“Whether traditional black boxes or nontraditional spaces, often in residential neighborhoods, Chicago storefront theatre prides itself on more intimacy, as well as edgier material, than an audience member can find in a Broadway touring production or the city’s larger venues. Storefront theatre differs from community theatre, not in its meager starting budget but in its aspiration that those involved strive to be professional working artists. Even if they don’t make a living doing what they love, they are making a life (and some money) in it.” – American Theatre
Blog
The middlewoman of modern art
Edith Halpert’s career as a pioneering gallery owner who specialized in modern American art is memorialized in a new exhibition at New York’s Jewish Museum. – Terry Teachout
The twenty-five record albums that changed my life (7)
I can’t imagine how a record of concerted works by Berg and Bartók made its way into the classical bin at the musical instrument store in Smalltown, U.S.A. Granted, Isaac Stern and Leonard Bernstein, the album’s conductor, were as famous in 1969 as it was then possible for American classical musicians to be. But Berg and Bartók wrote modern music. – Terry Teachout.
Increases In Productivity Mean We Don’t Have To Work So Hard. And Yet We Do. Why?
“If today’s advanced economies have reached (or even exceeded) the point of productivity that Keynes predicted, why are 30- to 40-hour weeks still standard in the workplace? And why doesn’t it feel like much has changed? This is a question about both human nature – our ever-increasing expectations of a good life – as well as how work is structured across societies.” – Aeon
What It Takes To Tour Politically-Charged Works To Places Where The Message May Not Be Welcome
“Touring with a message is not for the faint of heart. From considerations about how to market the work to concerns about safety, touring to cities where, in general, that message may not be so welcome requires companies to figure out how they’ll respond to opposition. Yet many artists find that venturing away from their typical audiences offers an unparalleled opportunity to raise awareness, spark conversations and, in the best cases, even change minds.” – Dance Magazine
How To Neutralize The Ugly Chinese Stereotypes In ‘Nutcracker”s ‘Tea’ Dance
Phil Chan And Georgina Pazcoguin have become the go-to advisors on this subject since then-NY City Ballet chief Peter Martins asked them to address it in the company’s Balanchine Nutcracker. “We’ve discovered three areas in the divertissement,” they write, “where creative questioning can help productions become more respectful to Chinese culture, while remaining faithful to the artistic visions of the past.” – Dance Magazine
Why America’s Professional Theatres Are Broken
“The effect of this legacy for mixed metaphors and a lack of public funding of the arts is a numbing of artistic innovation and an enlivening of artistic repetition. Companies often opt for what seems like more saleable programming—reliable commodities, you might say—to eke out new works initiatives. But commodification is a distraction from doing the real work that our mission statements claim we do.” – Howlround
Orlando’s Soon-To-Open Performing Arts Center Is Finally Settling Rent Dispute With The Groups It’s Being Built For
“The Orlando Ballet signed a contract with the [Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts] on Tuesday morning after protracted negotiations that saw accusations of unreasonable demands amid high-profile social-media and mass-mailing campaigns to sway public opinion. Opera Orlando and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra are still in discussions, an arts-center spokeswoman said, but ‘we anticipate signing agreements with them soon.'” – Orlando Sentinel
US Department Of Education Allowed Student Aid To Art Institutes That Lost Accreditation
“We’ve known for a long time that the Art Institutes lied to students about losing accreditation. Now, we know that the Department of Education misled them, too,” said Eric Rothschild, an attorney at the National Student Legal Defense Network who is representing the students. – Washington Post
Robert Provine, America’s Great Scholar Of Laughter And Hiccups, Dead At 76
“[A neuroscientist,] Dr. Provine embodied the spirit of the popular scientist, one who takes his or her pursuits out of the laboratory and into the public square, from university libraries to public libraries, and from lecture halls to radio and television. He was the author of two books for popular audiences, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation (2000) and Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond (2012).” – The Washington Post