“On paper, the arts are looking grim. In less than two years the city lost the Las Vegas Art Museum and two critical downtown galleries, Naomi Arin Contemporary Art and Michele C. Quinn Fine Art Advisory. The Las Vegas Philharmonic nearly collapsed, Nevada Ballet Theatre restructured for financial reasons, and museums and cultural centers cut hours and programming.”
Category: issues
How Teaching To The Test Snuffs Out Children’s Creativity
“Imagine the future actress, who is told there’s no time to play in the dress-up area because she has to learn all her letters and memorize 25 sight words at the age of five. Imagine the up-and-coming Picasso who is chastised for turning in a picture of a blue cat eating a potato when the assignment had been to draw a self-portrait. Not realistic enough! Follow directions!”
What Critics Talk About When They Talk About The Nose
Kentridge, Gogol, Shostakovich: It only made sense to round up classical music critic Anthony Tommasini, art critic Roberta Smith and book critic Dwight Garner to talk with classical music reporter Daniel J. Wakin about “the music, the art and the literary threads” running through Kentridge’s Metropolitan Opera production of “The Nose.”
In Vancouver, The Cultural Paralympics
“The Paralympic Games begin tomorrow, and art exploring the disability experience is very much in evidence in Vancouver’s continuing Cultural Olympiad. But the people behind these shows say it is essential that the physical challenges of the protagonists, stars and/or creators do not overwhelm the subject matter of the works.”
Critics, ‘The Dung Beetles Of Culture’
David Cote: “We consume excrement, enriching the soil and protecting livestock from bacterial infection in the process. We are intrinsic to the theatre ecology. Eliminate us at your peril. … [If] this trend continues, only the stupidest among us will believe a critical rave. We’ll know that reviews are just part of the marketing …”
Panel Names Fifty UK Women To Watch In The Arts
“The list includes directors, producers and curators who make a contribution to cultural life across the UK. … The women to watch are expected to lead the way in design, libraries, literature, museums, heritage, music, performing and visual arts, the historic environment and creative businesses.”
Variety Film Critic Todd McCarthy On Being Cut Loose
“I’ve been fiercely and proudly reviewing at full speed since all the [previous] cutbacks. I made sure we had no slippage in our festival coverage and film reviewing, I’ve worked hard in recent times to make sure nothing slipped. The reviews have been the most unchanged part of Variety, period. Forever.”
A Painter-Critic Wishes For A Broader Education
Peter Plagens: “If I had it to do over again, I don’t think I’d want to be an actual subatomic-particle physicist or a bona fide neurosurgeon. But I sure would like to be an abstract painter and art critic who’s fluently bilingual, can comprehend the pages with the funny little symbols on them in the popular science books, is able to rattle off soliloquies by Shakespeare….”
Before Long, Another Respected Critic Will Get The Axe
“As an art form, criticism should be placed on the endangered species list. Dozens upon dozens of critics have been laid off or taken buyouts at newspapers and magazines in the last several years. And the ones who have survived have less influence than ever before. “
Two NJ Arts Companies Succumb To Economic Crisis
“The American Repertory Ballet in New Brunswick announced today it has canceled the remainder of its season, opting to not perform in order not to make an already six-figure shortfall even worse. At the same time, the smaller 12 Miles West Theatre Company of Madison, has suspended operations, and it’s unlikely it will re-open.”