Danez Smith’s poetry is part of a movement, or so it feels. “This is a significant moment for poetry. We are meeting days after Ocean Vuong (gay, Vietnamese and a friend of Smith’s) won the TS Eliot prize, and it is tempting to think poetry is at a turning point, belatedly diversifying, relaxing its borders. The reality is that there is still a long way to go, but this is a flicker of intent, the poetic ghettoising becoming less flagrant. It’s a mainstream momentum.”
Blog
How Can Congress Protect Musicians’ Financial Interests?
There are so many ways – and the need certainly exists, desperately in some cases. “The number of full-time songwriters living in Nashville has dropped 80 percent since 2000. In Austin, Tex., 70 percent of musicians earn less than $10,000 a year from music, and 32 percent don’t even make minimum wage.”
In Britain, Members Of Parliament Demand That Creative Workers Keep Their Freedom Of Travel Through The EU After Brexit
The MPs are writing a detailed letter requesting a “quick, open, and flexible system” – and warning that if freedom of movement isn’t preserved, small and medium arts groups will suffer the most.
A Canadian Soprano Leads The Classical Grammy Pack
Barbara Hannigan’s “star has been rising with performances such as her role in the L.A. Phil New Music Group’s world premiere at Walt Disney Concert Hall of Gerald Barry’s opera Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. She will serve as music director of the Ojai Music Festival in 2019.” The full list of classical winners is at this link, and the full list of Grammy winners is here.
Morris Louis Painting Back In The Museum – Right-Side Up, This Time
Not only did curators decide to look at red arrows chalked on the back of the painting this time, but they found that it might be more figurative than they had expected – and that the painting’s title had been different, and referring to the potential figure, in a 1953 exhibition.
As Two Arthouse Cinemas Close, Where Will New Yorkers Go To Watch Together?
And what does it say about the kind of city New York is becoming? “Places like Sunshine and Lincoln Plaza are among the small delights that give New York its fizz. One by one, they are fading. It doesn’t mean the city has become a total cinema wasteland. … But knowledgeable guides to inspiring, even transformative, cinema are being squeezed out in a town steadily succumbing to real estate cold-bloodedness and gentrified homogeneity.”
Libraries Are Bringing Small-Town News Values Back To Life
Sometimes the libraries become the best places for informed news on their Facebook pages, but sometimes the small-town librarians, who are already hosting chess club and movie night and tax form explainers, become newsletter or newspaper editors as well.
How Wood Came Back Into Architectural Vogue
Wood is environmentally friendly (at least while it’s still a tree), lighter than steel and certainly faster – and quieter – to build with, and basically, a material whose time has come (again). “Mild-mannered, unassuming timber has gone into a phone box and come out as a super-substance.”
How The Masses Find Common Ground With Shakespeare, Through Alcohol
Well, that’s one way to be more Elizabethan: “Drunk Shakespeare is akin to watching a live version of Comedy Central’s Drunk History, only the audience is drinking along with the cast in real time — and sometimes even changing the direction of the performance.”
Why Hasn’t The Larger Music Industry Had A (Hashtag) MeToo Moment Yet? [VIDEO]
Maybe because of popular music’s general reputation as rough – “and maybe because the vast majority of people you’re going to be working with are men, it’s going to be harder to come forward with a story of misconduct.”