“Some people like to paint trees. I like to paint love.” (Robert Indiana)
“It never came to mind: ‘Maybe I’m not good enough.’ I never thought like that.” (Roy Hargrove)
“The myth was that because you were black that you could not do classical dance. I proved that to be wrong.” (Arthur Mitchell)
“Don’t shove me into your damn pigeonhole, where I don’t fit, because I’m all over. My tentacles are coming out of the pigeonhole in all directions.” (Ursula K. Le Guin)
— The New York Times
Blog
When Arts Funding Is Cut, Arts Orgs Lose More Than Just Government Money
An analysis of the situation in the English city of Bath, which steadily reduced its arts grants over a decade before ending them entirely last year, shows that such local funding leveraged three times as much money from other sources — and that those sources cut their giving in tandem with the cuts from the local council. — Arts Professional
Mexico’s Presidential Palace Had An Impressive Art Collection. Where Did It Go?
The official residence, known as Los Pinos, had been off-limits to the public ever since it was built in the 1930s, but new president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has opened it to the public. (He will live elsewhere.) But now that regular people can visit, the mansion’s art collection, including works by Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo, is nowhere to be seen. — The Art Newspaper
Actor-Director-Writer Peter Masterson (‘Best Little Whorehouse In Texas’) Dead At 84
He played key supporting roles in The Stepford Wives, In The Heat of the Night, and The Exorcist, and he directed the film adaptation of The Trip to Bountiful, but his biggest impact was probably with his musical about a brothel called The Chicken Ranch. — Houston Chronicle
The Hague’s Art Museum Changes Its Name Because Foreigners Can’t Pronounce It
As the director of what is currently the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag says, “The [Dutch] ‘G’ is a very strange sound for people from abroad.” Not to mention that most of them don’t understand the word gemeente (municipal). The new name will be Kunstmuseum Den Haag. — The Art Newspaper
Bruno’s Christmas Recital Revisited
Rifftides readers have asked the staff to again present Jack Brownlow’s Christmas recital that first appeared here in December of 2015. We are delighted to do so. — Doug Ramsey
Luminous PoKempner pix of Sun Ra’s celestial music
If you liked Black Panther, listen to the music that introduced and embodies Afro-Futurism. Photojournalist Marc PoKempner captured a bit of the celestial magic of the Sun Ra Arkestra during its November touchdown in New Orleans’s Music Box Village. — Howard Mandel
Does Non-profit CEO Pay Matter?
You may be surprised to learn that those big, prominent nonprofits soliciting your holiday donations, and maybe a place in your will, are very profitable for the administrators (and in some cases, the artists) in charge. How did that happen? Mostly because executive salaries are set by boards of directors, and these boards, especially at prestigious institutions, are comprised of the richest people those same administrators can round up, folks to whom a half-million dollars sounds like, if not pocket change, nothing more than a reasonable salary. – Chicago Reader
The Ruins Of A Street – Turned Into A Museum
“We came to Greensboro to attend a group exhibition presented by a cohort of artist residents whose blend of style and performance provoked laughter one minute and tears the next. Their work offered insights into a network we knew little about, and through them, we discovered a poetic intersection that is worth revisiting: the nexus of art and travel.”
NYer Critic Michael Schulman Reflects On This Year’s Best Theatre
“I’ve noticed a common thread. It’s the theme of terra firma not being so firma—of finding cracks in a foundation you thought was rock solid, whether the U.S. Constitution, a time-tested love story, or memory itself. Perhaps I’m projecting: this year (like the year before) was one in which the world felt like an unsafe bet, and America like a bait and switch. Or maybe playwrights and directors are responding to our disorienting era by echoing the uncertainty onstage—and by pulling the rug from under our feet.” – The New Yorker