Signs of an impending slowdown in charitable giving are emerging from multiple studies examining contributions last year, particularly those from donors of modest means. For example, a new analysis of giving to more than 4,500 charities released by the Association of Fundraising Professionals this week found that overall donations in 2018 were up by only 1.6 percent, lower than the rate of inflation. – Inside Philanthropy
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Early Hollywood’s Morality Code Was Silly, Self-Righteous And Obsessive. But It Provoked Some Genius Work
It is usually believed that the anti-sex, anti-violence Code was harmful to art, intellectually unsophisticated, imposed from above and un-American in its disregard for First Amendment Rights. This is far from the full picture. Often the Code encouraged greatness, was intellectually nuanced, self-regulated and conformed to American values of Judeo-Christian ethics and free enterprise. For good and bad, it was as American as apple pie. – History Today
Polemicist, Pornographer, Philosopher, Prisoner, And All-Around Good Egg: Denis Diderot (And Yeah, He Wrote The First Encyclopedia)
“He was and remains … a mensch. He is also a very French mensch. He is a touchingly perfect representative — far more than the prickly Voltaire — of a certain French intellectual kind not entirely vanished.” Adam Gopnik explains. – The New Yorker
Wroth Over Rothko: SFMOMA’s Distasteful Disposal
What museum director would choose to sell from his institution “an important work completed at the apex of Rothko’s artistic powers, … one of just 19 paintings completed by the artist in 1960” — a year that marked “a critical juncture in the iconic Abstract Expressionist’s career”? – Lee Rosenbaum
Did Wagner Exploit King Ludwig?
In Luchino Visconti’s magnificent four-hour film Ludwig, the king is ingeniously cast as an embodiment of the Wagnerian pariah. Is the film a credible re-enactment of history? In writing about Visconti’s mega bio-pic for the current Wagner Journal, I felt the need to narrate my own version of events. – Joe Horowitz
Correlation Between Reading To Children And Creating Readers (Of Course)
Only 32% of British children under 13 are read to daily by an adult, for pleasure, down four percentage points on the previous year, and nine percentage points down on 2012. Most parents stop reading to their child by the age of eight, with just 19% of eight to 10-year-olds read to daily by an adult, across all socio-economic groups, down 3% on last year. Boys were less likely to be read to daily than girls at 14%, compared with 24%. – The Guardian
Michael Tilson Thomas And The Vienna Philharmonic — Weird Mismatch Or Genius Combo?
Orchestral music’s Mr. Maverick and the very avatar of Austro-German symphonic tradition are touring together, playing Mahler (on which they each have longstanding opinions and practices) and Charles Ives (which MTT says the Viennese players are really picking up). David Patrick Stearns talks with the conductor about how he and the Philharmoniker are getting on. – WQXR (New York City)
Stories Illustrate. Stories Mutate. Stories Grow And Change The World
In many ways, stories are uncannily similar to living organisms. They seem to have their own interests. They compel us to share them and, once told, they begin to grow and change, often becoming longer and more elaborate. They compete with one another for our attention—for the opportunity to reach as many minds as possible. They find each other, intermingle, and multiply. – Harper’s
A Theater Critic Reviews The Michael Cohen Congressional Hearing
Peter Marks: “Sometimes, cheap theatrics are redeemed by a memorable line. In the desultorily expanded version of Twelve Angry Men that played out Wednesday on Capitol Hill with Michael Cohen in the hot seat, Rep. Jamie Raskin came up, gratifyingly, with a gem.” – The Washington Post
Quebec Radio Stations Pull Michael Jackson’s Music After Documentary
Jackson’s family and his estate have denounced the Leaving Neverland documentary in recent weeks through written statements, a lawsuit, and letters to HBO and Britain’s Channel 4, which also plans to air the film. Their central criticism has been the documentary’s failure to talk to family members or other defenders of Jackson, whom they insist never molested a child. – CBC