Blog – Page 1096 – ArtsJournal Wayback

The NYT As Talent Scout

The paper of record showcases a dozen performers – dancers, musicians, street performers – in New York, shows you their work in a multimedia package, and gives some insights into their lives. – The New York Times

Do Arts Philanthropists Make The Gentrification Problem Worse?

“Remaining residents, particularly those in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods like San Francisco’s Mission District, don’t see a huge distinction between a well-intentioned arts funder and a slick developer with blueprints for luxury condos. … But does arts-based development really push out long-term residents? The research is inconclusive at best.” – Inside Philanthropy

Opera Takes Up #BlackLivesMatter And The Central Park Five

Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue is about a black police officer whose son is shot by a white colleague. Jazz trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmons have adapted New York Times columnist Charles Blow’s memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones. And The Central Park Five has a text by Richard Wesley and a score by Anthony Davis, arguably the dean of America’s black composers. And those are just the pieces premiering this summer. – The New York Times

Houston Company METdance Evicted From Its Headquarters

Six years ago, the company moved into a newly-rehabbed 11,000-square-foot space with rent and expenses of $15,000 a month — expensive, though below market for the size and location. But the expense of building damage and other after-effects of Hurricane Harvey (2017) led to a cash-flow problem from which METdance has never recovered. – Houston Chronicle

Reviving The First Language Ever Spoken In (What’s Now) Los Angeles

“Every month [students learning Tongva] gather, practicing pronunciation, mastering the use of particles, singing songs and playing word games under the guidance of Pam Munro, a linguist from UCLA who has been teaching these classes for 15 years. She calls her work ‘a reclamation effort’ for a language that is no longer used in conversations. (includes audio clips, video, and study guides) – Los Angeles Times

The Whistling Language Of Turkey May Be Endangered, But It’s Not Dead

Kuş dili (“bird language”), used to communicate over long distances in a mountainous farming area near Turkey’s Black Sea coast, renders the entire Turkish language into variously pitched and articulated whistles. Cell phones may have made kuş dili redundant, but at least some of its speakers won’t give up on it. – The New York Times

‘The Most Exciting New Private Museum In America’ — Sebastian Smee On Glenstone

“Glenstone is a 21st-century version of the Frick, the Phillips Collection or the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. And it’s the equivalent, among its contemporaries, of such celebrated art sanctuaries as Naoshima in Japan and Louisiana in Denmark. … Even as you sigh and breathe more deeply at Glenstone, you can’t help but feel that the people who set all this up — a billionaire couple who live on the property — have designs on you. And part of you — or part of me, anyway — wants to resist.” – The Washington Post

Baltimore Symphony Management Cancels All Summer Concerts; Lockout Begins June 17

The musicians have been playing without a contract since mid-January, and the main issue in negotiations has been whether to shorten the orchestra’s annual season to 40 weeks from 52, which management says there is not enough money to maintain. CEO Peter Kjome has now made that decision unilaterally, and, after the subscription concert on June 16, will not pay musicians again until September. – The Baltimore Sun

Singer Leon Redbone Dead At 69

“Although Redbone’s pop-defying predilection for seemingly antiquated musical styles of the ’20s and ’30s made him the unlikeliest of stars, he became one anyway.” – Variety