As managers assume a greater variety of responsibilities, the longstanding earnings model – a 20% commission – is viewed by many as “anachronistic and unfit for purpose”. – Arts Professional
Blog
Lauren Gunderson On Giving (And Getting) Voice In The Theatre
Becoming the first woman to top the list of most-produced playwrights (in the 2017-18 U.S. season) was a feat, and this year’s return to the No. 1 spot might be even more impressive. But the 37-year-old writer’s quiet rise to the top of her profession isn’t just a personal victory, because she has built her success on telling women’s stories — and providing more (and more challenging) roles to female actors. – Arizona Republic
Lin-Manuel Miranda On The Role Of Artists In Uncertain Times
“What artists can do is bring stories to the table that are unshakably true—the sort of stories that, once you’ve heard them, won’t let you return to what you thought before.” – The Atlantic
Local News May Be Dying, But NPR Stations Are Growing Quickly
Between 2011 and 2018, the 264 independent local NPR stations (plus 150 unaffiliated) added 1,000 full-time and part-time journalists, having started that timeframe with just over 2,000 journalists. At the same time, newspaper newsrooms were shrinking to half their peak size and local digital startups, with a few exceptions, are making do with well-focused but tiny staffs. – Poynter
Production Company Pulls Out Of Iconic Seattle Festival
Bumbershoot, the Labor Day arts festival is almost 50 years old. But it’s changed significantly over the years and in its latest configuration began to resemble just another generic expensive music festival. AEG, the producer, says it won’t continue to produce it. – The Stranger
Laurel Griggs, Actor On Broadway And ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Has Died At Age 13
Griggs, who played Ivanka in ONCE: The Musical for 17 months after making her Broadway debut at age six in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, died from a massive asthma attack. – Variety
Some Schmuck In Idaho Keeps Hiding Library Books
The person doing it takes nonfiction books about Trump or guns – specifically the ones that aren’t favorable to the 45th president or gun enthusiasts – and hiding them. “‘I am going to continue hiding these books in the most obscure places I can find to keep this propaganda out of the hands of young minds,’ the mystery book relocator wrote in a note left for Ms. Ammon, the library director, in the facility’s comment box. ‘Your liberal angst gives me great pleasure.'” – The New York Times
National Galleries Scotland Is The Latest Arts Organization To End Its Ties To BP
The 2019 BP Portrait Award will still take place in December, but that will be the last time NGS will host that show (at least, as sponsored by BP). The holdouts, that is, those arts organizations still sponsored by BP, now include the National Portrait Gallery, where this move will increase pressure. – The Guardian (UK)
Like It Or Not (Probably You Do Not), Kim Kardashian Represents America
She’s at the intersection of race, gender, and social media. “Kim’s particular fame derives from a cherished place in the American racial imagination that, combined with wealth, prevents contact with the deathly effects (and melancholic affects) of brownness in this country while reaping the exoticism of not-quite whiteness.” – Slate
The Hate It Or Love It Hitler Joke Of Taika Waititi’s ‘Jojo Rabbit’
Here’s the deal: It’s a movie that laughs at the Nazis and laughs at Hitler. “The controversy — or, at least, the orchestrated illusion of it — is built into the film’s faux outrageous aesthetic, its whole thumb-in-the-eye-of-the-monster, satire-is-resistance! brand. It’s a movie that actually counts on a divided reaction, because the key question Jojo Rabbit is asking its audience isn’t, ‘Are you willing to laugh at hate?’ The key question is, ‘Are you cool enough to get it?'” – Variety