Tag: 01.28.19

Museo Del Barrio Cancels Show On Director Alejandro Jodorowsky Over His Boast That He Raped An Actress

The statement in question comes from the director’s 1972 book about his breakout 1970 film El Topo: “After she had hit me long enough and hard enough to tire her, I said, ‘Now it’s my turn. Roll the cameras.’ And … I really raped her. And she screamed … Then she told me that she had been raped before. You see, for me the character is frigid until El Topo rapes her. And she has an orgasm.'” — ARTnews

‘Choreographer To The Stars’ JoJo Smith Dead At 80

“With a career spanning over six decades, Smith’s credits include eight Broadway shows, hit TV shows, feature films and major domestic and international tours (including West Side Story). … Even with high-profile friends like Eartha Kitt and students like Barbra Streisand, Sylvie Vartan, Barbara Walters and Diane Von Furstenburg, Smith was best known as dance consultant for box office smash hit musical Saturday Night Fever (John Travolta). He will also be remembered as the founder of Jo Jo’s Dance Factory (currently Broadway Dance Center).” — Dance Magazine

With A New Sponsor, Could The Booker Prize Kick Out The Damn Americans?

With hedge fund the Man Group having announced that it will end its sponsorship of the English-speaking world’s leading literary award after this year, the literati are all wondering what changes might come to the Man Booker Prize — with some observers in Britain who are too chicken to compete worry about over-dominance by writers from the United States wondering if the 2014 decision to include them can be overturned. — The Guardian

New Mellon Foundation Study: Leadership In The Museum World Is Getting More Diverse, But It’s Slow

The takeaway: “At a high level, the study has found some meaningful progress in the representation of people of color in a number of different museum functions, including the curatorial. We also found an increase in the number of women in museum leadership positions from 2015 to 2018. Nevertheless, the data also shows that progress has been uneven. While trends in recent hiring are encouraging, certain parts of the museum appear not as quick to change, especially the most senior leadership positions.” Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

A Dismal Trajectory For Investment In American Culture

Tim Schneider: “A sharp fall in public funding for cultural organizations since the 1980s has coincided with a sharp rise in private wealth held by the very few. And rather than being some wacky coincidence, these developments have a direct causal relationship, as many elites have spent billions of dollars on think tanks, lobbying firms, and politicians to enact policies that keepsafe mountains of revenue that once went to public causes, including arts and cultural institutions.” – Artnet