Louis Hobson, who left a solid but stalling career on Broadway to return home to Seattle as artistic director of the city’s Balagan Theater: “The worst thing you can be in New York is just good. You have to take a risk and try to be brilliant or risk being terrible.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Australia’s Richest Art Prize Goes To Jailed Felon
“The nation’s richest art prize has been awarded to a former Art Gallery of NSW security guard who is serving a six-year prison sentence for a drug-induced armed robbery. Nigel Milsom took out the $150,000 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize for his dark portrait of his grandfather’s friend, Uncle Paddy.”
Princess Of Qatar Tops ArtReview‘s Power 100 List
“Her full title is Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani … The sheikha, daughter of the former emir of Qatar and sister of the current one, has control of the biggest cash pile in the world when it comes to buying western modern and contemporary art.”
Today In Neuro-Pop: How To Build A Happier Brain
In his new book, Berkeley neuropsychologist Rick Hanson argues that the human brain is naturally predisposed to focus on the negative (so as to remain alert to dangers) – but that we can rewire the brain with what another generation called the power of positive thinking.
Edward Villella: “I’ve Been Iced!”
The former Balanchine star and Miami City Ballet founder, back in New York after an unhappy departure from Florida, found himself choreographing, of all things, an ice dancing show. And he loved it.
The Transgender Character That Changed Soap Operas
Coronation Street‘s Hayley Cropper, introduced as a bad joke in 1997, and her husband Roy “are one of the few outposts in soap you can turn to for moral virtue. Among the serial killers, pin-ups, playboys, alcoholics and adulterers of contemporary Corrie, the couple in the zip-up cardigan and the red anorak have become an unlikely symbol of purity.”
Meet Australia’s King Of Theatre Costumes
“‘This is literally a bloody business,’ says John Molloy, as he surveys a crimson-splattered table. ‘I don’t know why it comes down to wardrobe to make blood. Everyone who works in costuming hates blood. It’s almost uncontrollable.'”
“The Barber”: A Story Flannery O’Connor Never Published
“Even at 22, the author was smart, acerbic, and fascinated by human limitations.”
The Three Most Important Things Michael J. Fox Has Done
“Sufferers of Parkinson’s disease got lucky when Michael J. Fox became their poster boy.” Joe Nocera uses his New York Times Op-Ed column to praise the genuinely extraordinary effect the actor has had.
Ireland Cuts Arts Budget Yet Again, This Time By 7%
The government’s announced budget for 2014 marks the sixth consecutive year of reductions in arts spending, which has fallen by one-third since 2008.