Blog – Page 1997 – ArtsJournal Wayback

World’s Largest Performing Arts Center Is Now In Taiwan

“The sprawling 1.5-million-square-foot National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, designed by Dutch firm Mecanoo Architects, was recently completed in the southern port city of Kaohsiung … Slated for an October opening, the futuristic-looking mega space, called ‘Weiwuying’ for short, incorporates five performing spaces – including a 2,260-seat opera house, 2,000-seat concert hall (boasting a 9,085-pipe organ) and a 470-seat recital hall.”

How Popular Culture Is Still Screwing Up Our Body Image Conflicts

Amy Schumer’s “I Feel Pretty” movie suggests that the only thing holding back regular-looking women is their belief that looking regular holds them back at all. That attitude puts the onus on individual women to improve their self-esteem instead of criticizing societal beauty standards writ large. The reality is that expectations for female appearances have never been higher. It’s just become taboo to admit that.

Kendrick Lamar Miscategorized: Prize Should Have Been Literature, Not Music

If the Pulitzer people had only bitten the bullet and done the equivalent of what the Nobel committee did for Bob Dylan and rock lyrics when they said, “You know what? We’re going to get dissed and ridiculed for even putting Dylan on the same level as John Steinbeck, but what the heck. Let’s just do it and take the flak.” Who knows what the dividend would have been for wider society?

Why Haters Gotta Hate On Writing Programs?

Writing, like anything – from athletics to nuclear physics – depends on a basic degree of talent, which can be cultivated through training. So let’s stop pretending that devoting a year or two to studying writing in the company of others is anything other than a valid step towards a literary career.

Art As Leadership Tool

Without ever intending it, experienced leaders often allow what they know to limit what they can imagine going forward; their knowledge can actually get in the way of innovation. Which is why, to summon the spirit of Proust, it’s so important for leaders to see their company and industry with fresh eyes — which means looking at their work in new ways. Art, it turns out, can be an important tool to change how leaders see their work.

Data: Books By Women Are Chronically Priced Lower Than Books By Men

In a groundbreaking study of more than two million books published in North America between 2002 and 2012, scholars found that books by women authors are priced 45% less than those of their male counterparts. The researchers, sociologist Dana Beth Weinberg and mathematician Adam Kapelner, both from Queens College-CUNY, say there is a lot more to the story than can be gleaned from this price gap alone.

European Organizations Declare Music Is A Human Right

A new policy document – the European Agenda for Music (EAM) – stresses that music plays an important societal role around identity and inclusion, and recognises music’s “important” contribution to the economy.

How Nashville Kickstarted A Passion For Local Plays

The concept of cultivating plays was perfectly in line with the values of our maker-based community, and it was undeniable that Nashville has an appetite for new works. They embraced my play in no small part because they saw the playwright behind it. Like local honey at the farmer’s market, where it was made, how, and by whom matters to this town. They desire to connect with the person behind the product and to talk together about its taste. After the initial festival, new works exploded across the city. Local theatres started programming new play premieres as part of their seasons, the Nashville Ballet and even the Nashville Opera made commitments to original productions, and the Ingram New Works Festival thrived.

The Key To Understanding Complexity? Scale

“The history of each branch of science can be divided into three phases. The first phase is exploration, to see what nature is doing. The second phase is precise observation and measurement, to describe nature accurately. The third phase is explanation, to build theories that enable us to understand nature. Physics reached the second phase with Kepler, the third phase with Newton. Complexity science as West defines it, including economics and sociology, remained in the first phase until about the year 2000, when the era of big data began.”