“This year the boldface names belong to writers and musicians: Junot Díaz, 43, the writer and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Chris Thile, 31, a mandolinist and composer in New York City; David Finkel 56, a Washington Postreporter; Dinaw Mengestu, 34, a novelist and journalist in Washington; and Claire Chase, 34, a flutist and arts entrepreneur in Brooklyn.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Rochester Philharmonic Caught In Spiraling Turmoil
There’s a $700,000 deficit, low morale and high staff turnover, the withdrawal of a $1 million pledge, factionalism on the board, and a controversial CEO who wasn’t on speaking terms with the music director until an arbitrator came in. Said a consultant’s report, “Any organization that is faced with such a level of dysfunction is endangered.”
One Of Australia’s Top Contemporary Dance Troupes Forced To Abandon Full-Time Status
“Leigh Warren, whose dance company Leigh Warren & Dancers is based in Adelaide, says government grants for the arts has become a ‘terrible raffle’ that cannot be relied on for ongoing funding. He says that as a result, he plans to turn to freelance work interstate and overseas to keep his studio in business next year.”
Libya’s Film Industry Begins To Emerge From Qaddafi’s Long Dark Night
“There was no film-making culture here at all under [the late dictator],” says one director recently returned to the country. “He didn’t want anybody to be more famous than him. Even the football players had just numbers on their shirts, because he didn’t want anyone to know their names. He certainly wasn’t going to let anybody be a film director.”
IMG Artists Co-Chair Avoids Jail Time
“Barrett Wissman, co-chair of IMG Artists, will serve no jail time for his role in a sweeping case of securities fraud in which investment firms paid kickbacks to manage assets of the New York state pension fund.”
Historian Eric Hobsbawm, 95
The lifelong Marxist thinker’s “four-volume history of the 19th and 20th centuries, spanning European history from the French revolution to the fall of the USSR, is acknowledged as among the defining works on the period.”
Writers’ Campaign Saves Manchester’s Library Books From The Pulp Mill
“A campaign by the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and a number of other literary names to stop the destruction of hundreds of thousands of books at the UK’s largest municipal library appeared to have succeeded.”
Top British Poetry Prize Goes To US Woman For First Time
“Jorie Graham has become the first American woman ever to win one of the UK’s most prestigious poetry accolades, the Forward prize for best collection, beating Oxford’s professor of poetry Geoffrey Hill to take the £10,000 award.”
Down With Entrance Applause! Clap When An Actor Has Earned It
Kate Taylor: “I don’t object to entrance applause on the grounds it isn’t proper etiquette. … I don’t object on the grounds it breaks the illusion of theatre. … Instead, I object to entrance applause because it is a nasty manifestation of a celebrity-obsessed culture that, tautologically, takes an actor’s fame as a measure of his achievement rather than judging his current performance.”
In Praise Of Entrance Applause: It’s A Part Of The Art Form
Kelly Nestruck: “When a famous performer … walks on stage, the waking dreamworld is broken for a moment whether you want to admit it or not. Entrance applause seems to me a natural acknowledgment of that rupture, especially since so many of us really go to the theatre for two reasons: to see a particular actor and to see the show they’re in.”