate YouTube re-enactments, complete with professional actors, realistic sets and a budget that might buy you lunch.”
Sony’s Lang Lang Deal Bucks Deaccessioning Trend
“Labels are signing artists all the time, of course, but usually, I believe, to much shorter, ‘let’s-see’ contracts of a couple of recordings at a time. If you have a chance at Lang Lang, however, you grab him; and Sony in any case seems to be in collecting mode at the moment.”