“Alberta Ballet executive director Martin Bragg said in an interview … that the company, which employs 34 dancers full time, is the collateral damage of the program that allows citizens of other countries to work in Canada for specified periods of time in certain industries.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Kenny Wheeler, Jazz Trumpeter And Composer, Dead At 84
“Wheeler’s ECM albums of the Seventies – recorded with Norma Winstone and John Taylor – remain a touchstone of quiet and unflamboyant ensemble playing. Wheeler, also a flugelhorn player, was a fine composer, as he showed in works such as Jigsaw, with its clever harmonic patterns.”
Can Graffiti Be Copyrighted?
This summer, Miami street artist David Anasagasti “hired a lawyer and filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit, accusing American Eagle of stealing his work and seeking monetary damages. … Lawyers who work in this area say it’s not clear anyone has ever tried this in court. Copyright law, as its name suggests, lays out the rules for when it’s okay to copy something. But does it extend to art that’s on public walls?”
At ArtPrize, Jury Decisions Gain Equality With Popular Vote
“For the first time this year, the public votes and juried votes will run along parallelled tracks. Both the jury and the public will be mulling over the same four categories, awarding prizes with the same amount of money for each category at $20,000 and awarding an equal Grand Prize of $200,000.”
The Problems With Cross-Gender Casting In Shakespeare
“The two best justifications for the practice are a relative shortage of major roles for women and a desire to freshen up overfamiliar texts.” Yet, argues Mark Lawson, cross-casting sets carefully wrought father-daughter and mother-son relationships (Prospero and Miranda, Lear, Hamlet and Gertrude) awry, and “if the governing aim of a production is to make the play seem different, perhaps those involved ought to be doing a different play.”
You Know What’s Wrong With Grammar Nazis?
“[They] are incurious about the logic and history of the English language and … have a tin ear for its nuances of meaning and emphasis. Too lazy to crack open a dictionary, they are led by gut feeling and intuition rather than attention to careful scholarship. … In their zeal to purify usage and safeguard the language, they have made it difficult to think clearly about felicity in expression and have muddied the task of explaining the art of writing.”
India Develops A Stand-Up Comedy Scene
“Affluent Indian urbanites – till now weaned on a censorship-prone diet of cinema and soap operas – are awakening to this new form of entertainment, fascinated by the prospect of non-stop laughs for an hour. And they’re willing to pay for it.” But comedians doing their usual skewering of taboos face more-than-usual risks.
Chicago Symphony Considering New Summer Home In Western Burbs
“The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is considering a privately owned site in Naperville as a location for a permanent outdoor concert venue. But DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin says a lot has to happen before the proposal becomes a reality.”
Nashville Symphony And Musicians Agree on Four-Year Contract (With Raises!)
“The agreement, which goes into effect immediately, provides 3 percent pay increases for the first two years of the deal. The musicians may enter into a wage renegotiation for each of the last two years of the deal. Last year, with the Schermerhorn Symphony Center facing foreclosure, the musicians took a 15 percent pay reduction and worked on a one-year deal.”
Do Ideas Actually Matter?
“If you go to the Boston Review Web site, you’ll find the slogan ‘Ideas Matter’ gracing the top of the homepage. … But in the social sciences, the idea that ideas matter has always been controversial. How much do ideas really matter? Do they affect individuals and societies more or less than do material circumstances such as economic incentives, physical constraints, and military force?” (In one way, definitely.)