“This is 9/11 meets The Great Recession meets the snowstorm,” Randy Engstrom, director of the city’s Office of Arts and Culture (OAC), said during an online public meeting Tuesday afternoon. “We know we’re going to get through this together — and this is our time.” – Seattle Times
Tag: 02.18.20
Which Language Is Most Difficult To Lipread?
“This last question, though seemingly simple, resists every attempt to answer it. Every theory runs into brick walls of evidence, the research is limited, and even the basic understanding of what lipreading is, how effective it is, and how it works is laden with conflicting points of view.” – Atlas Obscura
Why Still The Idea That Theatre Is Best In New York?
” It’s time to get our heads out of our collective asses and wake up to the fact that having a New York zip code does not make you a better actor by default. Nor does wanting a better quality of life mean you’re less ambitious. The industry has changed, and it’s time to put those outdated stereotypes to rest.” – Onstage Blog
Report: Arts Drive Tourism In Australia
Australians took 12.3 million daytrips and 13.4 million overnight trips within Australia that included arts activities in 2018 – an increase of 14 percent and 20 percent respectively since 2014 – with increases found across visiting museums and art galleries, attending performing arts, visiting art or craft workshops or studios, attending festivals, and experiencing First Nations arts and craft. The report also flagged an increasing interest in First Nations arts tourism. – Limelight
Another Job In The Arts You Hadn’t Thought Of: Narrating Porn For The Blind
Pornhub launched this particular initiative in increasing access for the disabled to the arts four years ago, hiring professional freelance writers to produce text and professional voice actors to read it. Here’s a Q&A with Kathryn Simpson, an art history Ph.D. who has written the narration for 35 Pornhub videos. – Slate
How Can Theatre Work On Climate Change?
Theatre has always paid attention to political and social issues. So what does working on climate change look like for theatre? American Theatre presents a collection of stories exploring how. – American Theatre
How A Show About, Of All Things, Cambodian Surf Rock Became One Of This Season’s Most-Produced Plays
“With the Off Broadway production of Cambodian Rock Band now in performances at Signature Theater, [playwright Lauren] Yee and director Chay Yew appeared on Stagecraft, Variety‘s theater podcast, to talk confronting history, rocking out, and why they think audiences have responded so enthusiastically to a show that Yee said her husband didn’t believe she would actually write.” (includes text and audio) – Variety
Royal Philharmonic Research: How Technology Is Bringing Classical Music A Bigger Audience
‘Technology is playing a huge role in shaping the future of how people engage with orchestral music,’ says James Williams, managing director at the RPO. ‘At the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, we see it as an essential role to respond to this change, and to evolve and develop – be it through online content or programme notes that appear live on your phone. Indeed, last year we reached around 17m people worldwide through Spotify alone, and these numbers continue to grow each year.’ – Rhinegold
He Was One Of Sudan’s Most Beloved Musicians — Then He Went Silent For Decades And Was Even Thought Dead
In the 1970s and ’80s, Abu Obaida Hassan’s singing and skill on the Nubian tambour thrilled Sudanese listeners and even gained attention overseas. Then the imposition of a stern version of Sharia law and the 30-year dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir squashed the country’s music scene, and Abu Obaida withdrew from public view. In 2016, a Western record producer went looking for him and found him by sheer dumb luck, and with Bashir now ousted, fans are rediscovering Abu Obaida’s sound. – The Guardian
Indian Cinema Is Finally Starting To Get Comfortable With Same-Sex Romance
Until just a few years ago, the very few times queer characters were shown at all in Bollywood movies were as figures of mockery. Now, very occasionally, a film with a sympathetic portrayal of same-sex couples or trans characters does come out of the big Mumbai studios. And more progress can be seen in India’s “regional” (non-Hindi-language) cinema. – BBC