“While [he] was not as famous as underground comics stars like R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman, his artistic influence was nonetheless felt strongly, especially among other gay cartoonists. In the early 1980s he was the first editor of Gay Comix, a series of occasional comic books … He then developed Wendel, an adventurous strip about a man and his lover navigating the early years of the AIDS epidemic.” Cruse won multiple awards for Stuck Rubber Baby, a graphic novel that we might describe today as autofiction. – The New York Times
Blog
Galleries And Museums Are So Crowded Now The Experience Is… Not Artistic
Venture to many blockbuster exhibitions, particularly on a weekend, and you’ll often be met with overwhelming crowds. Is there a surfeit of public interest in art? Are galleries packing in the crowds to maximise profit? And how best to meet the growing demand for public art without turning museums into amusement parks, complete with heavily managed queues? – The Guardian
Study: Calling To Thank Donors Doesn’t Result In Them Giving More
About 28% of the donors to the public TV stations who got thank you calls gave to the same charity within the next year. And 28% of the donors who didn’t get the calls did as well. Likewise, about 31% of the donors to the national nonprofit gave to that group again, whether or not someone called to thank them for their first donation. – The Conversation
What I’ve Learned About Arts Journalism In The Past Decade
Diep Tran: “When I was first hired at American Theatre, I thought arts journalism was two things: reviewing shows and interviewing celebrities. But as I’ve grown in my career, I realized that it has become something else for me: Journalism is an act of service. The theatre industry, like most industries, is notoriously tight-lipped in many sensitive areas: compensation (or the lack of it), race and power dynamics, and sexual harassment, to name just a few. Those in power would rather you, the reader and the viewer, look at the art and not look too closely at what’s going on behind the curtain.” – American Theatre
What Mr. Rogers Tells Us About Generation X
“How is it possible that those of us raised on — or perhaps more accurately, raised by — Mister Rogers could have turned out to be so disengaged and sarcastic? Well, for starters, maybe because we are not as disengaged as we’re often described. (We are definitely as sarcastic.) But I think it’s also because the lessons Mister Rogers imparted are often placed, especially on the internet, into a general kindness and goodness box that doesn’t fully capture what he accomplished.” – New York Magazine
The Man Who Brought Chinese Science Fiction To America And Made It A Hit
“The success of The Three-Body Problem” — the first translated novel to win a Hugo Award — “not only turned [author] Liu Cixin into a global literary star; it opened the floodgates for new translations of Chinese science fiction. This, in turn, has made Ken Liu a critical conduit for Chinese writers seeking Western audiences, a literary brand as sought-after as the best-selling authors he translates.” – The New York Times Magazine
From the Ground Up
The latest piece by choreographer Allison Orr — known for creating dances performed by forklifts, sanitation trucks, and the like — is From the Ground Up, made for Wake Forest University’s Facilities and Campus Services departments. Hundreds of people gathered at the Quad to watch lawnmowers waltz, housekeepers twirl and heavy equipment dance. – Doug Borwick
What Broadway 2019 Looked Like
In some years, narratives emerge, about innovation or stagnation, retrenchment or inclusion, celebrity, politics, source material. But 2019 seemed especially all over the map. Shows were big and small, hopeful and cynical, wired and tired. If you believe in theater as relational to real life, then life in America right now is fractured, disordered, with occasional dance remixes. – The Guardian
Kyle Marshall On Dancing The Abstract Work Of Trisha Brown While Creating His Own Explorations Of Religion And Race
A Q&A with Gia Kourlas “about examining his religious upbringing, performing the dances of a postmodern master while choreographing his own works and developing a close-knit dance family.” – The New York Times
How NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts Became So Big
During its 11-year run, “unadorned” has been the name of the game at Tiny Desk Concerts, whose appeal lies in the nakedness of its setup: no backing tracks, no Auto-Tune, no frills. The resulting performances — each taking place at Boilen’s actual desk inside NPR’s Washington, D.C. headquarters — offer viewers an intimate look at artists both emerging and major. – Billboard