A newly published study finds people are more likely to be moved and intrigued by abstract paintings if they have just experienced a good scare. This suggests the allure of art may be “a byproduct of one’s tendency to be alarmed by such environmental features as novelty, ambiguity, and the fantastic.”
Tag: 02.14.12
Conductor Who Walked Out On Kentucky Opera Walks Right Into San Diego
When Kentucky Opera music director Jospeh Mechavich withdrew from the company’s Merry Widow following the hiring of non-union orchestra musicians, he was suddenly available for this weekend. As it happens, the conductor for Saturday’s West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick at San Diego Opera fell ill; Mechavich had conducted that very score last month in Calgary, so he stepped right up.
Academics Begin Boycott Of Journal Publisher Elsevier
Nearly 6,000 researchers so far “have agreed to boycott publishers Elsevier, vowing not to peer-review or submit papers for any of its scientific journals. … The researchers supporting the boycott, more than 1000 of whom are mathematicians, object to the journals’ pricing and the company’s support for several proposed US laws ‘ including the controversial SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills.”
Why Can’t Asian-American Actors Get Cast In New York?
“Over the past five theater seasons Asian-American actors were cast in 2 percent of the roles in Broadway and major Off Broadway productions … Asian-Americans were found to be the only minority group whose share of New York acting roles declined slightly, and they were also the least likely to be chosen for characters that would traditionally be played by white actors.”
Getty Museum Names Timothy Potts Director
“A Sydney native who early on ran the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia, Potts, 53, is currently the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge in England. He is best known in the U.S. for running the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1998 to 2007.”
New Company Ballet Next Brings Audience Closer (Much Closer) To Dance
Ballet Next, founded last year by former ABT principal Michele Wiles and former NYCB principal Charles Askegard is launching a new series of “exhibitions” in a small performing space that “will combine well-known choreography, new works, and discussions among dancers, musicians, choreographers and audience members.”
England Expected To Have £200M Extra Funding For Arts
“Arts Council England is expected to have around £160 million of extra funding at its disposal over the next five years, thanks to increased National Lottery ticket sales, culture minister Ed Vaizey has claimed. … An additional £40 million is also projected to go to the British Film Institute.”
UK Government To Prepare National Plan For Cultural Education
Culture minister Ed Vaizey told a conference of arts professionals that the new plan would include everything from “archaeology to architecture and the built environment, archives, craft, dance, design, digital arts, drama and theatre, film and cinemas, galleries, heritage, libraries, literature, live performance, museums, poetry and the visual arts.”
Elgar Manuscript Found In Local Government Storage Closet
“An Edward Elgar manuscript dating back nearly 90 years has been discovered in a council building in Leicestershire. Staff found the musical score while clearing out a storage room at Charnwood Borough Council’s headquarters in Loughborough.”
Dancer-Choreographer Zina Bethune Killed In Road Accident
“Bethune, 66, a former New York City Ballet soloist and the founder of a Los Angeles multimedia dance and theatrical company, was struck by two vehicles and killed shortly after midnight Sunday after she apparently stopped to help an injured animal along Forest Lawn Drive in L.A.”