Pankaj Mishra: “Artists in America and Western Europe have been allotted a share, however small, in their nations’ wealth and power. … Art itself in [less prosperous and open societies] may seem the prerogative of the socially privileged; but it has to flourish for the sake of much more than art.”
Rivka Galchen: “Art that directs our feelings about contemporary events, even when well intentioned, quickly reads as dated, corrupted, almost always wrong. … Art for art’s sake avoids false warmth; it is untamed, but orderly.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Clement Crisp Remembers The Bolshoi Ballet’s First-Ever Visit To The West, 60 Years Ago In London
“Three days before booking opened, there was a queue for the box office that stretched down the street and, Topsy-like, kept on growing. … We settled down to wait for the opening night on October 3 – with wild hopes that requests for first-night tickets might be answered. Then came the affair of Nina and the hats.”
Bud Spencer, Star Of Spaghetti Westerns And Olympic Athlete, Dead At 86
“By the time Bud Spencer attracted legions of Italian spaghetti western film fans, including Quentin Tarantino, he had done more than most people do in a lifetime … He worked as a multi-sport Olympic athlete, politician, entrepreneur, pilot and, yes, an actor.”
Pierre Audi Will Leave Dutch National Opera To Run Aix Festival
“Pierre Audi, who recently became the artistic director of the Park Avenue Armory [in New York], has been named the next director of the Aix-en-Provence Festival in southern France, … Mr. Audi, a stage director and impresario known for fostering contemporary work and for projects of daunting ambition, has led the Dutch National Opera for three decades. But he’ll give up Amsterdam for Aix in 2018.”
Dr. Seuss’s Only Live-Action Feature, ‘The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T’
“The film’s producer, Stanley Kramer, that most earnest of Hollywood liberals, never oversaw anything comparable to this extravagant Technicolor vision of a tyrannical piano teacher’s quest for world domination. Nor was any other anti-fascist musical children’s film expected to precipitate a merchandising bonanza. (It never happened.)”
Self-Care: An ABT Principal On Sleep, Diet, Athleticism, Pain, And Adrenaline
Isabella Boylston: “My relationship to pain is obviously a lot different than most people, as a ballerina. Dancers do have a really high pain tolerance. … We just don’t know when to stop. … The great thing about performing is that all the adrenaline takes the pain away. I never feel pain in a performance. The next day that I’m like, Owww.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.28.16
This Week in Audience: The Latest Fronts On Understanding Who’s Paying Attention
Is social media communication, marketing, art, or all three? … The perils of market research when it drives your art … The latest front on artists’ war on cell phone use … How NPR discovered a ton of information about its listeners … How the internet is changing our perceptions of the world. … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-06-28
Brexit and culture: it’s complicated
There is a tension, for which there is no easy resolution, between wanting to have a society that is open and welcoming and inclusive to people and their traditions from around the world, and the preservation of what is seen to be special, exceptional, about the extant native culture. … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-06-28
What Can Be Left Out
My point last week was about planning and about understanding the essential work of your organization. This time I’m focusing on my call for arts organizations to become indispensable. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-06-28
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Why Even Skilled People Make Big Mistakes In Chess (Or Anything Else)
“The fact that mistakes have more to do with the problem itself, as opposed to skill or time, raises questions well beyond the domain of chess.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates: The Playboy Interview
Q: “You’ve said that when you look at yourself in the mirror you see a guy who got fired three times. Do you think there will ever be a point when you’ll look in the mirror and see the dude who changed the game with Between the World and Me?”
A: “No, because that remains to be seen. And the game could get changed back.”
Nearly Half Of English Public Against More Arts Funding: Survey
“Only 9% of English adults think Government spending on the arts should be increased, compared with 45% who think it should be decreased, according to new research by consultants ComRes. It also found that more than half know ‘nothing at all’ about Arts Council England (ACE), and the vast majority (89%) don’t think that it is good at communicating the value of arts and culture.”