Category: AJBlogs

Walid Raad’s Blurred Lines at MoMA: Does Truth Matter?
The Museum of Modern Art’s bewildering Walid Raad exhibition (to Jan. 31) “investigates distinctions between fact and fiction,” according to its press release. In truth, it blurs those distinctions in a ways that sometimes feel … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-27

Pat Graney and Colleen Thomas Explore Difference (Differently)
The 1960s weren’t all about Beatles, sit-ins, marches, pot, and communes. For many women, the post-war 1940s and the 1950s lingered on in spirit. Some of these women may have worn go-go boots and very short dresses, but they belonged to the unspoken club of wives who … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-10-27

Enough of this
This summer came a CD release which – with all respect to the major classical music forces involved – is the kind of project I wish we wouldn’t do. This was a Deutsche Grammophon recording … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2015-10-27

I Love Lieder, Don’t You?
It’s rare for my wife and me to feel that we are among the younger members of the audience, but this happened at the Oxford Lieder Festival 2015, “Singing Words: Poets and Their Songs.” … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2015-10-27

Lookback: could Victor Borge really play piano?
From 2005: Borge’s act resembled a straight piano recital gone wrong. He’d start to play a familiar piece like Clair de lune or the “Moonlight” Sonata, then swerve off in some improbable-sounding direction, never getting around to finishing what he started. Yet he was clearly an accomplished pianist, though few of his latter-day fans had any idea how good he’d been … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-27

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Monday Recommendation: JALC In Cuba
The JALCO’s 2010 visit to Cuba coincided with the beginnings of warmer official relations between cold war enemies. Their two-CD set recorded … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-10-26

Annals of obsolescence
A week after bringing home my new MacBook Air, I’m more or less used to it. To be sure, I have yet to explore any of its more recherché capabilities, but now that I’ve written … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-26

Who’s our competition?
Or, rather, who’s classical music’s competition? Especially when we go out in the world, who are we competing with? Which is something anyone in the field might do, whether you’re an entrepreneurial chamber ensemble … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2015-10-23

Just because: the Byrds sing Bob Dylan
The Byrds perform Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” on a 1968 episode of Playboy After Dark. Roger McGuinn is the lead singer, accompanied by Clarence White on lead guitar, John York on bass, and … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-26

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Sotheby’s Necessary But Bad Bet
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2015-10-25

Perspectives on Classicism
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2015-10-25

Who’s our competition?

Sit Back & Enjoy the Ride: The Roller Coaster Career Plan
When I was younger, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up: Theatre Director. But after a few years in that world, I didn’t … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-22

The Career Path of a Nonprofit Generalist
About a year ago, I was accepted into the Chief Executive Program at National Arts Strategies. This particular cohort is focused on leaders using cultural organizations to change/alter/improve community. Unlike … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-22

What Do We See and How Do We See It?
Leaving St. Mark’s Church after seeing Danspace Project’s presentation of Moriah Evans’s Social Dance 9-12: Encounter, I had a surprising thought about the experience: “This is so non-interesting that it’s interesting.” Then I spent the bus trip home wondering what I meant by that. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-10-22

Suffering Suffragettes: Save Tenafly’s Feminist Landmark (aka Charlie Brown’s)!
I ate at Charlie Brown’s while it was there for 25 years, and I never felt a connection with Elizabeth Cady Stanton while eating there. So said Mayor Peter Rustin of Tenafly, NJ,  … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-22

“Danaë” Downpour: Metropolitan Museum & Yale University Shower Dealer Richard Feigen with Gold
Dealer Richard Feigen has once again used the imprimatur of the Metropolitan Museum to add luster to a work transferred from the Met’s galleries to an auction house’s premises. It now appears that Danaë’s golden … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-22

BlogBack: Curator Jonathan Stuhlman on the Met-to-Sotheby’s “Danaë”
As suggested in the BlogBack below, a few CultureGrrl readers and tweeters have interpreted my previous post – “Danaë” Downpour: Metropolitan Museum & Yale University Shower Dealer Richard Feigen With Gold – as criticizing the Metropolitan Museum’s curators for … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-22

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How they made their money
And now my final post about changing the conservatory curriculum. In the post I did last, I talked about music history, or rather classical music history. And how … even when we teach classical history we leave a lot out. Namely, the real stuff of music in the past. How it lived, how it functioned, how listened, how they listened. And – very important – how musicians, including the great composers, made their living. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2015-10-21

The Immorality of a Broken Business Model
I no longer eat beef.  It was a decision inspired by listening to Meat Week on NPR’s Morning Edition in the summer of 2012. … So what does this have to do with growing audiences for arts & culture? … read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2015-10-21

I.D.
Art serves many purposes. I want to write about two today: life-enhancement and identity. I’m not going to define life-enhancement. We all have an idea of what that can mean, for ourselves and for others … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2015-10-21

70 Years of History Brought to Life
José Limón was choreographing right up to the end of his life. His last dances, Orfeo and Carlota, premiered in 1972, the year of his death at 64. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-10-21

Why is it important to have a career plan?
Our paradigms dramatically affect our judgment and our decision making by influencing our perceptions. Paradigms are sets of rules and regulations that do two things: 1.) They establish boundaries 2.) They provide rules for success … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-21

