Local arts groups dealing with homelessness as a subject or a source of activism meet the dilemmas that always attend the task of simultaneously doing social good and putting butts in seats. But they also face a paradox particular to Seattle. Our progressive zeal leads us to demand of any major institution: “What are the arts doing to address homelessness?” Our contrarian skepticism then leads to the follow-up question: “What can the arts do about homelessness?” Bore people to death with a Berlioz concerto? Photograph their prostration? Exploit them for grant money in a woke af marketing campaign? People who don’t have housing need housing, not music appreciation classes. But complex problems require creative action.
Tag: 01.31.17
Improving Cities Through Culture – The Evidence
“It’s about democratising the arts, taking culture away from the idea that it’s about elitism, and showing that there’s something for everyone. It’s also about encouraging, for places like Liverpool and Hull, a local sense of pride. For the first time in many years in 2008 Liverpool started to get positive media coverage, and that has a huge effect on people living here. There’s a renewed confidence in the city that we still feel today.”
Bay Area Theatre Legend Announces Retirement
Tony Taccone, 65, served as the Berkeley Rep’s associate artistic director for 11 years before taking the reins in 1997. Along the way he has catapulted the East Bay institution to the top ranks of regional theaters. Over the years, the troupe has sent 25 shows onward to London and New York. He has also directed dozens of plays, including Sarah Jones’ solo show “Bridge & Tunnel,” which won a Tony Award in 2006.
Leonard Slatkin Alienates Audience Member Over Mozart “Alternative Facts”
“I love going to the symphony to escape from the everyday craziness and spend the evening enjoying my life-long love of music in the company or others who have the same passion. Last night, conductor Slatkin, whom I have always had the utmost respect for, ruined the evening for me and may have dissuaded me from attending any further concerts. If you were unaware, he began the concert with a monologue (“joke?”) insulting our president by referring to his “alternate facts.” I am sure he thought he was a hit based on the applause and the laughter. However, he could not hear the half of the theater that was not laughing or applauding. He single-handedly insulted and offended half of the audience which paid good money to enjoy the concert.”
San Francisco Asian Art Museum Facebook Link Taken Down For Being Too Racy
Their effort to use that link in a Facebook ad — which would make it possible for people who don’t follow the museum to see it — was thwarted by Facebook robots that determined that the story, headlined “Bronze Dildos and Jade Butt Plugs Show Life and Death in Ancient China,” was unfit for the platform. Facebook ads, read a notice the museum received, “can’t promote sexual or adult products or services.”
Puppets Are Now Infiltrating Themselves Into All The Performing Arts
Hand puppets, rod puppets, shadow puppets – with visits to a festival in Chicago, an Off-Broadway play, and a gallery show, Laura Collins-Hughes gives us an update on the state of the art.
PBS NewsHour Pays Visit To Dallas Opera’s Institute For Women Conductors
“According to industry data, of the nine largest American opera companies by budget, none has a female music director and principal conductor. And Marin Alsop in Baltimore, who served on the faculty at the Dallas workshop, remains the sole woman music director at the nation’s 24 largest orchestras. In Dallas, [general director Keith] Cerny hired Nicole Paiement as principal guest conductor, and she played a large role at the institute, encouraging.” (video)
I Threw $100M Worth Of Stolen Paintings In The Trash, Says Co-Defendant In Trial
A thief nicknamed “Spider-Man” because of his ability to scale walls is on trial for taking a Picasso, a Matisse, a Modigliani, a Braque and a Léger from the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2010. The paintings have never been recovered, and one of the fellow defendants – the fence – tearfully told the court that, afraid of being caught, he broke all the stretchers and threw the canvases in the garbage. (Nobody believes him.)
‘Written On Skin’ Composer George Benjamin Is Writing A New Opera
Since its world premiere in 2012, Written on Skin has become one of the best-received new operas of the (still-young) century. The same team – Benjamin, librettist Martin Crimp, director Katie Mitchell, soprano Barbara Hannigan – will premiere Lessons in Love and Violence in London in 2018, with performances in six more cities to follow.
After 20 Years, Arundhati Roy Has Finally Written A Second Novel
Her first novel, The God of Small Things, won the Booker Prize; since then she’s become known as an activist and published reams of nonfiction. A few years ago she said, “I’ve always been slightly short with people who say, ‘You haven’t written anything again,’ as if all the nonfiction I’ve written is not writing.” For those people, and the rest of us, the wait will be over this summer.