“For centuries, opera has been a tool of power, a spectacle developed and organized by influential Western nations and the elites within them. It is long past time for the art form to be more open about this heritage, and to make reparations for it. Using opera to understand the connections between cultures and to experiment with what can bridge them is no longer merely an aesthetic possibility; it’s a moral necessity.”
Category: AUDIENCE
Are You A Good Listener? Here’s What Listening Means
“Good listening is much more than being silent while the other person talks. To the contrary, people perceive the best listeners to be those who periodically ask questions that promote discovery and insight. These questions gently challenge old assumptions, but do so in a constructive way.”
After Ten Years, HD Opera Movie-Casts Still Prove Controversial
“Like so much new media in this era of rapid technological change, the HD broadcasts haven’t actually fulfilled the rosy expectations that once surrounded them. It is far from clear that they are the wave of the future.”
How Do Symphony Orchestras Survive And Thrive In Small Communities?
“With more than 105,000 musicians performing in 1,200 orchestras across the country last year, regional and small-town orchestras that operate on small but innovative budgets, have become the rule, rather than the exception.”
This Week In Audience: Audience Confusion Editon
This Week: Pokemon Go suggests a different relationship between real and virtual, an art prize in which critics don’t matter, museums challenge visitors to spot fakes, a French city that has reinvented itself around art, and a claim that modern audiences are confused and uncertain.
This French City Was Once ‘Culturally Dead’ – And Free Public Art Brought It Back To Life
“‘The city was culturally dead when I arrived here,’ says Jean Blaise, an artistic director and cultural impresario who has been based in Nantes since the mid-1980s. ‘There was one interesting festival and the opera house, that’s all.'” Now it’s France’s fastest-growing city and has real cachet. The key? “‘If you make people pay for culture, or only offer it in enclosed spaces like theatres or museums, you will only ever reach a small percentage of the population,’ Blaise says.”
Michael Flatley To Open His Own Chain Of Irish Dancing Schools
“Flatley’s new venture will begin teaching classes in and around London from September, with plans to expand internationally in the next five years.”
Star Of Play With ‘Worst Audience Behavior Ever’ Defends Audience, Says We Should Stop Being Prigs
“[Game of Thrones star Kit] Harington rejected claims made by the award-winning theatre producer Richard Jordan in The Stage newspaper that audiences had behaved inappropriately at the final night of Harington’s Doctor Faustus … ‘I have been a theatregoer since childhood and I didn’t feel that our audiences were disrespectful in the slightest.'”
Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk Has A Manifesto For Museums: Think Small (And Avoid Governments)
“The aim of the great state-sponsored museums is to represent a state and that is neither a good nor innocent aim. … It is imperative that museums become smaller, more orientated towards the individual and more economical. This is the only way that they can ever tell stories on a human scale. The great museums invite us to forget our humanity and to accept the state and its human masses. This is why there are millions, outside the West, who are frightened by museums. This is why museums are associated with governments.”
It’s The Worst Audience Behavior I’ve Ever Seen, Says Producer
Richard Jordan: “Attending the final Friday evening performance of Doctor Faustus starring Kit Harington at the Duke of York’s Theatre, my heart sank.” There was talking, eating, taking pictures – and complaining after being asked to stop. There was popcorn, chips crisps, and even Chicken McNuggets.