The service may very well allow artists to become less beholden to the unpredictable algorithms, turbulent monetization policies, and stingy revenue-sharing of behemoth distribution platforms like YouTube. But in the absence of a viable alternative to those platforms, Patreon winds up effectively subsidizing that very unpredictability, turbulence, and stinginess. – Wired
Tag: 09.19.19
Making Dance Accessible To Blind And Partially Sighted Audiences
“Our ears take in the score, the artists’ breathing patterns, fellow audience members’ reactions, and the physical percussion made by the dancers’ footfalls and partnering. All of this information is available to audience members with limited to no vision, and when it comes to providing them with the rest, there are multiple approaches being refined by experts in the field generally referred to as ‘audience accessibility.'” – Dance Magazine
France And Italy Have Finally Stopped Fighting Over The Loan Of Leonardos
“Italy and France are set to sign an agreement to exchange works by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, burying a spat triggered by Italy’s former populist government. The deal … will result in Italian museums lending works by Leonardo to the Louvre, in Paris, for an exhibition in October to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death. In return, France will lend Italy paintings by Raphael for events marking 500 years since his death next year.” – The Guardian
Finally, The Met Will Stage An Opera By A Black Composer
The chosen work is Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, with a libretto by Kasi Lemmons based on the memoir by New York Times columnist Charles Blow, premiered this past summer at Opera Theater of St. Louis. When will it arrive in New York? That hasn’t been worked out yet. – The New York Times
UK Performers Union Calls For Radical Overhaul Of The Country’s Arts Infrastructure
Equity describes the policy as one that aims to “promote sustainable, optimistic and fulfilling careers” for its members and other arts workers. To achieve this, it claims a “radical overhaul of UK arts and culture is needed”. – The Stage
Rise Of The Anti-Meritocracy
“An attack on meritocracy is invariably an attack on higher education, where meritocrats get sorted and credentialed. So the turn against meritocracy prompts big questions. Has meritocracy in fact failed?” – Chronicle of Higher Education
Should England’s Cathedrals Be The New Cultural Centers?
“We look at cathedrals returning to being the cultural hubs that they once were. Each cathedral around the country is desperately looking for a cultural agenda for their own sustainability.” He added: “It’s okay; they’re not that religious these days,” noting that cathedrals now run “everything from art exhibitions to beer festivals”. – Arts Professional
The Simple Structure That All Human Languages Share
Sentences and phrases of human languages, all human languages, have an inaudible and invisible hierarchical structure. When we are children, we impose this structure on the sequences of sounds that we hear. Our minds can’t understand continuous streams of sound directly as meaningful language. Instead, we subconsciously chop them up into discrete bits—sounds and words—and organize these into larger units. This means that sentences have a hierarchical structure. – Nautilus
How Problematic Is ‘Porgy And Bess’ In 2019?
Is it a sensitive portrait of a segregated Black community? Or is it a parade of stereotypes performed in embarrassing dialect? Is it a triumph of the American melting pot, with the sons of Russian Jews teaming with white Southern WASPs to tell an African-American story? Or is it a very model of cultural appropriation? Has it given Black singers valuable and (too) rare opportunities? Or has it caused them to be pigeonholed? Or is the answer to all these questions yes? – The New York Times
Eight Operas About The Black American Experience That Are By Black Composers
“Though they’ve been ignored or underheard, African-American composers have long been crafting ambitious music dramas. Some of the works cited below exist in complete editions, ready to be programmed. Others are still emerging, thanks to the work of scholars reversing decades of neglect.” – The New York Times