ASHTAR Theatre had made its home in a Gaza City cultural center that was destroyed last August in an Israeli airstrike (launched to retaliate for rockets from Gaza fired at Beersheva). Nevertheless, they persist: ASHTAR members have been continuing the theatre’s work, throughout the territory and literally on the ruins of its old home. – American Theatre
Blog
The US Arts Economy Is Now Bigger Than Agriculture, Transportation
The arts generated 4.2% of the overall U.S. GDP, with roughly 4.9 million Americans working in the sector in 2015, the latest year for which data is available. Collectively, those employed in the sector earned over $370 billion, according to the findings. – Artsy
How A Dance Photo Went Viral And Became An Issue In Algeria’s Presidential Election
On Friday, March 1, 17-year-old Melissa Ziad performed a few classical dance steps in front of a large Algerian flag at a demonstration in the country’s capital city of Algiers. The steps, like her outfit – ballet shoes with jeans and leather jacket – caught people’s attention. – France24
Edinburgh Fringe Teams Up With Kickstarter
As part of the collaboration, Kickstarter will offer a series of incentives to companies using the platform to crowdfund their show, including support for artists before and during the festival through online videos about fundraising and one-to-one coaching. – The Stage
Report: Despite Efforts, London’s Creative Workforce Has Failed To Diversify
Covering the breadth of the creative industries – from design, fashion and crafts to performing arts and TV – it notes there has been a 24% growth in creative jobs in London since 2012, but says 95% of workers still come from advantaged backgrounds. – Arts Professional
How Did Our Interactions With Historians Get So Pedantic?
Graduate students in the humanities can hardly escape reading Adorno and Foucault, and if they miss out on White, they absorb his arguments indirectly. So it is odd that, as scholars unite around the idea that historical writing constructs the past that it studies, they should at the same time turn to literalism as their favored mode of public engagement. – Chronicle of Higher Education
A Plague Of Insta-Poets?
Often described as “Instapoets”, there are several writers sharing short fragments online to enormous followings. The biggest of these audiences belongs to 26-year-old Rupi Kaur: the author of two poetry collections, she has 3.5 million Instagram followers and has received by far the most media attention of any Instapoet. On her Instagram account, she alternates beautiful pictures of herself in elegant outfits with short poems written entirely in lower-case; many young, attractive poets have followed this winning template. – New Statesman
The Greatest Jazz Photo Ever?
The show that night was billed as the Thelonious Monk Trio. Monk, 35, was already a prolific composer and piano innovator, yet it would take a decade for his brilliance to be fully appreciated by mainstream America. The trio was rounded out by Charles Mingus, 31, on standup bass and the youngster Roy Haynes, a 28-year-old hotshot drummer everyone called “Snap Crackle.” – The New York Times
Pamela Tatge on Curatorial Practice
I’ve found strikingly few resources available in any media about the craft, practice, and management of arts organizations in the live performing arts (beyond the usual-suspect books). So I’ve started a series of video interviews with performing arts professionals. First up is Pamela Tatge, who took the reins at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2016. – Andrew Taylor
Propwatch: the tooth in ‘Dinomania’
It’s not a real iguanodon tooth, I don’t think. Though in a story about how to interpret the material world and humanity’s place within it, identification is an unusually fraught subject. – David Jays