“Over a period of 15 years, from 1967 to 1982, [he] wrote some of the most brilliant and distinctive plays on the British stage. Yet he became sour and paranoid about the failure of the artistic establishment to pay him his rightful due.” – The Guardian
Author: Matthew Westphal
Baltimore Symphony Musicians File Charges With National Labor Relations Board
The unfair labor practices complaint charges that Baltimore Symphony management has failed to bargain in good faith, “unlawfully locked out the musicians … [and] failed and refused to provide relevant and necessary information requested by the union in bargaining.” – WBAL-TV (Baltimore)
Canceling ‘Cancel Culture’ — Would That Even Be Necessary?
“The best argument against cancel culture is that the whole thing is a myth, existing only in the furious minds of outraged social media users. People who are canceled usually don’t stay that way, and often the attention just fuels their success.” – Wired
The Agreed-Upon Definition Of Museum Will Not Be Changed — For Now
Following “profound and healthy debate” at its Extraordinary General Assembly, the International Council of Museums postponed indefinitely a vote on whether to adopt a new definition of museums as “democratizing, inclusive and polyphonic spaces for critical dialogue about the pasts and the futures … aiming to contribute to human dignity and social justice, global equality and planetary wellbeing.” – Time
DC Mayor Locks City’s Arts Commission Out Of Its Storage Vault
In an escalation of what has reportedly been a long feud, staffers of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities “arrived at their offices in Southeast before the holiday weekend to find that the badges that grant them access to the agency’s art collection no longer worked.” The locks had been changed on the order of the office of Mayor Muriel Bowser, and access was not restored until the middle of the following week. – Washington City Paper
Kansas City Symphony Music Director Michael Stern Renews For Three Years, Will Then Retire
The 59-year-old conductor’s contract was to have expired at the end of this season; he’ll now remain on the job through 2022-23. In his 14 years there so far, he’s brought the KCSO increasing renown beyond Kansas City and enviable success at home: the orchestra’s classical concert series averages 94% of seats sold. – KCUR (Kansas City)
The United States’ Most ‘Arts-Vibrant’ Cities: Report
“A report from SMU DataArts ranks the most ‘arts-vibrant’ communities in the United States based on the number of artists and arts and cultural nonprofits it has, as well as the number of people employed by the sector; program and contributed revenues, expenses, and compensation; and government support.” – Philanthropy News Digest
Public Statues Aren’t Used To Commemorate History. They’re Used To Craft It. Consider The Age Of Statuomania.
Dozens of statues went up in western European cities in the decades between the revolutions of 1848 and the outbreak of World War I. Nowhere were they used more deliberately to craft a national history and identity than in Belgium, which had become an independent country only in 1830. – History Today
Reimagining ‘Giselle’ For The Social Media Age
“Imagine this scenario: Hilarion likes Giselle, but she swipes right on Albrecht, and is smitten. Little does she know, Albrecht is already involved with Bathilde. When Giselle finds out, she livestreams her downward spiral (perhaps her hair even comes down in the midst of her heartbreak?), and enters a realm of women who’ve similarly been ghosted, or otherwise spurned by online relationships. This is the basic premise of Joshua Beamish’s new @giselle.” – Pointe Magazine
At 93, Betye Saar Is Finally Achieving Mainstream Art-World Stardom
“After a latish start as an artist — she was in her 30s — she made steady initial headway in a male-dominated Black Power movement and a white-dominated feminist movement. And she has held her own in a mainstream art market that has been, until very recently, unwelcoming to African-American art.” Now she has solo shows at flagship museums on both coasts: MoMA and LACMA. Why now? “Because,” she says, “it’s about time!” – The New York Times