“In a nation always on the go, it does seem as if the most serious intellectual production and consumption has been confined to the cloisters of higher education, where an elite professoriate soaks in high ideas in paneled seminar rooms safe from the hurly-burly of daily life. But what if a technology was able to bridge the gap, accommodating our culture’s hyperkinetic habits while also bringing to it gems of intellectual wealth from the ivory tower? To a large extent this is exactly what the best educational podcasts—which stress learning for the sake of learning—are doing.”
Blog
The Problem With One-Person Plays
Michael Billington grants the genre its virtues – low cast, adaptability, the chance to spotlight an actor’s skill – but wonders about its limits of perspective.
Study: Broadway Is Becoming More Diverse
“The study, released Monday, examined the 2015-16 season and found it to be the most diverse the group has reviewed so far, with 35 percent of all roles going to minority actors, up from 30 percent the previous season and 24 percent the year before that. The coalition has now compiled 10 years of data on diversity on New York stages.”
The Biggest Questions Facing the Dance World About Sexual Harassment
“What would dance-specific sexual harassment training and policies look like? How can we protect freelancers working outside an institutional setting?” Lauren Wingenroth spells out the issues.
What We’re Losing When Arts And Music Get Whittled Away In Schools
After asking the 10- and 11-year-olds in her French class to make a picture book with their new sentences and having them tell her that none of them could draw at all (they’d never had an art class in their young lives), The Guardian‘s Secret Teacher argues that it’s not just that arts education increases test scores in other subjects …
England’s Largest Medieval Stained-Glass Window Has Been Restored
At York Minster, one of the great cathedrals of northern England, the Great East Window – completed 1405-1408 and roughly the size of a tennis court – has undergone a ten-year rehab costing nearly $15 million.
Podcasting Has Something That Public Radio (Badly) Needs: Risk Tolerance
Eric Nuzum, who spent two decades in public radio before moving into digital audio: “The unspoken groupthink at work … is that an idea cannot have both merit and risk at the same time. Resources are precious. Time is limited. As guardians of public funds, it is imperative that public radio’s decision-makers ensure that they invest in winners. Every time. This philosophy is a petri dish for failure. And not the good kind of failure.”
Artist Sells Off Space On Original Rauschenberg Piece To Advertisers
“Artist Nikolas Bentel is on a mission to destroy an original Robert Rauschenberg in a project intended to emphasize how the art market is, in his words, ‘a glorified stock market.’ Beginning this week, the artist – who is part of the New Museum-led incubator New Inc. – is selling off sections of the artwork as advertising space, so its surface will eventually be covered with an eclectic assortment of images.”
How The Overseas Press Translated Trump’s ‘Shithole Countries’ Remark Into Other Languages
“It was a debate that many journalists likely never expected to face.” The problem isn’t just with the unaccustomed vulgarity: while the original term’s individual components are easy to translate, the combination is not. Samantha Schmidt looks at some of the attempts international news outlets made.
Is The Renovation Of The Old Corcoran Gallery Literally Making The Students There Sick?
“When the Corcoran failed as an institution in 2014, George Washington University absorbed the school and its [120-year-old] building at 17th Street and New York Avenue NW. The university soon after launched an unprecedented renovation, and decided to keep the school open to studios and classes for the duration.” The disruption caused by the construction was bad enough, but now students are complaining of headaches, nausea, rashes, breathing problems, and even fleas.