Last month, Fan Bingbing, who had not been seen or heard from since early July, was getting public denunciations from government-related bodies and seemed on the way to being made a non-person, old-time-Communist-style. Authorities have now declared Fan and her companies liable for a total of up to $129 million in back taxes and fines, and she has posted a public apology and acceptance of punishment on social media.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Hollywood’s Box Office Income From China Down 24% In A Year
“[It’s] the largest drop since the country’s box-office boom era began. Trump’s trade war with China has yet to directly impact the entertainment business, but Hollywood’s position in the massive Middle Kingdom marketplace is becoming somewhat precarious.”
England’s Arts Funding Body To Consider Micro-Grants
In Arts Council England’s first-ever “live online review of the year,” a questioner asked executives (via Twitter) if there could be a relatively red-tape-free way for artists to apply for amounts as small as £500. (ACE has two programs that make grants from £2,000 up to £15,000.) CEO Darren Henley replied, “We don’t know the answer yet, but it’s something we will go away and think about.”
‘Consolationism’ — Proposing An African Approach To Philosophy
Nigerian philosopher Ada Agada writes about how, building on the ideas of African thinkers such as Léopold Sédar Senghor and Kwame Nkrumah, he found his way to this synthesis of Western academic philosophy and traditional African thought.
The State of Engagement
For too many arts organizations, their level of self-focus apparently makes understanding that effective community engagement is something substantially different from traditional sales/marketing/fundraising/education approaches nearly impossible.
Looking like the outside world
Simon Rattle recently asked, “Why do our groups of classical musicians not look like London looks, and what can we do about it?” This sounds like a great goal. But what’s harder to imagine is how we’d get there.
Why Theatres Keep Messing Up When It Comes To The Working Class
Playwright Adam Hughes: “It seems that a lot of venues and organisations only want diversity when it’s visible and they can clearly highlight the ‘changes’ they are making. … So long as people are seen to be doing something, that is deemed enough. This is why class is constantly ignored – you cannot see it, you can’t easily be called out on it, so it’s not at the forefront of people’s agendas.”
Instagram And YouTube Are Messing With Young Ballerinas’ Heads, Warns Diana Vishneva
“When I was young we simply didn’t have time for anything other than ballet. Now kids spend hours on social media. And you see that immediately on stage. They don’t know about timing or have a sense of movement. It has to happen right away. They want everything now.”
Why Shakespeare Is The Perfect Playwright For The Politics Of 2018
Peter Conrad: “Shakespeare’s history plays about feudal England and republican Rome have become a nightmare from which the present is trying to awake. Tory plotters against the enfeebled Theresa May could be auditioning for the role of Richard III, who deftly kills his way to the crown. Meanwhile Donald Trump, according to his lawyer John Dowd, behaves like ‘an aggrieved Shakespearean king’ – a petulant Richard II or a deranged Lear, astonished by the disrespect of his subjects. Trump also matches two of Shakespeare’s Romans – a would-be Julius Caesar with despotic longings, he is as titanically tetchy as Coriolanus, given to volleys of abuse that betray his mental instability.”
Patti Smith: ‘Little Women’ Was A Guide For My Young Life
“Through the March girls I came to know extreme poverty and the cost of war. I learned from Jo’s example that art is not produced solely by dreaming but through discipline, steadfast and confident application, and the willingness to accept and grow from astute criticism. Jo, as her creator, was always scribing, littering the floor with her failures, until such skins were shed and she connected with the core of self-expression.”