Category: AJBlogs

Audience Insight: This Week’s AJ Stories About Understanding Audiences
This Week: Cyber-fan bullying makes us scared about who the audience really might be… It’s not enough to “reflect” diversity of a community to be diverse… If you want to build an audience try investing … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts AudiencePublished 2016-08-14

The world is broken. Smile!
Tales from Edinburgh 1 What do you do when the world is broken? You can do worse than laugh. My usual taste is for dystopia, plays for endtimes that will sob you to sleep. … read more
AJBlog: Performance MonkeyPublished 2016-08-13

Ystad: The Wrapup
It was impossible to hear all of the music at the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. I came as close as festival scheduling and the need for a minimal amount of sleep allowed. Here are brief … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-08-12

False Confidence? A Closer Look at Sotheby’s 2nd-Quarter Report that Lifted Its Stock
The economic picture painted by Sotheby’s in its Form 10-Q second-quarter report (filed with the SEC on Monday) was not as rosy as stock traders seemed to have believed. Notwithstanding the uptick in its share …read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2016-08-12

 

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How Do You Test For The Arts?
It’s a more difficult question than you might think. There’s a maxim in the education world that only subjects that are tested are funded. Thus the imperative for arts education champions to get the arts included in required standardized tests. … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-11

Rewind: Another Look at William Merritt Chase
Do we need to become reacquainted with William Merritt Chase? I’m afraid we do. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-08-11

2016 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival: Further Impressions
Nearly as old as jazz itself, Svend Asmussen celebrated his 100th birthday in February. The Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival honored him in a concert … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-11

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Who wants performance metrics in the arts?
Today we have a story from The Atlantic on schools and tests  – or, “assessments” – measuring creativity. With all the problems that come with standard testing, who would want such a thing? Well … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-08-10

Ystad: Joe Lovano, The Bohuslän Big Band & Others
As the Rifftides staff flies home, digital magic allows us to continue reporting on highlights of the 2016 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-10

Trump’s Partner in Opera
Last fall I wrote a blog, The Operatic Republican Characters, in which I compared the Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for the Presidency. In it I compared Donald Trump to Dr. Dulcamara … read more
AJBlog: OperaSleuth Published 2016-08-10

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Fifth Anniversary Highlights: Art for Art’s Sake?
During the month of August, Engaging Matters is republishing some of the most widely read articles from the five years this blog has been in existence. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-08-09

Lookback: Our Girl in Chicago on preparing to see a movie
From 2006: I sometimes do too much fieldwork before seeing a movie, building up a whole structure of preconceptions that I then have to trundle into the theater with me and crane my neck to peer around at the thing itself. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-08-09

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This Week In Audience – Pondering How To Connect Art To A Larger World
Why should anyone care what we wear to the theatre? … Big Data is helping indie bookstores thrive … Are our concert halls too big for the experiences we want? … Some thinking on how to connect artists to the larger world … The politics of demographics and aging. … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-08-07

Solitude
A few months ago, a friend informed me that he was including my Mister Blister on an upcoming program of unaccompanied violin music called “Solitude.”  … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-08-08

Ystad Report # 2
When bassist Avishai Cohen’s and his trio wrapped up their concert after midnight on Sunday, the 2016 edition of the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival became history. For this listener, the festival’s five days of music … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-08

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An Exhibition Not to Be Missed, And One I’m Glad Is Over
In New York, I visited several special exhibitions this past week. Let me mention two here. The first, Founding Figures: Copper Sculpture from Ancient Mesopotamia, ca. 3300–2000 B.C., is at the Morgan Library and Museum until … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2016-08-07

Legends and Visionaries
New York Theatre Ballet performs a new work and a classic at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. New York Theatre Ballet in Song Before Spring by Zhong-Jing Fang and Steven Melendez. Clockwise from R: Melendez, … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-08-06

 

Clark Lark: What Will I Miss on My Busman’s Holiday? (Sotheby’s edition)
Anyone within driving distance of Williamstown, MA, who has read Lance Esplund’s voluptuous review in theWall Street Journal of the Clark Art Institute’s Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes From the Prado must be exclaiming, … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2016-08-06

