“For all the changes that have come to Broadway, where the only thing more drastic than the astronomical ticket prices are the astronomical rents for apartments in the area, the Whitby has largely remained a bastion for performers and their patrons. But rather than being a haven for struggling artists, the building is now much more a home for successful ones.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
As Shaker Design Gets Ever More Famous, The Largest Shaker Museum Struggles
Attendance at Hancock Shaker Village in the Massachusetts Berkshires “is down by nearly a third compared with a decade ago, to about 50,000 visitors a year. Donations and government support have also dwindled. The annual budget, never particularly robust, has been cut by a quarter, to $1.6 million.”
“Literally” And “Awesome” Aren’t Destroying English, Steven Pinker Reassures Us
In a Q&A, the cognitive scientist and linguist talks about rules of usage (and lack of them), the usefulness of emojis and italics, and his grammar feud with The New Yorker‘s Nathan Heller. He even explains the psychology that keeps grad students churning out academic jargon instead of decent writing. (And then there’s the hair …)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.30.14
On The Art Movie Docket: Matisse and …
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-12-30
Brooklyn’s Warehouse Clubs Crumble
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2014-12-30
“Strict Separation,” “Transparency”: My Q&A with John Elderfield on Princeton/Gagosian Loyalties
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2014-12-30
Best Dance of 2014
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2014-12-30
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The Death of the Artist – And the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur
“Hard-working artisan, solitary genius, credentialed professional – the image of the artist has changed radically over the centuries. What if the latest model to emerge means the end of art as we have known it?” William Deresiewicz, who caused a stir this past summer with an essay arguing that Ivy League colleges were overrated and their undergrads were timid “sheep”, lays out the problem as he sees it.
What The Met Opera’s Downgraded Bond Rating Really Means (And Doesn’t Mean)
“How bad is this rating? Bloomberg noted it was ‘three steps above junk’. … [But] this does not mean, as some have interpreted, that the Met is three steps away from being placed in the worst possible category of borrower.”
Pianist Claude Frank Dead At 89
“A pianist much admired for interpretations elegantly perched between penetrating expressivity and rigorous intellectual inquest, … Frank was an influential performer and pedagogue, teaching at Yale University for nearly four decades, and a member of the Curtis Institute of Music faculty since 1988.”
Seoul Philharmonic CEO Finally Ends Her No-Good-Very-Bad Month (And Tenure) By Resigning
“Park Hyun-jung, president of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, announced on Monday afternoon that she will step down after being accused of sexual harassment and verbal abuse by her employees in early December. The announcement came a day before the orchestra’s board of directors was to officially dismiss her from her post during a board meeting.”
How “The Nutcracker” Conquered American Ballet
“When the San Francisco Ballet company performed the first complete version of The Nutcracker in the U.S. on Christmas Eve, 1944, they had no way of knowing that in time it would become as American as leaving the milk and cookies out for Santa.” (includes video)
Free The Calder In The Senate Office Building!
“The four, black aluminum clouds comprising the once-mobile component of Mountains and Clouds – one of the final works of sculptor Alexander Calder, which dominates the Hart Senate office building’s 90-foot-high atrium – haven’t drifted for more than a decade. They once rotated at a gentle speed, but have been frozen in place for years after a bearing failed.” Now one senator is trying to get the sculpture moving once more.