“That the majority of people don’t go to the theatre is fine: it’s a free choice. But when too many people think it’s not for them, that’s a problem. They would have an amazing time if they just rocked up one night.” So this artistic director went to a supermarket parking lot to talk people into coming, one at a time.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Is This British Theatre’s Top Auteur? (And Is That Why She’s Working In Germany?)
Katie Mitchell: “It may be that the work I make is at times too ‘other’ and so won’t always fit tidily into mainstream culture in the UK. That sense of other could be to do with gender, or intellectualism, or wanting to experiment with form, or simply a feeling of Europeanism. I don’t know.”
Amazon’s Proposal To Hachette Authors Is An Offer They Can’t NOT Refuse
“Whether or not Jeff Bezos knew it – and any educated guess is that he did – Hachette was going to decline that proposal. And as Amazon knew well, the authors and agents themselves had no power to take it up on the deal.”
England’s Publicly-Funded Venues Aren’t Reaching New Audiences: Report
“Venues funded by Arts Council England are failing to attract new theatregoers and are instead relying on a core regular audience, the findings of a new report have shown.” Who is pulling in new people? The West End.
Baltimore Symphony Names Markus Stenz Principal Guest Conductor
“The German conductor, who is principal conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, made a sensational BSO debut in 2012.”
BBC To Let Its Producers Make Shows For Other Networks
“BBC director general Tony Hall has unveiled plans to allow the Corporation’s in-house production teams to make content for rival broadcasters, as part of a shake-up he has described as a ‘competition revolution’.”
Kurt Vonnegut Talks To The Dead
“As part of WNYC’s 90th anniversary celebration, Marty Goldensohn, former WNYC news director, shares excerpts from the station’s 1998 series Reports on the Afterlife. It’s based on Vonnegut’s book God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian, a fictionalized account of interviews with recently deceased people.”
Painting’s First Avant-Garde Was 500 Years Ago
In an essay titled “The Birth of Bad Taste”, Barry Schwabsky argues that “long before Matisse, the Italian artists of the sixteenth century who came to be known as Mannerists were willing to twist their figures out of proportion, and they did so to create not convincing images, but convincing paintings.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.10.14
Timken Intrigue, Part 2: The Power Play
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-07-11
More on Expanded Clark Art Institute: Added Art, Hidden Entrance, Unintended Water Feature
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-07-10
Like they used to
AJBlog: About Last Night | Published 2014-07-10
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Appraisers’ Report On Detroit Institute Of Arts Collection Is Here
“The first formal valuation of the entire city-owned collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts finds that the roughly 60,000 pieces of art are worth between $2.8 billion and $4.6 billion.” Unless they’re actually sold, in which case they’d bring in a lot less.