“Indianapolis City Ballet, founded in 2009 by the late Robert Hesse and now led by his son Kevin, presents an alternate paradigm: start with building an audience. After several attempts to sustain a professional company in Indianapolis failed, Hesse and his team are experimenting with a new model: a non-profit producing organization that seeks to bolster the city’s dance community by sponsoring events like gala performances, master classes and competitions.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
30 Publishers Reject Novel For Being ‘Too Gay’ For Mass Market, So Crowdfunding Comes To Rescue
“[Matt] Cain, the editor of Attitude magazine [a popular gay-male-oriented title in Britain], said the support for his book – which is on course to be the fastest-funded novel on [crowdfunding platform] Unbound – showed there was a market for a commercial novel about a gay man, even though publishers rejected it as ‘too working class, too 80s, too immersed in pop culture, and too gay’.”
Can There Be A Weinstein Company Without Harvey Weinstein?
“Without Mr. Weinstein, this studio, already struggling at the box office and hobbled by an exodus of senior staff members in recent years, is in serious trouble. The movie and television company’s other founder and co-chairman, Bob Weinstein, has a substantial track record running Dimension Films, a label dedicated to horror movies and family fare, like the Spy Kids franchise. [David] Glasser, sometimes referred to in Hollywood as the third Weinstein brother, is an experienced executive. But Harvey Weinstein is the one who called – or screamed – the shots, often pushing the company forward by sheer force of will.”
‘Do Not Let Me Be Fired’: Harvey Weinstein Begged Hollywood Insiders To Defend Him. They Didn’t
“Late Thursday, Harvey Weinstein called top Hollywood talent agents to ask for a substantial favor: to please speak up in his defense as he contended with sexual harassment allegations stretching back decades. When none did, and with the remnants of the Weinstein Company’s board moving to fire him as the studio’s co-chairman, Mr. Weinstein got more frantic. On Sunday, he sent an email to agents and studio executives that said he was ‘desperate’ for their help.”
Diller Scofidio + Renfro To Design London’s Long-Awaited Concert Hall
“The architects were selected by the City of London Corporation from a shortlist of well-established names, including Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano, to design the new [£250 million] Centre for Music. The concert hall will be built on the current site of the Museum of London as a permanent home for Simon Rattle’s London Symphony Orchestra.”
Akram Khan To Retire (More Or Less) From Dancing
“The 43-year-old dancer-choreographer” – one of Britain’s most celebrated – “said he would still dance smaller roles and cameos, but the physical rigours of performing solo onstage for more than an hour were becoming too much.”
ArtPrize’s 200K Public Grand Prize Goes To Lincoln Portrait Made Of Lincoln Pennies
“ArtPrize Nine [audience] voters gave Battle Creek graphic designer Richard Schlatter the $200,000 Grand Prize for his 12-foot portrait of Abraham Lincoln made from about 24,500 pennies that bear Lincoln’s image. … Schlatter said he decided to create the portrait after he was mesmerized by the various shades of pennies he had accumulated.” (To see all the 2017 ArtPrize category winners, click here.)
Outdoor Feast For 250 People Wins ArtPrize’s 200K Juried Grand Prize
“Heartside Community Meal, an outdoor meal for 250 guests in Heartside Park [in Grand Rapids] on Sept. 23, was entered by Seitu Jones, a Saint Paul, Minnesota, artist who teaches urban food systems at the University of Minnesota.” (To see all the 2017 ArtPrize category winners, click here.)
Met And Bolshoi To Co-Produce Three New Anna Netrebko Vehicles
The three productions – Verdi’s Aida, Strauss’s Salome and Wagner’s Lohengrin – are the first joint ventures for the two companies. No dates or directors have been announced yet, though Bolshoi general director Vladimir Urin made a point of saying that the project has President Putin’s approval.
Anne Wiazemsky, Star Of French New-Wave Cinema, Dead At 70
“Ms. Wiazemsky, a granddaughter of the Nobel literature laureate François Mauriac, was a leading lady in Godard films as well as [Jean-Luc] Godard’s wife, a sometime muse and later a chronicler of his pioneering role in the New Wave, which swept France in the 1960s … She became an instant star in 1966 when she was barely 18 … [in Robert Bresson’s film] Au Hasard Balthazar.”