The 45-year-old Finnish conductor told the orchestra’s board that she would not renew her contract when it expires in 2019. She plans to concentrate on her international career.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Smucker’s Gives $1.1 Million To Akron Art Museum
“The J.M. Smucker Co.” – yes, the folks who make jam and peanut butter – “is giving $1.1 million to the Akron Art Museum to support the museum’s endowment and Free Thursdays program.”
At Cambridge, Dons Debate How To ‘Decolonise’ English Lit Syllabus
“A group of academics at the University of Cambridge is considering how to implement a call from undergraduates to ‘decolonise’ its English literature syllabus by taking in more black and minority ethnic writers, and bringing post-colonial thought to its existing curriculum. The debate is being followed closely by other universities.”
‘Producer’ Who Bilked Investors With Non-Existent Play Sentenced To Prison
“Roland Scahill, 42, confessed to a scheme that took place between October 2014 and August 2015, in which Mr. Scahill told associates that he had secured the rights to the life story of Kathleen Battle, the opera singer, and was going to produce a one-woman play called The Kathleen Battle Project with Lupita Nyong’o as its star.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.25.17
Excellence and Engagement: III
In my two previous posts I have been exploring the question of excellence as it applies to community engagement in the arts. Here, I want to address issues of equity and respect for communities in this context. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-10-24
The Legacy of ’90s Indie Rock
If you live long enough and write for a living, there’s a pretty good chance you will end up “curating” — to use the current term – your own youth. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-10-25
Fats Domino, Rhythm-And-Blues Legend And One Of The Creators Of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Dead At 89
Throughout the 1950s and early ’60s, he sold up to 70 million records, including such well-remembered hits as “Blueberry Hill”, “I’m Walkin'”, and “Red Sails in the Sunset”. Even as late as the mid-’70s, he had been outsold by only The Beatles and Elvis Presley, who insisted that Domino was the better rock ‘n’ roll singer.
Sorting Through Joan Rivers’s Massive Files Of Jokes
“The drawers are jammed with jokes typed on 4-by-6-inch cards – 52 drawers, stacked waist-high, like a card catalog of a certain comedian’s life’s work, a library of laughs. … She arranged the 52 drawers alphabetically by subject, from ‘Annoying habits’ to ‘Zoo.’ … A drawer in the G’s begins with ‘growing older’ and ends with ‘guns.’ It takes the next drawer to hold all the cards filed under ‘guys I dated.'”
That Guy Who Put A Peeing Dog Next To The ‘Fearless Girl’ Statue? He Got Run Over By A Subway Train
Alex Gardega, who responded to what he called the “corporate nonsense” of the State Street Bank-sponsored “Fearless Girl” statue on Wall Street by placing his “Pissing Pug” statue at its feet, was hit by a downtown no. 6 train on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. (He had evidently been on the subway tracks.)
What Exactly *Is* Art Therapy And How Does It Help People?
First of all, it’s not basket-weaving or general arts and crafts – it is a healthcare discipline and art therapists are mental health professionals. American Art Therapy Association board president Dr. Donna Betts explains to a reporter the nature of the practice, how it’s used to help clients ranging from autistic children to traumatized veterans, and the current state of art therapy in the United States.
How The Seattle Symphony Pulled In The Educated Transplants Flocking To The City
Using extensive market research and three new concert formats, the SSO identified, and pursued, NUCCs (new urban cultural consumers). Among the surprising things the orchestra found is that the new formats don’t serve as “on-ramps” to the main Masterworks series; they are separate products and brand extensions. Also, the audience for the one-hour 7 p.m. concerts is the one with the most conservative tastes.