“Worthless” books priced at up to thousands, of dollars on Amazon.com and which contain only nonsensical text have been identified as possible vehicles for money laundering by an author whose name was, he says, used to send almost $24,000 (£17,200) to an unknown and fraudulent seller.
Tag: 04.06.18
Art Critic David Bonetti, 71
He began his career at the Boston Phoenix, went on to the San Francisco Examiner (1989-2002; he left as a result of the merger with the Chronicle), and spent seven tumultuous years (2003-2009) at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “during which he developed both a national reputation for arts criticism and more than a few foes in the St. Louis art world.”
Richard Alston Steps Down As Director Of London Dance Center The Place
“The choreographer, who turns 70 this year, will leave the London venue in November in order to concentrate on leading the Richard Alston Dance Company towards its 25th anniversary in 2020. He has been artistic director of the Place since 1994 and formed his company, which is resident there, in 1995.”
Why Authoritarians Try To Suppress The Arts
Art creates pathways for subversion, for political understanding and solidarity among coalition builders. Art teaches us that lives other than our own have value. Like the proverbial court jester who can openly mock the king in his own court, artists who occupy marginalized social positions can use their art to challenge structures of power in ways that would otherwise be dangerous or impossible. Authoritarian leaders throughout history have intuited this fact and have acted accordingly.
Houston’s Alley Theatre Wrestles With Ex-Artistic Director’s Complicated Legacy
The interim artistic director at the Alley Theatre is weighing the best response to the query of, “What will be Gregory Boyd’s legacy?” Boyd, who left in January, helped grow the company’s reputation as artistic director over nearly three decades but was also accused of harassing several women on his staff and creating an abusive work environment.
Gender Pay Gap In The Arts Less Bad Than In Other Industries: Study
“A quarter of the 40 major arts and culture organisations that had to report their gender pay gap details to [the UK] Government this week paid their female staff a higher average hourly rate than their male employees last year. Overall the major arts employers still pay men more than women – there is a median hourly pay gap of 4.4%, but this is lower than the average of 12% across all 10,000 reporting employers.”
Can Tech Reinvigorate The Humanities?
Just because an academic field is timeless doesn’t mean it should never change. If the humanities are ever to enjoy a true resurgence, it will come as a result of a reinvention that embraces a fresh new take on old disciplines.
What’s It Like To Be A New York Times Book Critic? Terrifying
Parul Sehgal: “It’s constant panic, and guilt, and shame. Also pajamas. No, it’s a great gig, I’m not going to lie. … It’s monkish, but if you are into that sort of thing, it’s bliss. But with that, I think what propels me is also a feeling of responsibility. It’s also a feeling of working in a very strange genre, in that when you write a book review – and the book reviews we write at the Times are roughly 800 to 1,000 words – you’re serving a lot of masters.” (includes audio)
Is This Really The Right Time For A Spate Of Male-Authored, Male-Directed Musicals About Subservient Women To Come To Broadway?
Diep Tran: “There is one question that has been lingering both for me and many other women in and around the theatre: If we’re going to stage these retrograde works” – Pretty Woman, My Fair Lady, Carousel and Kiss Me, Kate are all on Broadway this season – “and ‘reinvent’ them for the 21st century, why are men the only ones being given the opportunity to do the rethinking – to give these old properties a ‘feminist twist’? Are male artists the only ones who get to define feminism in theatre in 2018?”
Commerce, Curation, Blockbuster Shows, And The Purpose(s) Of Art Museums
“‘The right function of every museum,’ wrote John Ruskin, the influential 19th-century art and social critic, ‘is the manifestation of what is lovely in the life of nature, and heroic in the life of men.’ Museums of the 21st century have moved on a bit. … They are also ‘destination’ enterprises, with permanent collections and special exhibitions, cafes and shops trying to attract as many visitors as possible in an age of global tourism. … As leading museums compete for crowd-drawing exhibits, and try to balance commercial interests and cultural diversity, visitors are bearing a rising proportion of the cost.”