Author: ArtsJournal2

The University Of Arizona Still Wants Its De Kooning Back

“The museum had just opened when a man and a woman walked in. They were the sole visitors. The woman, described as being in her mid-50s with shoulder-length reddish and blond hair, distracted the a security guard by making small-talk while the man, who appeared to be in his 20s and wore a mustache and glasses, cut the painting from the large frame, leaving the edges of the canvas attached.”

Seriously, How To Get Gender Parity In Theatre?

“This is the way that recognition of the issue—which is usually step one—has been sidelined by those who want to feel that they’ve addressed the problem but don’t actually want to address it. They say it’s already been addressed, solved, and resolved. They say that now it’s a merit-based system, and anyone who isn’t entering and moving up the pipeline doesn’t have merit. They say that women have other priorities, choosing families and personal lives over their work. They say that to give voice to artists who don’t meet their standards would be minimizing the quality of the work they offer the world.”

The Bronx, Where Art Is Saving The World

“The DreamYard Project has a patriotic attachment to the Bronx. Two young actors, Jason Duchin and Tim Lord, founded it, twenty-one years ago, to teach public-school kids in grades K through twelve by using the arts. The idea was to recruit teachers from among working artists of Duchin’s and Lord’s acquaintance in New York and match them with schools whose funding for arts education had been cut. Through a few changes, that has been DreamYard’s basic mission from the start”

The (Frankly Bizarre) Dominance Of Enya

“Her success so deeply contradicts accepted industry wisdom that it’s inspired a term — ‘Enya-nomics’ — to describe it. Several years ago, she was invited to Harvard Business School to discuss the subject, but, like most invitations, Enya declined. Her underexposure, after all, is at the heart of both Enya-nomics and her appeal.”

How To Fix Risk-Averse Arts Institutions

From a Portland playwright and grantwriter: “Consider just doing a show when you’re ready and not forcing yourself to program a whole season. Consider strategic partnerships. Consider not becoming a nonprofit and being an LLC instead. Consider the difference between what you want and what you need. (Do you WANT your own building, or do you NEED your own building?) Consider what you’re spending money on. Invest in people first, stuff second.”

So It Turns Out There’s A ‘Mollywood’ – The Mormon Film Industry

“Two different films from recent years — ‘Mobsters And Mormons’ and ‘Inspired Guns’ — involve culture clashes between, well, mobsters and Mormons. However, because these films’ humor relies so heavily on Mormon-specific culture, and often Utah-specific Mormon culture, they’re thought to be near-incomprehensible to a wider audience.”