“When people say that power corrupts… I don’t happen to believe that. Power reveals. When you’re on your way up, you have to conceal what you intend to do. Once you get power, then you see it, what he really wanted to do.” – The Guardian
Blog
Transporting The Instruments For A Touring Orchestra Is An Even Bigger Production Than You Think
A reporter talks with a logistics expert at DHL who’s worked with touring orchestras for 15 years about everything it takes to pull a successful tour off. – WQXR (New York City)
Truth Versus Lies: Suppressing The Lies From Being Heard Doesn’t Work
In On Liberty (1859), John Stuart Mill offers the most compelling defence of freedom of speech, conscience and autonomy ever written. Mill argues that the only reason to restrict speech is to prevent harm to others, such as with hate speech and incitement to violence. Otherwise, all speech must be protected. Even if we know a view is false, Mill says, it is wrong to suppress it. We avoid prejudice and dogmatism, and achieve understanding, through freely discussing and defending what we believe against contrary claims. – Aeon
Bringing The Music Back To Ancient Greek Drama
“Greek tragedy survives today as words on a page, but ancient performances were distinguished as much for music and dance as for speeches and dialogue. … The musical dimension of ancient tragedy was long given up for lost, but a [recent] performance of Euripides’s Herakles at Barnard College showed how much is being recovered, thanks to recent archeological finds and painstaking research.” – The New York Review of Books
Why Even Great Social-Media Marketing By Dance Companies Doesn’t Lead Straight To Ticket Sales
“There is no clear correlation between a company’s social media campaigns and how many seats they fill in the theater. That doesn’t mean social media isn’t, of course, vital. … ‘Campaigns without social media are far worse off.'” Here’s why. – Dance Magazine
Can We Just Lose The Whole Non-Profits-Should-Run-Like-Businesses Nonsense For Good?
The donors, usually businesspeople, who keep saying that are “thinking of giving as analogous to investing when it isn’t, which leads to related mistakes like utilizing the wrong metrics [to grade success].” And (mis-)using those metrics has created a big slice of the public that dimply doesn’t trust nonprofits to spend their money properly. – Fast Company
How Artists Should Plan For What Will Happen To Their Work After They Die
“For every multi-millionaire dollar Robert Rauschenberg estate, there are thousands of lesser-known talents whose families have to confront the tough decisions about what to do with hundreds of artworks and archives. To sort out the realities facing artists and their loved ones, [Hrag Vartanian] invited two experts in the field.” (podcast) – Hyperallergic
Great Theatre Challenging Capitalism — At $1,000 Or More Per Ticket
“We are lingering in a moment in which there is a fashion, or even a giddiness, for spending large sums of money on theatrical experiences that explore the foundations and promises of American capitalism.” – The New York Times
Albright-Knox Art Gallery Releases Plans For Its $160 Million Expansion
The good news: “When an expanded Buffalo Albright-Knox-Gundlach Museum opens in 2021, visitors will see their own reflections in a kaleidoscopic network of mirrored glass suspended over the center of the campus.” The bad news: “But before experiencing Common Sky, a monumental sculpture by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson that will enclose a new public gathering space, … the gallery’s buildings will close for at least two years.” – The Buffalo News
Conductor Daniele Gatti And Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Settle Lawsuit Over His Firing
“After the dismissal of Daniele Gatti as Music Director of the Amsterdam based Concertgebouw Orchestra, following allegations of sexual harassment, both parties had ‘constructive consultations’ and have agreed to issue the statement below.” (The statement says nothing about Gatti’s departure as such, let alone the reason for it.) – Pizzicato