Nineteen-year-old Allan Monga, who arrived (legally) in Portland last year as a refugee from Zambia, won the Maine state finals of the NEA’s Poetry Out Loud contest last month. All state champions are supposed to get an all-expenses-paid trip to the national finals in DC next week – but the NEA says its rules permit only US citizens to compete. Monga and Portland Public Schools have filed suit; reporter Ray Routhier looks at the legal issues involved.
Blog
How Can Arts Orgs’ Boards Help Combat Harassment? Talk To The Artists
Pia Catton: “For non-profits, misconduct can pose a real threat to funding. Foundations don’t want molesters and predators operating with those they fund. Why should individual donors give to theatres turning a blind eye? If people act that way, a new level of board involvement in hiring and oversight is needed. One path to that is more direct input from artists about what’s happening in the company and during the hiring process. … There is no shortage of knowledge among artists and their peers about who’s handsy, manipulative or abusive.”
Russia Can’t Let Go Of Fight Over Movie About Tsar Nicholas II And The Ballerina He Loved
“The reaction to Matilda represents, in microcosm, many of the contradictions of contemporary Russian culture. It should have been a flagship Russian movie, … [and] originally had Oscar ambitions. Instead, the film’s reception was derailed by religious purists. Part of Vladimir Putin’s narrative is that he, too, is part of Russia’s imperial legacy. Some think that he believes he has been divinely ordained to play his role. In some ways, this has been an embarrassment for the government: they part-funded the film. But they couldn’t defend it, as the protesters were articulating one of the key tenets of Putin’s presidency: Russia needs to return to the greatness of the tsars and to its Orthodox church roots.”
Embattled Director Kirill Serebrennikov Gets A Film Into Cannes – So Russia Extends His House Arrest
The director of Moscow’s acclaimed Gogol Center theater, Serebrennikov has been under house arrest since last August, awaiting trial on embezzlement charges that his allies call absurd and trumped-up. Seemingly in response to the news that Serebrennikov’s latest film, Summer, will be screened in competition at the Cannes Festival next month, authorities in Moscow extended his house arrest into July.
Bolshoi’s Controversial ‘Nureyev’ Leads Nominations For Russia’s Top Dance Awards
“Both the creators of the ballet and its performers have been nominated for the Benois de la Danse, nicknamed the ballet’s Oscars, in four professional categories: Ilya Demutskiy for Best Composer, Yuri Possokhov for Best Choreographer, Kirill Serebrennikov for Best Stage Design, and dancer Vladislav Lantratov for Best Performance in the title role of the ballet Nureyev.” Serebrennikov, whose recent film Summer will be in competition at Cannes next month under house arrest in a case many observers consider trumped-up, just had his detention extended into July.
‘There Is No Going Back From Here’: Saudi Arabia’s First Female Filmmaker On The Kingdom’s Lifting Of The Ban On Cinemas
“Five years ago, Haifaa al-Mansour made history with her moving and critically-acclaimed drama Wadjda, making her not just the first female Saudi filmmaker, but the first director to have shot a feature film in the kingdom. At the time, the idea of Wadjda being released on home soil was ludicrous: its cinema and theaters had long since been closed following the country’s adoption of strict ultra-conservative Islam in the early ’80s. On April 18, 2018, however, a new cinematic dawn broke over the kingdom with the opening of Saudi Arabia’s first cinema since the movie theater ban was lifted in December … [Al-Mansour] wrote to The Hollywood Reporter with her thoughts on the cinema opening, the “seismic shift” now sweeping over her home nation and why nothing will be the same again.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.19.18
Breasting the Wave
The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company Celebrates its 50th Anniversary Season … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-04-19
Deaccession Dejection: La Salle’s Sales Slide at Christie’s
This is an I-told-you-so post. Some six of 16 old masters deaccessioned by the La Salle University Art Museum were left stranded on the auction block at Christie’s this afternoon. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-04-19
A shock from the wider world
About Kendrick Lamar winning the Pulitzer Prize – of course it’s a great moment for the evolution of music as an art. Or rather for the recognition of how music long ago evolved. But then there are … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2018-04-19
When You Win $1 Million To Make A Movie… There Are Expectations
“If someone hands you a million dollars, they expect you to turn out an amazing product. It’s a huge thing to carry on your shoulders.”
Inside The Broadway Battle For “To Kill A Mockingbird”
The fight, being waged in the chambers of federal judges in New York and Alabama, offers an unusual glimpse into the vituperative backstage wrangling that can erupt over control of a celebrated work of literary fiction when it has been adapted for the stage.
How Airline Ticket Pricing Could Be Applied To The Arts
The secret of an effective pricing strategy is differentiation and airlines do this on a number of levels, harnessing as many of the factors that affect demand for flights as they can.