Author: ArtsJournal2

How Live Nation Rules The Music World, Including, Some Say, With Threats

Want to know how the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster affected the entire music industry, from management to tours to sponsorship and owning venues? The NYT explains, and explains the fees (as far as they’re explicable) as well. “At many concerts Live Nation is not just the ticket seller, but also the promoter, the venue operator or even the artist’s manager, with an opportunity to collect at every juncture.”

London’s Hamilton Explains Why He Loves ‘Black Panther,’ And Gives Book Recs As Well

Jamael Westman says that “Wakanda forever” is part of what he says when parting from friends now – “It becomes a state of mind” – and talks about why he likes playwriting podcasts: “Amazing playwrights like these can feel unreachable. You can’t imagine them as normal people because all you see is their name in shiny lights under an amazing play. But this humanises them – it’s like chilling in a writer’s room.”

British (And Commonwealth) Authors Want The Booker To Ban Americans Again

They’re fed up and don’t want to take it anymore, after the last two years of the prize have resulted in wins from U.S. authors. “The crescendo of frustration may have reached a peak. A group that counts the literary heavyweights Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan and Zadie Smith among its members has fired a shot across the bow, demanding that the Man Booker Foundation reverse a 2014 decision making any novel written in English and published in Britain eligible for the prize.”

Bringing Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Book To The Stage In A Crystallized Moment Of Intense Pain

Though Coates said he was “really tired and kind of suspicious” as the book became a bestseller and cultural touchstone in 2015 – and he resisted his friend Kamilah Forbes’ ideas about turning it into a staged performance – he eventually gave her the stage rights and stepped away from the project, which runs at the Apollo and the Kennedy Center this week. “It won’t quite be a play or a straight recitation of the celebrated book, which won the National Book Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Excerpts and fragments will be read either solo or in groups by a cast that includes the actress Angela Bassett and the rappers Common and Black Thought. Projections visualizing Mr. Coates’s vivid imagery will tower behind them, and the jazz musician Jason Moran will perform a live score with a trio.”

Stop Trying To Make Spanish-Californian Architecture ‘Mexican,’ Please

The style has its roots in colonialism, and in a place that hasn’t been Mexico for quite some time. Carolina Miranda has the story: “The architectural style known as Colonial Californiano is the story of ideas ricocheting between two cultures in unlikely ways. And it is one that leaves its mark on Mexico City to this day in the form of apartment buildings and grand private homes — neocolonial structures whose immediate design antecedents lie not in Mexico, but, ironically, in the United States.”

The Brooklyn Museum Hires Two White Curators For Its African Collections, And Backlash Is Strong

The problem isn’t these two curators, specifically (though the “Black Panther” references are flying thick and fast on Twitter), it’s this widespread institutional issue: “African-Americans made up a mere 4 percent of all curators, conservators, educators and museum leaders, while Hispanics made up 3 percent and Asians made up 6 percent, according to a widespread museum demographic survey completed by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2015. White scholars occupied those roles at overwhelming rates, while people of color were more represented at museums through janitorial or security roles.”

The Power Behind The Plays At Humana

Amy Wegener is the literary director for Actors Theatre of Louisville, and she’s the leader of the pack when it comes to finding scripts, reading plays, and getting everyone – artistic directors most definitely included – into conversations around what shows should run at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. As this year’s festival wraps up next weekend, she’s prepping for 2019 and thinking about how to support the playwrights, directors, actors, and everyone else involved. “I’m constantly reminded that every project and team is different — you’re embarking on exploring a brand-new world each time, even with beloved collaborators.”

Musicians In Britain Have Been Hit Hard By A ‘Management Scam’

The firm Band Management Union charged artists up to £4,000 for services, did nothing for the artists – and has now closed its website and email addresses and canceled its phones. One artist who spoke out about BMU a couple of years ago said that “she received abusive messages attacking her looks and mental health, and received a number of targeted negative reviews after complaining about the company online.”