“When editors and publishers feel they need to fight for every moment of planned reading, and readers are experiencing a shrinking cultural attention span, it’s surprising that large books inherently make the most market sense. With this pattern of investment behavior, major presses are inadvertently helping foster an environment where American indie presses can thrive by doing the very thing they’re best at: being small and, by extension, focusing on creativity and originality over sales.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘Reparations’: Opera Can – No, It Must – Become A Tool Of Cultural Change, Says New York Times Classical Music Editor
“For centuries, opera has been a tool of power, a spectacle developed and organized by influential Western nations and the elites within them. It is long past time for the art form to be more open about this heritage, and to make reparations for it. Using opera to understand the connections between cultures and to experiment with what can bridge them is no longer merely an aesthetic possibility; it’s a moral necessity.”
Stewart Pearce, 65, Former Met Opera Director Of Planning And Budgets And Chief Of Metropolitan Opera Guild
“Pearce devoted virtually his entire career to two arts organizations that were intimately connected – the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Guild – and over a period of almost forty years his service to both institutions was distinguished, marked by intelligence, acumen and a rare degree of discretion.”
UCLA To Build New $31M Graduate Art Studios Complex
“The [existing] studios are located on land owned by UCLA in Culver City – inside a central warehouse, with various additions, that has grown increasingly dilapidated over time. … [The] new, two-story structure with a translucent roof that would create a protected, light-filled, open-air courtyard … would increase usable space by 40%, as well as add an exhibition area and an artist-in-residence studio.” (Take that, USC!)
17 Le Corbusier Buildings Named UNESCO World Heritage Sites
“Citing Le Corbusier’s inventive architectural language, UNESCO praised the collection of projects for ‘[reflecting] the solutions that the Modern Movement sought to apply during the 20th century to the challenges of inventing new architectural techniques to respond to the needs of society.'” (includes photos of all 17 sites)
Whoa, We Didn’t Offer That English National Opera Guy A Job, Says Bolshoi Boss (Well, Not A *Top* Job)
“On Monday, the Financial Times reported that Berry was heading to a top job at the Bolshoi, a place where senior positions usually go to Russians. But the Bolshoi’s general director Vladimir Urin said in a statement: ‘[The] Bolshoi does not intend to hire Mr Berry as one of the house’s top managers.'”
Gagosian Gallery To Pay New York State $4.3 Million In Back Sales Taxes
“The New York attorney general’s office, continuing its crackdown on alleged tax abuses in the art world, said Tuesday that New York dealer Larry Gagosian agreed to pay $4.3 million in unpaid sales taxes, including interest and penalties, for art he sold through his gallery.”
Garry Marshall, Creator Of TV’s ‘The Odd Couple’, ‘Happy Days’, And ‘Mork And Mindy’ And Director Of ‘Pretty Woman’, Dead At 81
“To credit the multi-talented Marshall with any single accomplishment would be to diminish his others. He was everything – a director, writer, producer and actor, yes, but also a drummer and a journalist. … His career in the arts spanned six decades – seven if you count him drumming for a class of aspiring dancers at six years old – and he became arguably one of the most influential people in the entertainment business.”
Carolyn See, 82, Novelist, Memoirist, And Washington Post Book Critic
“Dr. See was the author of 10 books, encompassing fiction and nonfiction, and was co-author of several more. For 27 years until her retirement in 2014, she was a regular book reviewer for The Washington Post. … ‘When I started to write I was relatively old, and lived in California. So I was the wrong sex, wrong age, wrong coast,’ she wrote in an essay. ‘Luckily I was too ignorant to know it.'”
Snapping Hip Syndrome: An Explainer For Dancers
“Does this statement sound familiar to you? ‘My hip snaps or pops when I do grand battement or developpé devant or à la seconde. The snap sometimes presents with pain but sometimes not, and happens either on the up phase or down phase of the movement.’ Dancers might also notice decreased range of motion through the sagittal or frontal planes.”