Category: today’s top story

“Scott-Heron’s music reflected something of the militancy and self-assertiveness of such theorists and polemicists as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael. Over the course of some 20 albums he produced a series of sardonic and biting commentaries on ghetto life and racial injustice, including ‘Whitey’s On The Moon’, ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’, … ‘Johannesburg’,” and his most famous piece, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”.

“It strikes me that instead of being “cautious” not to “impose” American values on a foreign culture, the museums of America should acknowledge that they have a unique responsibility to speak out on behalf of Mr. Ai.”

A (white) Democratic congressman recently argued that most whites would not go to such a museum, and that only Latinos and Native Americans go to museums dedicated to their heritages. He also argues that such cultural separatism is “not what America is all about.” Does he have a point? Should African-American history exhibits be integrated into mainstream history museums instead?

Patrick Summers will assume business management responsibilities as artistic and music director, and collaborate with COO Perryn Leech and chief advancement officer Greg Robertson in an attempt to continue and build HGO’s international reputation. Leech will now be called managing director under the three-headed leadership team.

“The cultural council of Holland recently proposed cuts of up to half [NDT’s] annual budget. (The Dutch National Ballet, the country’s largest dance company, faces a 26-percent amputation.) … NDT may also be downgraded to ‘regional amenity’ status. Its [sold-out world] tours … would take a back seat to appearances in Dutch suburbs.”

The detention of China’s most famous living artist has drawn a huge amount of protest from the international art community – but from individuals much more than from institutions. Are museums morally obligated to speak out for Ai? Would it help? And what if protests provoked the Chinese government were to revoke permission to display borrowed art and antiquities?

Following two days of board meetings, “City Opera disclosed its plans as it announced that it had settled on a slimmed-down budget for five operas and three concerts, starting in October, after speculation that financial woes would force it to halt performances.”

“Board members … hashed through the company’s budget and programming options for next season in a grueling daylong meeting on Thursday, a watershed moment for what was once one of the country’s major opera companies. Adding to the pressure, union officials appealed for more mainstream programming and denounced the way the company has been marketing itself.”

“Intiman’s implosion has stunned the Seattle theater community, and observers have been picking through the ashes to make sense of its downfall. Did it rely too much on [former director Bartlett] Sher’s stardom and charisma? Was he too absent? Had a former managing director hidden the financial problems, as the board initially argued – or had the board simply ignored them?”

“The New York Board of Regents has approved new rules for deaccessioning artworks … [At] least one of ten specific criteria be met when museums deaccession a work. Among the criteria are proving that an item is inconsistent with the museum’s mission, that it is redundant in the institution’s collection or that a work is stolen or inauthentic.”