Author: ArtsJournal2

City Opera Sounds An Ominous Note As Board Chair Steps Down

The chairman of the board also happens to be New York City Opera’s biggest benefactor. And: “Its board is down to a mere three members. It has largely spent the more than $5 million in bequests it received after emerging from bankruptcy, and its modest endowment is shrinking. The company’s most recent financial report notes that its difficulties ‘raise substantial doubt about New York City Opera, Inc.’s ability to continue as a going concern.'” – The New York Times

Robert Winter, Who Took Los Angeles Architecture And Its History Seriously, Has Died At 94

Winter made the city’s architecture come alive for the people he taught (at Occidental) and those he took on quirky, packed bus tours of the city he adopted. “Winter’s gift to the city was An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, a field guide of sorts that identified, cheered and occasionally mocked L.A.’s diverse architecture. The book, now in its sixth edition, was embraced as a bible by many.” – Los Angeles Times

Blackface Was Never Harmless

Yes, minstrel shows started in the 19th century – and were one of the U.S.’s first popular forms of entertainment. But they were never seen as harmless, at least not by African Americans. “Frederick Douglass decried blackface performers as ‘the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied to them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow citizens.'” – The Atlantic

The Lincoln Memorial Is Iconic, But It Might Have Been Very Different

So many things could have gone wrong. For instance: “As ideally situated as it seems today, many officials charged with building the Memorial did not want to locate it at West Potomac Park, the once-marshy fringe of Washington’s National Mall. Bizarre alternative proposals included Virginia’s Arlington Cemetery—in the former Confederacy.” Then let’s talk about the statue. – The Wall Street Journal

Dave Smith, Disney’s Archivist And The Keeper Of The Company’s Secrets, Has Died

The man with expert knowledge on everything in the company’s past has died at 78. “In an industry that’s notorious for neglecting its past, Smith stood out as perhaps the most respected, if unheralded, member of a small group of in-house studio historians. Smith is credited with helping Hollywood understand the cultural value of its past, starting at Disney in 1970 when rival studios were auctioning or dumping their histories.” – Los Angeles Times