Schools that go beyond basics and include arts studies produce better students. “A study of 23 arts-integrated schools in Chicago showed test scores rising up to two times faster there than in demographically comparable schools. A study of a Minneapolis program showed that arts integration has substantial effects for all students, but appears to have its greatest impact on disadvantaged learners. Gains go well beyond the basics and test scores. Students become better thinkers, develop higher-order skills, and deepen their inclination to learn. The studies also show that arts integration energizes and challenges teachers.”
Tag: 01.08.05
Looking For The Great Scottish Musical
“Sir Cameron MackIntosh has joined the Scottish Executive in funding the Highland Quest, a competition to find a piece of musical theatre to mark the Highland Year of Culture in 2007. The winning entry will be staged at a new 250-seat studio venue at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, which is undergoing a £15 million refurbishment, before going on tour, possibly as far as London’s West End.”
The Joy Of Painting
Painting became the unloved orphan child of the art world in the 20th century, derided by critics as passe and insufficiently adaptable in an age when everything in art had to be new and exciting. But these days, painting is hot again, to the extent that it seems absurd for anyone ever to have suggested its impending demise.
Breitweiser Gets Two Years
Art thief Stephane Breitweiser was sentenced to 26 months in prison this weekend, one day after attempting suicide in his jail cell. Breitweiser will have to pay significant damages for works ruined by his ax-wielding mother, who was also sentenced to prison.
Live Nude College Students
Boston has always been a cutting-edge college town, and the student-run publications put out by the Hub’s universities have long been the envy of the world. So what’s the latest trend in student publishing? Well, in a word, porn.
Frankly Suburban
“If Fallingwater in Pennsylvania is Frank Lloyd Wright’s greatest work, then a house he designed in this Cleveland suburb is one of his most livable. Owner Paul Penfield has opened up the Louis Penfield House to guests after spending four years restoring it to the architect’s original vision. It is one of three Wright houses in the United States — and the only one outside of Wisconsin — that allows visitors to spend the night.”
Atwood: A Remote Control Book-signing Device
Margaret Atwood is tired of traipsing around North America signing books. So she’s “developing a remote book-signing machine that will allow readers to get their novels autographed without the author having to traipse to bookshops across the globe. The idea occurred to her while undertaking gruelling tours with Oryx and Crake last spring.”
Babes In The (Chinese) Wood
Touring China with a symphony orchestra is a tricky undertaking, but doing so with a youth orchestra has to be considered a Herculean task. But last month, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory Orchestra spent 18 days touring the world’s most populous nation, playing in conditions that would make professional orchestras blanch, adapting to culture shock after culture shock, and generally having the time of their lives. William Littler went along for the ride…
Nobody Cares If They Can Act, Right?
“It’s been a rough couple of years for Broadway musical revivals, with a series of high-profile financial failures, including Gypsy, Man of La Mancha and Wonderful Town. What each of those shows had in common were stars like Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Donna Murphy, all of whom had respected theatrical résumés but lacked lasting box office punch. Theater fans might have cared, but the general public, it seemed, did not.” So the producers of two of this year’s most anticipated revivals are going outside the traditional theatre world for stars, hiring jazz singer Harry Connick and sitcom actress Christina Applegate in an effort to boost ticket sales.
Name-Brand Tragedy
When celebrities donate their abundant cash to charitable causes like tsunami relief, it’s usually assumed that they are calling attention to their own regular-guy generosity as much as genuinely trying to help out. But does the motivation even matter? “Is this charity-plus, a kind of righteous one-upmanship with public relations benefits? Or is it smart fund-raising, recognition that in a society saturated with pop culture even tragedy sells better with a name brand attached.”