Opera singers aren’t brought up to be as enterprising as Anthony Roth Costanzo. But few have his resume: He’s a child Broadway star-turned Princeton student-turned countertenor. Was Stephen Sondheim’s great networking song, “Putting it Together,” playing in the background when David Patrick Stearns met up with Costanzo a few weeks ago? No, but it should’ve been.
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Tax Advice: How The New Tax Law Affects The Arts
In my opinion as an artist, an accountant, and a citizen, the effects I outline below make a strong case for traditional protocols including a longer period for deliberation and public comment, befitting massive legislation. Tax changes can have serious ripple effects, which must be fully understood by institutions and the public before they are put into effect. This benefits everyone, regardless of political leanings; whether you’re donating to the Southern Baptist Convention or MoMA, nonprofits can’t function without your contributions.
Can ‘Insta Novels’ Get Young People Excited About Literature?
“[The New York Public Library] will be releasing digitized versions of classic novels, novellas, and short stories on their Instagram account, @nypl, through the ‘Stories’ and ‘Highlights’ features. … The campaign started with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, which released with 200 pages distributed over the course of two days. Forthcoming titles include The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.”
Is AI Fueling A New Art Movement?
In order to get their algorithm to produce a legitimately classical-looking portrait, Obvious’s members say they fed it a training data set of more than 15,000 portraits created between the 14th and 20th centuries. Using these images, the algorithm was able to “generate” new images similar to the ones it had been fed. These new portraits were then presented to another algorithm (the “adversarial” part of the GAN acronym) that was trained to distinguish between images produced by humans versus those by machines—a Turing-like test for artworks—until the generated portraits could fool this discriminator into thinking they were “real,” too. Since the announcement, many in the traditional art world have been losing their minds over this new movement, which Obvious has christened “GAN-ism.” But other artists making work via AI think the hype about what the technology can do on its own is premature.
English National Ballet Star Leaves Because She’s Bored There — Does She Have A Point?
“Laurretta Summerscales, a leading dancer with the English National Ballet, left last season for the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich, telling Dancing Times magazine that she yearned for a broader repertoire than the smaller British company could provide.” David Jays considers the merits of her complaint.
Why We Need Older Dancers
I wanted to work with dancers I didn’t have to explain myself to as I might have to with younger performers. At the same time, I sensed this might provide a reflection of the “aging” general audience and public at large. I’ve received feedback that what I’m doing is “political,” that I’m “influencing perception, changing bias, working outside the norm.” Personally, I’m just working. And intend to keep doing so.
The Three Genres Of Post-Ringling Bros. Circus
“Circus using performing animals, now restricted in 43 different countries, is dying out. It has been replaced by three different sub-genres, according to Brisbane Festival artistic director David Berthold. First, is the Cirque Du Soleil approach: big, ballsy, and cinematic (essentially traditional circus without the tigers). Second, is blockbuster cabaret that contains high circus skills (think the down n’ dirty Blanc de Blanc). The third is what Berthold calls ‘art circus’.”
Unprecedented: Big Media Companies In Leadership Turmoil
While executives come and go regularly, no one can remember a time when there was so much change and turmoil at the top of all of the networks.
‘We Acknowledge Our Failures’: New York Review Of Books Issues Statement On Jian Ghomeshi Essay
“On Monday, in the magazine’s first statement discussing [now-former editor Ian Buruma’s] departure, it described the “considerable concern” over the essay among readers, adding, ‘We acknowledge the validity of this criticism.’ … While citing Mr. Ghomeshi’s free-speech rights, the magazine described ‘our failures in the presentation and editing’ of the essay” — in particular, departures from usual editing practices and the bypassing of most editorial staff.
Gary Kurtz, Co-Producer Of First Two ‘Star Wars’ Films, Dead At 78
“In addition to helping bring the Skywalker stories to the big screen, Kurtz produced American Graffiti and The Dark Crystal. His career was closely aligned with that of George Lucas, but the two parted ways after the troubled production of The Empire Strikes Back.”
