In November, just two months after India’s highest court decriminalized same-sex relations, the Awadh Queer Committee (which has already organized a pride march and a film festival in the past year) in Lucknow will present the first dedicated LGBTQ literary event anywhere in South Asia.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Geta Brătescu, Superstar Of Romanian Contemporary Art, Dead At 92
“Brătescu’s work has for years been a powerful influence on artists in the Romanian contemporary art scene, but it wasn’t until the past few years that she achieved fame outside Eastern Europe … [Her] output took the form of films, collages, photographs, installations, travel journals, drawings, and more over the course of her seven-decade career. Her primary interests included the body and the relationship between art and life, and her work often tackled these themes with a dry sense of humor.”
Rio’s Police Department Gets An Artist-In-Residence
“I was very apprehensive and came with a stereotypical image of the police,” says Tatiana Altberg. But, as she has done workshops with the staffers in her precinct, “I’ve tried to put myself in their shoes. As I listen to their side of the problems and issues facing them, I’ve realised that it is very hard to be a police officer in Rio de Janeiro.”
20 Classic Movies And The Women Behind Them
“Women have been on the cinematic front lines from the start. While men took most of the credit for building the movie industry, women — on camera and off, in the executives suites and far from Hollywood — were busily, thrillingly, building it, too. That’s the reason for our list of Movie Women You Should Know, which is not a canon or a pantheon but a celebration and an invitation to further discovery. Here are some of the art’s other pioneers — its independents and entrepreneurs, auteurs and artisans.”
Rachmaninoff Uncorked
Rachmaninoff’s impromptu solo-piano rendering of his Symphonic Dances documents roaring cataracts of sound, massive chording, and pounding accents powered by a demonic thrust the likes of which no studio environment has ever fostered. Rachmaninoff’s humbling presence, re-encountered, is gigantic, cyclopean.
What’s The Job Of A Reference Librarian In The Age Of Google? Community Service
Sari Feldman, chief of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Cleveland: “Where is reference headed, and how is it being practiced in 2018? I asked some of my colleagues, and I heard a fairly consistent message: with so much information available online today, the value librarians add comes through their connection to the community,” helping patrons with, for example, applying for government social programs, obtaining health information, or navigating immigration and naturalization issues.
Journalist/Guinea Pig Tries Auditioning For Alvin Ailey Dance Company (Uh-Oh)
Madison Mills: “What does it take to make it as a dancer in New York? I have no idea. I’ve never done ballet, I prefer jazz hands to leaps, and I’m more uncoordinated than most. Regardless, I decided to find out. So I auditioned for Alvin Ailey, one of the most prestigious dance companies in New York. It wasn’t pretty.” (video)
A Year In The Life Of An Art Critic
“In which one writer, ARTnews Executive Editor Andrew Russeth, attempts to narrate life in the New York art world over the course of one full season, from September 2017 to September 2018, with brief forays to Miami, New Orleans, Basel, Buffalo, San Francisco, and a few other places. Along the way, countless exhibitions are visited, performances are witnessed, museum protests are reported on, art fairs are tolerated, and celebrations of various kinds are attended. Meanwhile, all sorts of surprises come in over the transom.”
What’s Behind The Subgenre Of ‘Rock Star Romance’ Novels?
To figure it out, Rebecca Onion read a bunch of them: “Romance novels, as a genre, do a lot of thinking about the way power (wealth, intelligence, competence) drives attraction — for the women swooning over the male heroes, but also for the men themselves, who (in romance novels written recently, at least) often fall in love with heroines who can match their qualities of personal strength. Given that thematic interest, romance between civilians and stars is a natural fit. These rock stars are ‘alphas’ in the ‘best at their jobs’ sense; they need the women they meet to help them develop their private selves.”
How Can Small-City Ballet Companies Develop Big Reputations? Here Are Answers From Three Who Did It
“Small- to medium-sized companies based in cities outside dance meccas … are often written off as ‘regional,’ or somehow lesser than their big city counterparts. But in recent decades, a few have defied such categorization as they’ve gained traction on the national and international scene. So how does a company build an international profile without losing connection to its hometown? We asked the directors of Tulsa Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Sarasota Ballet to share their strategies.”