“Most rationales for public art programs emphasize civic-minded virtue. On this view, public art — fiber in the salty diet of the polis — is considered an inherent good for the citizenry, believed to promote a robust sense of community and place.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Newly Discovered 100-Year-Old Graffiti By The U.S.’s Most Famous Hobo
“What we found is very understated compared to today’s graffiti. We’re used to thinking of it as in spray paint, really colorful. What we found was the underside of a bridge with completely undisturbed writing from 1914 to 1921 and it was the graffiti of hobos written in things like charcoal from their fires or chalk.”
This Woman Has 20 Tony Award Nominations
And no wins. “Greenwood received her first nomination back in 1965,” and her most recent this year for “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”
The Most Important Art In The … Galaxy?
“Which images from our age will endure? Will they be Turner prize-winning artworks, or will they be pictures such as those taken by the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite, which launched in 2009 and over the next four years collected the first light in the universe?”
Want To Play In A School Orchestra? Better Live In The Right District
“Parents in less affluent districts may not be able to provide that extra support. Schools legally can’t charge students to participate in extracurricular activities such as band or sports, so everyone should have equal access. But more affluent parents can help pay for private lessons and additional coaches, giving their students an edge.”
Pittsburgh: Literary Metropolis (Yes, For Real)
“For years the city was a Rust Belt punch line to those too ill-informed to experience the tough beauty of the place. And yet economics can be destiny, which is why it’s heartening, surprising, and in some sense worrying to see Pittsburgh discovered now by national magazines and newspapers which are always looking for the next location, a new Portland or Austin where arty people with expendable cash can drink craft beer and go to pop-up art galleries.”
The Problem With All Of Those Hot New Food Halls In Big Cities
” It’s easy (if you’re not poor, that is) to be swept away with excitement by the sight of all that quivering, umami, gleaming, exciting food. Smoked whitefish with rice from Ivan Ramen! Hibiscus doughnuts from Dough! Popsicles made from cherry blossoms! Wow! But when you finally eat them, the revolutionary pleasures they seemed to offer are compressed out of all existence by the crowded, uncomfortable, competitive space, the lackluster culinary skills of the food workers, and the pressures of doing what is in effect the unpaid job of Instagramming, tweeting, and blogging about the hyped-up food you just ate.”
On Demand, Improvised And Fully Scannable New Shakespeare(-Like) Plays
“After the title is picked, one actor steps up to recite a prologue, all in unrehearsed rhyme. Recent shows ranged from ‘Straight Outta Venice,’ which featured some terribly fantastic rapping, to ‘Survivor: Globe Edition,’ which turned into a ‘Tempest’-like romp of romance and murder, along with a monster that beggars description.”
Where Would Writers Be Without Muhammed Ali?
“David Hirshey, the senior vice president and executive editor of HarperCollins, called Ali ‘the perfect prism through which to view sports, race, religion, politics, celebrity, comedy, tragedy.'”
The One And Only Beet-Farming Asian American Yellowstone Painter
“Most of the year, Montana presents a nearly monochromatic landscape: white in winter, brown in summer, with a bright green moment in late spring. Raised on that sober palette, Harry Koyama is wanton in his use of color. His bears are red. His bison glow golden.”