Category: Uncategorized

Blind Dance Company brings talent into the light

“The Blind Dance Company currently has ten blind dancers, some of whom lost their eyesight later in life. ‘Many blind people love to dance, and stopped dancing when losing their sight,’ [company founder Hydeia] Muhammad said. ‘I teach blind dancers the same way I teach any clients. I feel like it’s easier to teach blind dancers because they’re not trying to figure out what’s happening ahead of time. They kind of relax and let the physical guidance teach them.'” – CBS

Designing For A More Circular World

“Today’s linear economy is a straight line, no matter how efficient you make it. If you make a car with less material, if you make a car using less energy, you’re still using stuff. You’re still consuming materials. Whereas within a circular model, from the outset you design in a way whereby that product comes back into the system: the components are recovered, the materials are recovered.” – dezeen

A Crossroads For The Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit repertory theater company is at a pivotal moment, with change at the top and challenges everywhere. It’s bringing in its first new artistic director in 12 years and preparing to start a search for a new executive director. It’s coming off a smoke-plagued 2018 season that ended with 26 outdoor performances either canceled or moved indoors, $2.3 million in losses and 16 layoffs.  – The Oregonian

‘Thought Experiments In F# Minor’ — A Virtual Interactive Tour Of Walt Disney Concert Hall, Led By A Cat-Woman

“Created by Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, with original music by Ellen Reid and curation by Yuval Sharon, the tour reveals little of the Concert Hall’s history, instead zig-zagging between philosophical musings such as on Schroedinger’s Cat (the theoretical paradox of a cat inside a box being both alive and dead), footage of intimate performances from the Philharmonic, and whimsical vignettes.” Writer Matt Stromberg gives it a try. – Hyperallergic

How Your Body And Your Brain Work Together To Perceive The World

If you pay attention to your heart and bodily responses, they can tell you how you are feeling, and allow you to share in the emotions of others. Interoception can enhance the depth of our own emotions, emotionally bind us to those around us, and guide our intuitive instincts. We are now learning just how much the way we think and feel is shaped by this dynamic interaction between body and brain. – Aeon

Question: A New Weekly AJ Highlights Newsletter?

I’d like to ask for your help. Our weekly ArtsJournal newsletter lists all the stories we collect each week on the website. It’s a long list – about 140 stories each week. We’re wondering if it’s a bit unwieldy? And we are wondering if we ought to begin offering a new weekly newsletter that boils it down a bit and offers highlights from the stories we’ve collected. That’s where we’re asking for your help. Could you take this short – promise, only four questions – survey to help us see if there’s interest in the idea? Thanks.
[Take the Survey]
– Doug McLennan, Editor

A note from Doug McLennan

I’d like to ask for your help. ArtsJournal has traditionally not linked to stories behind hard paywalls because our readers can’t see them unless they pay. We have, however, linked to stories behind “soft” paywalls such as the New York Times, LA Times and others. On these sites you can access stories until you reach the limit. And even then, by using different browsers or computers you can often get around the paywalls.

BUT: An increasing number of news sites are now going to the paid subscriber paywall model. And a growing number of ArtsJournal readers are getting frustrated clicking through to stories they can’t see unless they pay. Alas, we can’t do anything about that (we’ve tried…. really).

We have always considered AJ to be a curated survey of stories you should know about. The average reader scans stories, clicking through to about 20 percent of the links to read the whole story. Thus the headlines are a good “scan” of what’s out there. If you come to the website or subscribe to the premium newsletter, [sample here] you also get a short description of the story – so a little more information about the story so you can decide whether to click.

I’d like to ask you to participate in a short survey about what we should do about stories behind paywalls – it’s only three questions – so we can figure out how we should deal with them. Thanks! [CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE]

  • Doug McLennan, Editor