Says one specialist attorney, “There’s no conspiracy. There’s no one out there saying we’re going to stop artists. It’s basically much broader than that and artists they consider collateral damage.” Says another, “What is a broader effect, I think, is that there is a pervasive sense in the international community that the U.S. is becoming a hostile environment for performing artists.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The New York Times’ ‘9 Young New Yorkers Poised for Creative Greatness’
You won’t find any novelists, playwrights, painters, or classical musicians on this unconventional and diverse list: there are two videographers, two chefs, three models (each of whom has at least one other discipline), a photographer, and the founder of a museum.
Is Shakespeare More Powerful Live Or In Cinemacast? Let’s Use Heart Monitors To Find Out
The Royal Shakespeare Company will put the devices on a group of theatre patrons in July and simulcast viewers in August; the idea is to measure not only whether one medium is more or less emotionally involving, but also whether violence in mainstream movies has desensitized screen viewers to the brutality in the play. And which play’s brutality will be the test case? The one that’s really notorious for gore.
Putting Opera On A Flatbed Truck And Taking It To The ‘Hood
A correspondent checks out a production of Don Giovanni by the OperaCamion, a project which sends out young artists from the Rome Opera to perform in impoverished neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts where many residents have never seen an opera.
A Conference For Young Male Dancers Who Are Feeling Marginalized
“With so few male dancers in classes, a sense of alienation, as well as bullying and a lack of recognition are common experiences. ‘I allowed the boys we were approaching to tell us what they need, what is missing in their dance studios, what they’re looking for,” [co-founder Michael] Vadacchino says about programming [the first Male Dancer Conference, to be held next month in New York’s West Village]. ‘There are little to no all-male large group settings in the dance world. With the exception of some major ballet competitions and large ballet conservatories, there is no event designed specifically for male dancers and their needs.'”
In Qatar, Cultural Institutions Try To Carry On Through The Blockade
The tense standoff with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt is putting as deep a strain on the Persian Gulf nation’s efforts to become a cultural capital as it is on the rest of the country. Even so, work continues: as one arts professional in Doha puts it, “If political relations were severed for any period of time, the close family connections across the region would act as a continued link. … At the moment, everything is continuing as normal.”
Ireland Is Finally Getting Its National Opera Company Back
The old company, Opera Ireland, was shut down in 2010 to make way for a new Irish National Opera – which was never actually formed. Now two smaller companies who share an artistic director are being merged: they’ll form the main resident company in the capital, Dublin, with some productions traveling to Wexford and Cork.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.05.17
Metropolitan Museum’s Empty Director’s Chair: Text of Dan Weiss Memo to Staff
Now that Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Campbell has officially left the building (as of June 30), who will serve as acting director until a new director is chosen? Surprisingly, the short answer appears to be: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-07-05
Painter Ed Mieczkowski, Pioneer Of Op Art Movement, Dead At 87
“[He] was part of a circle of mid-century geometric abstractionists active in Ohio that included Julian Stanczak … Like Stanczak, Mieczkowski participated in the pivotal 1965 exhibition ‘The Responsive Eye’ at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which launched Op Art. Mieczkowski co-founded the Anonima group in 1960 in Cleveland with painters Ernst Benkert and Francis Hewitt.”
The Sites Where Online Culture Gets Created Just Can’t Make Money
Brian Feldman looks at Twitter, Reddit, and especially Tumblr – all of which have enormous user bases but still have trouble turning a profit – and why they’re so friendly to creative expression and sharing but likely doomed never to earn Facebook-level revenues.