“Earlier this year, the Kresge Foundation published the first in a series of white papers to help grantmakers and practitioners more successfully integrate arts and culture into community development. … Kresge recently published the second white paper, ‘Creative Placemaking and Expansion of Opportunity — Observations and Reflections,’ which surveys the state of the rapidly evolving field … Here are some key takeaways.”
Blog
After Eight Months At Calgary Opera, CEO Keith Cerny Comes Back To Texas
“Cerny was, for seven years, the General Director and CEO of the Dallas Opera. His sudden resignation from there was announced in December 2017. Cerny took charge of the Calgary Opera in January 2018. He begins his [new job as CEO of the Fort Worth Symphony] in January 2019. In the news release, he cites the travel constraints as a big reason for moving back to Texas.”
Edinburgh Fringe’s Record-Breaking Attendance: 2.8 Million
“Organisers of the event, which recorded its best-ever box office returns for the sixth year in a row, with 2,838,839 issued, said almost half its tickets were sold in Scotland. The Fringe’s final day tally was five per cent increase on its record-breaking 70th anniversary season in 2017 and a 52 per cent increase, of 979,604, on the 2009 event.
Edinburgh International Festival Ticket Sales Down; Book Festival Sales Up
“[The EIF] reported ticket sales of £3.8m, down from the £4.3m reported this time last year, due, it said, to a smaller programme, notably in the opera section. … The Edinburgh International Book Festival reported a rise in ‘footfall’ in its Charlotte Square site, and an 8% rise in book sales.”
Inge Borkh, Dramatic Soprano, Dead At 101
“A visceral stage animal, her legendary performances as Salome and Elektra thrilled audiences in the 1950s and 60s, and while for some she was eclipsed by the rise of Birgit Nilsson, many would consider her dramatic interpretations to have been second to none.”
Hoard Of Golden Treasure Found In Ancient Tomb In Kazakhstan
The burial mound, thought to be more than 2,000 years old and containing thousands of pieces of goldwork, was discovered in the Tarbagatai mountains near the Kazakh-Chinese border.
Jerusalem Symphony’s South American Tour Dogged By Protests
Demonstrators allied with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement have appeared outside the orchestra’s concerts in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru; in the Chilean capital, Santiago, a poster was interpreted showing conductor Yeruham Scharovsky spattered with blood, which was interpreted as a possible death threat.
In A New Cultural Hub, Baghdad Slowly Starts To Reclaim Its Historic Place As An Intellectual Center
“For several years now, al-Qishla, an Ottoman military barracks-turned-cultural-hub in the heart of Baghdad, has become a space where intellectuals, poets and artists come together to exchange ideas and discuss current affairs. Regular attendees say al-Qishla provides residents with a safe avenue to share views freely, as well as a sliver of hope that Baghdad – once a major international intellectual and cultural hub – may return to a shadow of its former self before successive wars gripping the country for decades, left it in decay.”
Why Burning Man Worked And Why It Doesn’t
At the heart of Burning Man—not just the artworks but the entire festival—is its ability to inspire in attendees a combination of awe and pride: We made it. Look what we did. Look at what we’re capable of. There’s an earnestness to this sentiment that’s both admirably pure and grossly myopic, as if Burners were the only ones ever to have built a city, experimented with alternative models of living, or spent time in the Black Rock Desert. This is the root of so much of the self-congratulatory language that can make the festival seem insufferable to those who’ve never been.
AI Can Give You Ace Dance Moves Even If You’re A Bumbler With No Rhythm
In a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server this week, researchers at the University of California Berkeley demonstrate how they designed AI that, given video of an expert dancer and an amateur, can transfer the moves from one to the other and create convincing video of the amateur pulling off some seriously impressive rug-cutting. But that’s not all.