“Just before midnight every evening in December, some 70 digital billboards encircling the gaudy canyon of Times Square will be co-opted for three minutes by slow-motion images of Black voguers, performing dances of resistance, resilience and liberation. The video installation is the work of the multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome, who has remixed footage from live performances of his 2019 piece Black Magic.” – The New York Times
Author: Matthew Westphal
An Operatic Countertenor Is Now A Top Contender On ‘The Voice’
John Holiday, 35 and from metro Houston, “has long sung jazz as well as opera, and crossover success was in his sights even before the pandemic hit. He’s sung at the Apollo Theater, opened for Jason Mraz and told The New Yorker that gospel music and Cardi B influence his classical singing. His dream: perform to a sold-out Metropolitan Opera house one week and a sold-out Madison Square Garden the next.” – Los Angeles Times
Here’s A Very Rare Thing: A Black Male Harpist Skilled In Both Classical And Jazz
A 26-year-old Bostonian, originally from Virginia, Charles Overton “wants to be both the Yo-Yo Ma and Herbie Hancock of the harp.” (Might one say he is pushing the Overton Window?) – Ozy
At A Crossroads, Second City Names New Creative Boss
Almost six months after co-owner Andrew Alexander left the company after accusations of embedded institutional racism there, Jon Carr has been named to succeed him as executive producer. A longtime playwright and performer in Atlanta, Carr currently heads Dad’s Garage Theater in that city. He will oversee all creative matters at Second City’s theaters in Chicago, Toronto, and Los Angeles — but, with the company up for sale, he may or may not be there long. – Chicago Tribune
As United Citizens Brigade Falters, Alums Found New Improv Theater
“Per the theater’s mission statement on its website, the Squirrel’s goal is to become ‘New York’s premier destination for sketch and improv comedy, …” The guiding principles of the theater will be ‘community, representation, transparency, and equality,’ and the website notes that equality will begin with the theater ‘financially compensating its artists'” — a years-long matter of controversy at UCB. – Vulture
COVID May Have Changed Arts Criticism For Good — And For The Better
Philip Kennicott: “Freed from the obligation of keeping up with a regular calendar of exhibition openings, or a concert schedule or a weekly march of theatrical premieres, critics have written more about the personal experience of art rather than the specific content of art in particular. … This more reflective, more personal [approach] may widen the audience for arts writing. Because critics deal with art on a daily basis, they sometimes fail to communicate something more fundamental: the daily, lived experience of having art in one’s life, the ‘why it matters’ that keeps you coming back, again and again, year after year.” – The Washington Post
Hegra, Petra’s Sister City And Saudi Arabia’s First Secular Tourist Attraction, Is Now Open For Business
“Once a thriving international trade hub, the archeological site of Hegra (also known as Mada’in Saleh) has been left practically undisturbed for almost 2,000 years. … Hegra was the second city of the Nabataean kingdom, but Hegra does much more than simply play second fiddle to Petra: it could hold the key to unlocking the secrets of an almost-forgotten ancient civilization.” – Smithsonian Magazine
BBC Requires Inclusion Rider For All New Commissions
Effective Immediately, “twenty percent of all on-screen talent and production teams must come from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background; have a lived experience of a disability; or be from a low-income background.” – The Hollywood Reporter
€2.1 Billion-With-A-B: Germany’s Culture Budget For 2021
It’s the federal government’s largest-ever package for supporting the arts, €155 million more than for this year, at a time of unprecedented need as the resurgent pandemic wipes out earned income. Among the notable line items is €85 million for renovating Wagner’s opera house at Bayreuth. – Artnet
New York Times Film Critics Pick Their 25 Best Actors Of The Century (So Far)
A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis: “We are in a golden age of acting — make that platinum — as we realized when we decided to select our favorite film performers of the past 20 years. There’s no formula for choosing the best (just squabbling), and this list is both necessarily subjective and possibly scandalous in its omissions. … And while there are certainly stars in the mix and even a smattering of Oscar winners, there are also character actors and chameleons, action heroes and art-house darlings.” – The New York Times