Communities as Resources
Too often (far, far too often), work that is thought of as engagement work views the arts organization or arts professional as the exclusive bearer of resources. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-02-14
Merce in Nancy
CCN – Ballet de Lorraine presents three works from its repertory at the Joyce Theater. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-02-14
Paint, Hats and Degas–Really?
Today the Saint Louis Art Museum opened a new exhibition called Degas, Impressionism and the Paris Millinery Trade. On the surface, it sounds like one of those cooked-up theses, a mix of fashion with art, … A gimmick.
Well, probably not. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-02-12
Second Inversion
Or, “The America Chord.” … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-02-13
Meetings Across Space and Time
Douglas Dunn + Dancers’ Antipodes comes to roost in Danspace St. Mark’s. Paul Singh supports Christopher Williams in Douglas Dunn’s Antipodes. Laura Brenneman at the piano, Mimi Gross’s woodpecker on the pillar. Photo: Ian Douglas … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-02-12
On “Artivism” – a conversation with Amy Hunter
I met Amy Hunter in St. Louis in October 2014, less than 3 months after the shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson. At the time, she served as Director of Racial Justice for the YWCA of Metro St. Louis. … read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2017-02-09
ICYMI: Matisse and American Art
No sooner had my review of the exhibition at the Montclair Art Museum titled Matisse and American Art run in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday than I was off, flying to another exhibition … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-02-09
Svend Asmussen, RIP
He was one of the handful of violinists who in the 1930s proved the instrument capable of swing and emotional expression at the highest jazz level. He may well have been the only man still alive in the new century who had played with Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-02-08
Universality/Particularity
A view of the universality of an art (or any element of culture) is at odds with the reality of different cultures and different forms of cultural expression. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-02-07
From London to New Jersey
The Richard Alston Dance Company at Montclair State University’s Peak Performances, February 2 through 5. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-02-07
American Art Benefits: A Little Noticed $100 Million Gift
Everyone I know is reading more news these days – until they give up and decide to avoid news altogether. Either way, some good news in the art world is not getting enough attention. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-02-06
Music and the National Mood
PostClassical Ensemble – the DC chamber orchestra I co-founded a dozen years ago – produced a concert at the Washington National Cathedral last Saturday night that seemed to address the national mood. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-02-06
The Met Mess in the NY Times: Are Tom Campbell’s Director Days Numbered?
Catching up on museum news after five days in California, I did a double-take at the online headline for Robin Pogrebin‘s Page One piece in Sunday’s NY Times: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-02-06
Monday Recommendation: Miguel Zenon
Miguel Zenon Quartet, Típico (Miel Music) … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-02-06
Political Dispatches
Caught the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) exhibition Dispatches this weekend. Dispatches was mounted just before the 2016 election; in its own words it “includes a survey of works from 2010 – present and … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-02-05
When the Last is not the Last
Batsheva Dance Company, live and on film, performs in New York. Or Meir Schraiber (L) and William Barry of Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Last Work. At back: Rani Lebzelter. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu The … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-02-05
Weekend Extra: Louis Stewart Wailing In Wales
A Rifftides reader who requests anonymity has made us aware of a video featuring the remarkable Irish guitarist Louis Stewart. Stewart died at 72 in a London hospice last August following a short … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-02-04
Resilience: The Spirit of 9/12
We remember the fear and uncertainty of 9/11. … But what do we remember of 9/12? What do we remember of the long and arduous process that commenced the next day – the effort to restore calm, order and clarity? How long did it take to achieve strategic thinking?… read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2017-02-02
Classical music — the definition
My students – in my Juilliard course on classical music’s future – came up with a definition that I think works. … It’s in two parts. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2017-02-02
More On That Revolutionary Art: Unscrolled
As I mentioned yesterday, the soon-to-open Museum of the American Revolution will hang a copy of Louis Charles-Auguste Couder’s Siege of Yorktown (1781). It hangs in the Hall of the Battles at Versailles. The copy, I’ve now learned, … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-02-01
The Conflation Index
When faced with stress or dramatic change in our environment, we humans have a tendency to conflate things in our thinking — to bundle two or more separate ideas or issues or observations into one. … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-02-01
Privilege/Encumbrance: Part III
This post is the last of a three-part series that is not strictly about community engagement. However, to engage with communities with which one is not familiar it is essential to understand the dynamics of privilege. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-01-31
What is classical music?
We need a new audience. But how are we going to get one if we can’t tell people why classical music is valuable? And how can we do that if we don’t know what classical music is? (Dictionaries don’t help.) … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2017-01-31
Dancers on the Rampage
New York City Ballet premieres new works by Justin Peck and Pontus Lidberg. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-01-31
Rienzi in America?
Connecting opera to current, particularly American political events usually doesn’t work, and even more unlikely when the connection can be made, to an opera by Richard Wagner. Donald Trump has changed all that … read more
AJBlog: OperaSleuth Published 2017-01-31
