Nicholas Serota: “It will be about giving more support to writers, artists, composers at an early stage in their career so that they can make a career and then flourish.” – The Guardian
Blog
Are The Arts To Blame For Donald Trump?
It’s a provocative claim, and I’ll admit my first reaction was to dismiss it out of hand. And yet … – Douglas McLennan
Opera Director Harry Kupfer, 84
Kupfer’s career began in Stralsund, then part of communist East Germany, in 1958. After stations in Chemnitz — formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt — Weimar and Dresden, he became director at the Komische Oper in 1981, a position he held for 21 years. – Washington Post (AP)
Picasso Painting Attacked At Tate Modern
The gallery gave no details about its condition. A spokesperson said: “The work of art is with our conservation team for expert assessment. Tate Modern remains open.” – BBC
A Decade That Cultivated Darkness
Michiko Kakutani: “Apocalypse is not yet upon our world as the 2010s draw to an end, but there are portents of disorder. The hopes nourished during the opening years of the decade — hopes that America was on a progressive path toward growing equality and freedom, hopes that technology held answers to some of our most pressing problems — have given way, with what feels like head-swiveling speed, to a dark and divisive new era. Fear and distrust are ascendant now.” – The New York Times
Legendary Leaders: Foundry’s Melanie Joseph and Playwrights Horizons’ Tim Sanford Talk About What They Did Right
Passion for artistic freedom is ballasted by a concern for the economic welfare of artists. Whatever excitement the future holds for the American theater, it’s thanks to artistic leaders likes these whose ethics have been as forward-thinking as their aesthetics. – Los Angeles Times
Longtime Legendary Knopf Editor Sonny Mehta, 77
In an age of blockbuster best sellers and cutthroat competition in a shrinking industry, Mr. Mehta was an almost ideal editor and publishing executive: a voracious reader and instinctive decision maker who could spot great books and, coming from a paperback world, had no qualms about aggressively marketing them. – The New York Times
Eleven Publishing Trends That Shaped The 2010s
For years, the promise of instant book publishing hovered just over the horizon, like the promise of flying cars. This decade, it finally came true. – Washington Post
On The Edges Of A Huge South American Landfill, An Orchestra With Instruments Made Out Of Garbage
Most people who live near the Cateura dump outside Asunción, the Paraguayan capital, scratch out a living by digging out anything that can be resold, and buying a musical instrument would be an impossible dream. But local carpenter Nicolás Gómez and music teacher Favio Chávez decided that they could build musical instruments and give children there free music lessons — and so the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura was born. – Al Jazeera
Notre Dame’s Risky New Phase
The removal of melted scaffolding requires “three levels of steel beams to be positioned around its exterior to form a stabilising “belt”. Once this operation is complete, the same firm that built the scaffolding (Europe Echafaudage) will start to dismantle it, using telescopic crawler cranes that will allow roped technicians to descend into the forest of pipes and gradually cut them away after having coated them with a protective layer to avoid spreading the pollution caused by the melting of the lead roof.” – The Art Newspaper