In 2010, Argentine dancer and former ABT principal Julio Bocca was named artistic director of Uruguay’s flagship company, the Ballet Nacional del Sodre. Since then, under Bocca and successor Igor Yebra, what was once a small, poorly attended troupe has become a dynamo: it has increased the number of rehearsals and performances, tours within the country and abroad, and sells more than 100,000 tickets a year in a country of only 3.3 million people. – Yahoo! (AFP)
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Watch: Elijah Cummings Speaking To The League Of American Orchestras In 2016
This Little Light of Mine: The inimitable Mr. Cummings speaks to the League’s annual meeting about how the arts has the power to change lives. “As I march toward the twilight of my life, there’s nothing more important to me than seeing children have opportunities. – YouTube
American Theatre’s New Hot Topic: Recovery And Sobriety
“With overdoses at troubling heights and recovery no longer a sotto-voce secret, a new wave of plays dealing with the realities of rehab and the challenges of sobriety have started to emerge, often created by playwrights who have dealt with such problems themselves. And part of their mission, the writers say, is to destigmatize these struggles.” – The New York Times
John Schaefer: Why We Still Need Music Curators
“When what we listen to is all based on algorithms, you’re fed things that will already fit your taste. My intention with the show was always to make it like a series of doors. You could peek in and you could go into that door if you liked, or you could choose another.” – The New York Times
The Real Problem With Cancel Culture
“The entire cancel culture conversation, including the debate over whether or not it exists at all, has largely missed a crucial point. While celebrities, successful artists, and other too-big-to-fail types can survive a cancellation (or even seek one out as a means of drumming up publicity), the rest of us are trapped in an increasingly deranged surveillance state fueled by the disappearance of our most essential resource: trust.” – Tablet
Do We Need Critics For Cities?
Given how long we’ve relied on the work of critics on film, music, food, and much else besides, as well as the ever-increasing relevance of cities in our lives, it’s time we recognised city criticism as its own distinct category of writing. But what is city criticism — or rather, what isn’t it? – The Guardian
Epistolary Memoir, An Old Genre Having A New Heyday
The recounting of a life in the form of a letter may go all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, but it’s currently seeing a revival, kicked off by Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and carried by major works by Imani Perry, Terese Marie Mailhot, Ocean Vuong, and others. “The new epistolary memoirs, however,” writes Parul Sehgal, “are less interested in stitching a life into a tidy narrative shroud than in ripping it from its seams.” – The New York Times
Dallas Placed 149th Among U.S. Cities On The Arts Vibrancy Index. Here’s How One Organization Is Trying To Change That
“The Arts Community Alliance (TACA) … has been raising money for the arts in Dallas since 1967. Today it doles that money out in the form of more than 60 general operating, artist residency and new works grants each year. … But in addition to providing monetary support, a big part of TACA’s role in Dallas is what [TACA’s executive director] calls arts leadership. It more or less means helping carve a path forward for the local arts community as a whole.” – SMU Data Arts
Sean Dorsey Has Blazed A Trail For Trans Dance Artists
“Now in its 15th season, Dorsey’s award-winning San Francisco company, Sean Dorsey Dance, is heralded for intersectional dance-theater works that celebrate trans, gender-nonconforming and queer identities. Along the way, Dorsey, 47, has become the first trans choreographer to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (seven grants to date, totaling $115,000), and the first U.S. trans artist presented by the American Dance Festival and New York City’s Joyce Theater. Today, he’s the role model he always wished he had.” – Dance Magazine
How Theatres Can Strengthen Themselves For The Next Great Recession
“In this paper we first explore the U.S. economic and financial outlook to better understand the environment and its risks. Then we follow trends for theatres’ finances and operations, starting with the years prior to the last recession, to identify key trends in the not-for-profit resident theatre industry. We conclude with recommendations of steps to take for recession preparedness given the identified vulnerabilities.” – SMU Data Arts