Why Would An Adult Author And Journalist Decide To Write A Series Of Books For Kids?

Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani-American author who decided to step up her interfaith writing after 9/11. She wrote journalism, op-eds, and an acclaimed book of short stories. Then she had kids, and she noticed an issue: “Here we are in multicultural America, where in many cities, including my own hometown of Houston, brown and black is the majority skin color, and yet an overwhelming percentage of children’s books feature white kids. There were certainly not any Muslim or South Asian main characters in early readers, and that’s the age kids are just learning their own identities and deciding if they love reading or hate it.” So, she thought, why not help change that?

Nancy Blomberg, Curator Who Championed Native American Art And Artists, Has Died At 72

Blomberg was a curator at the Denver Art Museum who dramatically changed the way Native art was treated at the museum and elsewhere. “She emphasized that pieces often thought of as anthropological artifacts were in fact artworks; she also pushed to expand the collection with work by contemporary artists and set up residencies for them.”

What Could Theatre Do To Work With And Spotlight NonBinary People Onstage And Beyond?

Philadelphia seems to be finding out: “Justice for non-binary people is about naming and acknowledging that we exist in rehearsal, performance, and audience spaces. It’s about creating braver spaces amidst verbal and physical harassment on the street as well as in respectable, progressive establishments. It’s about training companies to understand and respect the non-binary experience before they invite us into the room. It’s about paying non-binary folks for their emotional and intellectual labor when we’re asked for dramaturgical help in a creative process. It’s about theatres doing their own research before expecting non-binary folks to educate them.”

It’s The End, Or Beginning, Of An Era: The Met Will Perform On Sundays

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Yep: “The unions representing the Met’s orchestra, chorus and several other groups finished ratifying a new contract this week that will pave the way to a change, as the company, facing a worrisome decline in attendance, has realized that audiences find it increasingly difficult to squeeze in lengthy operas on weeknights.”

City Ballet Fires Two Male Stars Implicated In Explicit Photo-Sharing Lawsuit

The two, including “leading light” Amar Ramasar, were named in the same lawsuit that said City Ballet had a “fraternity atmosphere” in which one dancer – Chase Finlay, who resigned before he could be fired – was “accused … of sending explicit pictures and videos of Alexandra Waterbury, a young woman he had been dating, to his friends without her consent, and asking others to send back explicit photos of their own.”

A Movie Where Opera Doesn’t Signal Evil

Of course, it had to be the adaptation of Ann Patchett’s novel Bel Canto. The movie, which comes out on September 14, “is the rare film that does not use opera to comment ironically on bloodshed, or signal sinister depravity, or provide the sonic equivalent of a heart-shaped box of chocolates in a moment of slightly cloying Valentine’s Day-style romance.”

Movie Theatres Want Netflix Movies Playing In Them (And The Industry Does Not Disagree)

Big screens are simply better, or so the movie theatre owners say. “‘Our model can work for their movies, too,’ National Association of Theatre Owners president and CEO John Fithian told the Hollywood Reporter while attending the Toronto International Film Festival. Holding out an olive branch to Netflix, Fithian welcomed the streamer’s success in bringing more content to more audiences.”