Lyn Gardner: “Too often, an artist – if they are a woman or are from diverse backgrounds – gets only one shot in a high-profile situation and if they don’t triumph, they are out. But it’s only when the opportunities are sustained, and not just one-off tokenism, that a significant and genuine advancement occurs in the diversity of the arts. This is why it’s important that organisations, particularly flagship ones in receipt of large amounts of public funding such as the RSC, lead the way and put policies in place that don’t just encourage diversity but embed it in their way of working.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Thanks, Harvey: Home Base Of Houston Ballet And Grand Opera Will Be Closed Until At Least Next May
“The Wortham [Theater Center’s] two theaters, which sit near the banks of Buffalo Bayou, took on up to 12 feet of water during the storm, which flooded its basement and required the removal of the stage floor of the Alice and George Brown Theater.”
Foundation Launches New Cash Awards To Support Nonprofit Magazines
“The Whiting Foundation, which annually provides 10 emerging writers with prizes of $50,000 each, has announced a new series of grants designed to ‘acknowledge, reward and encourage’ nonprofit American magazines. The grants for print and digital publications will total up to $120,000.”
Vienna State Opera’s Seat-Back Subtitles Offer Six Languages – And Snacks
Take that, Met! “Since the opening of the company’s 2017/2018 earlier this month, subtitles are offered from suitably dimmed screens, in English, German, Italian, French, Russian and Japanese. A pre-performance information system provides such useful things to know as plot synopses, cast lists, and any general current news to do with the activities of the company … And in the near future, further adaptations are planned so that guests can even order their interval snacks or drinks from the comfort of their own chair.”
Theaster Gates Wins $100K Nasher Prize For Sculpture
“Gates is a fitting choice at a time when the United States has immersed itself in a re-examination of race and the divisions it spawns in American society. He doesn’t shy from taking on civil rights as an issue in his expansive portfolio, which [Nasher Sculpture Center director Jeremy] Strick said is tied ‘to the most traditional kinds of object-making and the most traditional materials.'”
Crystal Bridges Founder Launches Clearinghouse For Museums To Share Art
“Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art founder Alice Walton has established a nonprofit foundation to focus on sharing American art across the country through collaborations with museums and institutions. Art Bridges, which was announced Wednesday, will develop and fund exhibitions to expand access to American art. Walton’s new venture is separate from the Crystal Bridges museum in Bentonville but is aligned with the museum’s mission.”
Lauren Yee Wins $25K Kesselring Prize For Emerging Playwrights
“Her play In a Word, in which a child’s disappearance haunts a mother, ran Off Broadway this summer to critical acclaim. … Ms. Yee’s first professionally produced play was Ching Chong Chinaman, in 2010, about a Chinese-American immigrant family, and she has since written several works for Off Broadway, including The Hatmaker’s Wife.”
Philadelphia Art Alliance Absorbed By University Of The Arts
“The acquisition gives the university a gracious formal parlor a few blocks from its Broad Street campus in a neighborhood populated by many of the city’s most generous arts donors. … The change marks a bittersweet epoch for the Art Alliance, which had once brought to the city the likes of Man Ray, Martha Graham, and Andrew Wyeth, but which lost a good deal of its cutting-edge sheen in recent decades. Its six small galleries now mostly exhibit contemporary crafts and design.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.19.17
Evaluating Engagement: Outcomes
Evaluation of any kind is a challenge for nonprofit organizations generally and for nonprofit arts organizations in particular. Resource constraints and focus on mission, sometimes at the expense of critical management issues, make evaluation … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-09-19
The Maltese Icon–No, Not That One
If you’re an art-lover (and writer) headed toward Malta, as I was last June, the first artwork that comes to mind is Caravaggio’s masterpiece in the Valetta cathedral, The Beheading of St John the Baptist. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-09-19
The Appalling Twilight Of Marlon Brando
Dalya Alberge interviews screenwriter Ron Hutchinson, who recounts the actor’s bizarre behavior on the set of his last film, The Island of Dr. Moreau.