Ystad Festival
The Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival is in its fourth day. It is so jam-packed and tightly scheduled that this is my first opportunity to begin reporting on it. The early posts will be a series … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-08-06

Total Obscenity of the American Dream
Heathcote Williams’s verse polemic delivered by Alan Cox. “Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton — A Foaming Sleazeball from Hell versus An Iron Lady, Hands Dripping with Blood” Click to listen. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-08-05

 

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Metropolitan Museum Boasts Record Attendance; Attributes Deficit, in Part, to Younger Demographics Is an increase in young visitors too much of a good thing? The Metropolitan Museum late yesterday issued an upbeat press release that painted a much rosier picture of attendance figures than my doom-and-gloom post… read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-08-05

When We Allow Technology To Police Our Culture… Last year I was producing the live streaming of the Ojai Music Festivaland we decided to use YouTube to carry the streams. In a small outdoor venue, the number of seats is limited to … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-05

Propwatch: Richard III’s spine When archaeologists excavating a Leicestershire car park in 2013 uncovered a battle-scarred skeleton, the emergence of its severely curved spine was the first strong indication that these were the remains of Richard III: England’s … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2016-08-05

Trump Wrestles for President A friend tipped me to this video. It’s no secret. Hundreds of thousands of viewers have seen it, but I hadn’t. My friend also sent along his comment: How could the man in … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-08-05

One song, no plot In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the new Broadway revival of Cats. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” opened in New York in 1982 and closed 18 years later, the …read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-08-05

Trump, The Tenor, And Fascism
While I applaud the urge to dump on Trump (for so many reasons), trying to associate him with fascist sympathies because his campaign plays one of the most famous arias on the planet is a yuge overreach.  … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-04

On proper attire for attending the theatre
We have links to two stories today, Elisabeth Vincentelli asking that people try a little harder to look decent when they attend the theatre, … and Alexis Kleinman in rebuttal – with the arts already having problems of being exclusive, why exacerbate by imposing a dress code? … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-08-04

Young Chekhovathon for Chekhovaphiles (of all ages)
A bit of a sucker for aesthetic marathons, … an all-day Chekhov-fest sounds just my thing, and so it was. … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2016-08-04

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Are We Building Artistic Leadership?
Are the arts about selling tickets to shows or about art? Of course performances and exhibitions don’t happen if they don’t have money to be produced, but – as evidenced at an arts marketing conference where I recently spoke … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-03

A Big Splash for A Little Museum
Winona, MN, is home to just 27,500 people, but it has an art museum worthy of a much bigger city. The Minnesota Marine Art Museum – which is far more interesting than you may now be imagining … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-08-03

The Met Breuer, Like Its Signature Show, Is “Unfinished” (with video)
I decided to revisit the Met Breuer today, to view belatedly its well attended, justly praised exhibition of photographer Diane Arbus‘ early works, in which her unsettling genius for detecting the bizarre in the commonplace … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-08-03

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Is Opera The Real 21st Century Art Form?
A 2015 survey by blogger Mai Mae reported that 260 new opera companies started since 2000 in the United States. There are 80 opera companies now working in New York alone. … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-02

Nominations for Audience Development Innovation
No Good Deed Goes UNPUBLISHED.   That’s my motto – and why I ask: Have you seen an example of an arts organization doing something REMARKABLE in the pursuit of audience development – something especially CREATIVE, AMBITIOUS and/or EFFECTIVE?… read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2016-08-02

Five Years On
July 30 marked the fifth anniversary of Engaging Matters. On the one hand, it seems like yesterday that this journey began; on the other, it feels like it’s been going on forever. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-08-02

Insiders and Outsiders: Reflections on The Art of Relevance by Nina Simon
Simon uses the analogy of doors, locks, and keys as the driving metaphor for relevance, which she defines as “a key that unlocks meaning.” … read more
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2016-08-02

Good News From a Buyout, For A Change
I’ve been holding my tongue for a few days, but today I can give you the news of Richard Aste, the European paintings curator at the Brooklyn Museum. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-08-02

A Wintry Tale of Love and Jealousy
“What were you thinking, Will?” And “Eat your heart out, Marius Petipa.” These two silent remarks to the eminent dead periodically rattled around in my head while I was … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-08-02

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