“Ms. Wersba began writing in the 1960s, and her work reflected the era’s new realism in literature for younger readers with stories no longer confined to intact nuclear families and sanitized goings-on like prom nights. Some of her frank themes generated criticism; others generated praise.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Poland’s Rightist Government Tries To Transform The Arts – Or Let Them Wither
“Often, the changes being made are nearly imperceptible from the outside. … By altering funding policies, swapping artistic directors or terminating contracts, [the ruling Law and Justice party is] taking an opportunist approach that doesn’t swap out the engines of Poland’s culture industry, but changes them slowly, piece by piece, cog by cog. … The government would rather have no cultural production than anything that might not fit its values.”
A Culture War Rages In Israel
As Israel lives under the most openly right-wing nationalist government in its history and as tensions rise with the Palestinians in the territories (and with many countries overseas because of the issue), both the culture ministry and many combatively conservative citizens are attacking (sometimes physically) artists, dancers, filmmakers, theater companies, and so on that breach taboos ranging from nudity onstage to the treatment of Arabs and African refugees.
J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore Website Lays Off Most Editorial Staff
“The popular website was launched by JK Rowling in 2012 after the final Harry Potter film was released and was originally conceived as a way for the British writer to maintain and grow the online Potter fandom. According to a well-placed source, Pottermore sacked a string of editorial staff over the last few days, including both senior and junior staff who were making original content for the website.”
The Marionettes Bringing Health Education To Burmese Villages
“In the play, a puppet starts to offer a cigarette to a friend but his cough gets the better of him, which makes his voice a bit funny-sounding – eliciting peals of laughter from a roomful of a hundred schoolchildren.” Didem Tali reports on puppeteers who have adapted the traditional Burmese puppet theater yoke thay to improve public health in modern Myammar.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.22.18
Paul Taylor and His Cohort
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance at Lincoln Center through March 25th.
I think I finally got it straight: Paul Taylor American Modern Dance is … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-03-22
Catching Up (Well … Giving It A Good Try)
The John Coltrane project described in this post is completed and awaiting release by Concord Jazz. However,… in the next few posts we’ll call your attention to recent listening that may interest you. Some of the albums have been out a while. Others are quite new. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-03-22
What Will Our Society Look Like When Artificial Intelligence Is Everywhere?
“Will robots become self-aware? Will they have rights? Will they be in charge?” Stephan Talty offers five potential scenarios from a future when AI surrounds us.
Back At The Very Beginning, Every Recording Of Music Had To Be Made From Scratch
“It is difficult to envisage a world in which every recording was practically unique: popular recordings are defined by their reproducibility.” Yet, in the early days of Edison’s phonograph and Eldridge Johnson’s gramophone, had become good enough to be sold for home entertainment, “no reliable and commercially viable method for duplicating recordings was developed. For about ten years, most recordings released commercially were one-off items.” Music historian Eva Moreda Rodríguez recounts some of the ingenious (and not) ways that record companies handled that limitation.
The Arts’ ‘Spillover Effect’
“If we could fully understand the impact of arts and culture on wider society, would this change arts strategies and policies? Jonathan Vickery charts the progression of thinking on the ‘spillover’ effect.”
Why Don’t American Playwrights Today Ever Write About Labor Unions?
“Why are unions off-limits? For the same reason corporate boardrooms and the 1% who haunt them are usually left out of the dramatic picture. A fear of looking at the ‘invisible’ levers of power in the real world, a reluctance to invite charges of being didactic, and anxiety about alienating audience members and the moneyed classes (bankers, corporate leaders, lawyers, etc) who fund or support performance events.” Bill Marx focuses on the issue – and on one new play that deals with it (partly).