“There has been talk that schools can be churned out in bulk, the way Tesco builds its supermarket or McDonald’s its outlets. To dot the country with standardised McSchools is not obviously consistent with the government’s localism agenda, or its interest in a ‘happiness index’, but never mind.”
Tag: 03.05.11
David Henry Hwang Talks About Becoming a Playwright
“My first plays were amazingly bad, but I had a teacher who thought I had promise and he kept working with me. I finally went to a summer workshop before my senior year with people like Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Fornés who encouraged me to write from my subconscious and suddenly all this material about culture clash came out.”
Jacques d’Amboise, A Most Distinguished Dancer
“In the chapters concentrating on Balanchine’s last years and his death, in 1983, d’Amboise offers a chronologically chaotic collage of diary and recollection.”
Study: People Underestimate How Much TV They Watch
“Industry figures suggest people watch more than 30 hours of TV a week but the 2,066 adults in the online survey said they watched an average of less than 20 hours of TV a week in January.”
The Man With No Beat (Literally)
Researchers have identified a 23-year-old man named Mathieu “as the first documented case of beat deafness, a condition in which a person can’t feel music’s beat or move in time to it.”
Detroit Symphony Musicians Impatient For Response To Their Offer
“Under the musicians’ latest proposal, each side would select an arbiter, who together would select the third member of the panel. The unresolved issues in the strike would be decided by the panel, which would have the freedom to choose one side over the other or devise a compromise. Meanwhile, the season would resume.”
The “Most Sensation Ballerina In The World” On The Big Screen
Natalia Osipova: “When you look at the ballet, you shouldn’t be very close; you should have more. I think though it’s really wonderful to have such a big audience, and it will be a big pleasure for all of us that you’re doing just one performance and so many people around the world get the chance to see you, especially the people will get to see us in such a beloved production of our own theater.”
Norman Foster Awarded Huge Hong Kong Cultural Project
“The harbor-front district, known as City Park, is to be a major hub for music, performing and visual arts that includes living spaces, galleries and studios. The project is considered to be the largest current cultural project in the world, Mr. Foster’s firm said.”
The Great Picasso Masterpiece That Got Away From MoMA
When the museum “tried to acquire it from the Swiss dealer Ernst Beyeler in the ’70s, another client with deeper pockets and an ambition to establish a great collection of modern Western art bought it first–the shah of Iran.”
Ontario’s Stratford Theatre Posts A Surplus
“Although not a massive margin of gain for an organization with a $59 million budget, it still represents a change of pace from other large Ontario arts institutions like the Shaw Festival and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, which posted substantial deficits on their seasons.”