Howard Husock, an executive at the Manhattan Institute, points out the ways that the media landscape has been transformed since the passage of the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act, not least the fact that non-public television is no longer a “vast wasteland” and public radio is no longer an afterthought to television. — Current
Author: Matthew Westphal
They Tried Once To Save Atlantic City With Art, And It Flopped. Can It Work This Time Around?
Last time, in 2012, it was the “multimillion-dollar, casino-tax funded Art Park conceived — but indifferently received and later returned to its roots as a vacant lot — by Lance Fung, a world-renowned curator. This time, an Atlantic City art scene is being birthed by less renowned people: longtime community activists, returned locals, old high school friends, and artist/entrepreneurs.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer
Artist Joan Jonas To Open Interdisciplinary Center On Ocean Conservation In Venice
The institution, called Ocean Space and housed in a newly-restored historic church, will host workshops and lectures and “will also showcase the digital archive of oceanic projects organized in the last seven years by TBA21-Academy, a department of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21).” — The New York Times
Jazz Singer And Actress Nancy Wilson Dead At 81
“Ms. Wilson resisted the label of ‘jazz singer’ for much of her career, although jazz was the form to which she returned time and again and in which she had her greatest critical and popular success. She considered herself above all ‘a song stylist,’ she once told The Washington Post. ‘That’s my essence,’ she said, ‘to weave words, to be dramatic.'” — The Washington Post
A Weekend Retreat That Combines Capoeira And Sustainable Farming
Travel writer Seth Kugel visits Permangolinha, a retreat in the Brazilian state of Bahia where visitors — disciples, really — study the martial arts-based movement form with Mestre Cobra Mansa (Master Tame Snake) and work on his permaculture farm. — The New York Times
Detroit Symphony’s Woes Seem To Be Over: Budget Is Balanced, Ticket Sales Steady
Continuing its recovery from the crises of a few years ago, the DSO announced its sixth balanced budget in a row. Box office revenue rose by 1%, the popular neighborhood concerts were renewed for five more years, and the “Live from Orchestra Hall” webcasts were seen by 400,000 people. — Detroit News
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra In 2017-18: Small Surplus, Attendance Very Slightly Down, Young Listeners Up
“About 10 percent more young people caught an SPCO concert than the year before, according to a new annual report. Those young concertgoers are a big focus for the nonprofit: Since 2016, the chamber orchestra has lured school and college students with free tickets. The number of unique households attending, too, hit a record high in the fiscal year ending in 2018.” — The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Queering Cambodian Classical Dance
Prumsodun Ok is a Cambodian-American who studied Khmer court dance in the US and ultimately in Phnom Penh. Now he’s the founding artistic director of Natyarasa, Cambodia’s first LGBTQ dance company, which performs traditional dances in (what’s the best word?) gender-fluid form as well as newly-created works. (video) — Atlas Obscura
Recent Listening In Brief: Christmas Music
Laura Dickinson 17: Auld Lang Syne (Music & Mirror Records)
David Ian: Vintage Christmas (Prescott Records)
Jake Ehrenreich, with the Roger Kellaway Trio,
A Treausury of Jewish Christmas Songs (Ehrenreich)
— Doug Ramsey
Reality as a Metaphysical Construct
It is a rare thing when a book comes along that looks as magnificent as Jürgen Ploog’s Flesh Film and reads like an hallucination. — Jan Herman