Clarity & Observation
Developing a career plan was natural for me, as I was fortunate to discover what I wanted to do at a very early age. Initially, I figured out the general steps … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-21

Picture this:
You’re interviewing for your dream job at a great company and you know you’d be perfect. You’ve practiced in the mirror, are wearing your lucky blazer, you have your nerves under control and  … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-21

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It’s About Defining Your Values
I think that defining your values is far more important than defining your career path. Careers change, values do not. Know the impact that you want to have in the world … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-20

Kill Your Darlings!
“Kill your darlings!” we were told by William Faulkner, a sentiment we take to heart in our writing and our creative practice. Authors must often rid themselves of their most labored over, most precious passages, for the greater good of the literary work. Unfortunately career planning and career paths ask you to “Kill your darlings” as well, … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-20

Get A Mentor
I got my first CEO job at a nonprofit because the woman who hired me as her second in command told me she would invest in my development and ensure that I was prepared to take over when she retired … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-20

Measure Revenue Differently. Cultivate Loyalty Collaboratively
Arts Journal blogger Doug Borwick recently wrote a post on the role of marketing and development departments that captured my attention. In the following quote he summarizes an issue that I’ve been thinking about for a long time: … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-10-20

A Don Friedman Day
Today was chock-full of interviewing, transcribing, researching and, in general, preparing to write liner notes for a new Don Friedman trio album. The research included diving into books, rummaging through the web for additional information … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-10-20

Lookback: must critics be “right”?
From 2005: Of course it’s desirable to be right, and I don’t see how it’s possible to take seriously a critic who’s wrong about most things. Nevertheless, I’m uneasy with the notion that “getting things right” is the ultimate test of a critic’s worth … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-20

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It’s Not A Career. It’s A Lifestyle.
It’s hard to plan for how to follow your dreams. And those of us who work in the arts have landed here because of a personal calling, following an often … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-19

Your Career Plan: It’s not always a straight line!
Even though I am not an arts administrator, I have had to wear small versions of that hat in my career as a professional musician. In my past life as … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-19

Feeling Alive
The following two thoughts cross my mind nearly everyday. When I forget why I’ve chosen to build an unconventional career, they remind me. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-19

Cartoon Artist Kate Evans Does Rosa Luxemburg
I notice that the NYT Sunday Book Review’s not-so-special “Special Issue” on graphic books (Oct. 18) makes no mention of Red Rosa by Kate Evans, forthcoming from Verso (Nov. 3). My tireless staff of thousands … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2015-10-19

Come for the sex dolls, stay for the protest
The Young Vic is calf deep in sex dolls. Tacky plastic fake-flesh spills over the stage as Measure for Measure begins, a ‘huge peach heap of vinyl orifices,’ as critic Natasha Tripney wrote. … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2015-10-19

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Other Matters: Language In The Digital Age

Defending Melissa Chiu
When the Hirshhorn Museum, which has been led for the last year by Melissa Chiu, late of the Asia Society Museum, announced that its 40th anniversary gala would be held in New York, not in Washington, D.C., … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-10-15

No hope for Hamlet
Benedict Cumberbatch made me cry at Hamlet. Or, more precisely, at the curtain call, with a beautifully feeling, indignant and compassionate appeal for Save the Children’s work in the Syrian refugee crisis.  … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2015-10-15

Dancing as the Leaves Fall
Every autumn, as the leaves change color and begin to consider falling, Fall for Dance defines the verb differently: New Yorkers and savvy visitors buy bargain-price tickets and fall in love with dance—or at least with some of the twenty companies, … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-10-15

More on Carmine Branagan’s Departure from National Academy
“You have reached the office of Carmine Branagan, director of the National Academy Museum and School.” So said the voicemail message when I called Branagan’s office about an hour ago. But a highly reliable informed source … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-15

Weekend Listening Tip: Mays & Stamm
Last weekend, pianist Bill Mays wrapped up a tour of the west with his Inventions Trio, which includes trumpeter and flugelhornist Marvin Stamm and cellist Alisa Horn. Longtime collaborators in several projects, Mays and Stamm … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-10-15

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Marketing and Development Terminology
This is part of a series of blog posts in conjunction with TRG Arts on the interrelationships among marketing, development, fundraising, and community engagement. The point of the series is that they are all rooted in relationship building and maintenance. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-10-13

Worth 1,000 Words: An Illustrated Companion to My WSJ Review of the Wadsworth Atheneum
My article in today’s Wall Street Journal on the gloriously transformed Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford paints many verbal pictures of what I enjoyed during my visit. But “verbal” is often a poor substitute for “visual.” To help you see what I saw, here’s my illustrated tour of what I described in the WSJ … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-14

Snapshot: Deborah Kerr and Paul Scofield in Noël Coward’s A Song at Twilight
An excerpt from BBC2’s 1982 TV production of Noël Coward’s A Song at Twilight, directed by Cedric Messina and featuring Deborah Kerr and Paul Scofield. The role played by Scofield is a fictionalized portrayal of Somerset Maugham. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-14

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