“The cultural council of Holland recently proposed cuts of up to half [NDT’s] annual budget. (The Dutch National Ballet, the country’s largest dance company, faces a 26-percent amputation.) … NDT may also be downgraded to ‘regional amenity’ status. Its [sold-out world] tours … would take a back seat to appearances in Dutch suburbs.”
Tag: 05.18.11
Christine Brewer Teaches 12-Year-Olds About Britten’s War Requiem
The soprano writes: “I work with a group of sixth graders in the little school where I used to teach in Marissa, Ill. … I thought perhaps Britten’s piece might be a bit of a stretch for 12-year-olds, but was I ever wrong. Weeks before the rehearsals, I got e-mails from students with questions about the text.”
How MIT Leads The Way To The Future
“For the past 150 years, MIT has been leading us into the future. The discoveries of its teachers and students have become the warp and weft of modernity, the stuff of daily life that we now all take for granted. The telephone, electromagnets, radars, high-speed photography, office photocopiers, cancer treatments, pocket calculators, computers, the internet, the decoding of the human genome, lasers, space travel . . . the list of innovations that involved essential contributions from MIT and its faculty goes on and on.”
The Paperless Office – A Myth?
“Media historians have long recognized the astounding versatility, portability, and durability of paper, which is in many respects the ideal material support. As a corollary, the paperless office has been dismissed as a “myth” by social scientists, information engineers, and corporate consultants alike, who predict that paper’s many affordances will continue to make it indispensable.”
The Theater Smorgasbord Inspired By Prop 8
“When California voters banned gay marriage in 2008, Brian Shnipper didn’t take to the streets in protest; he called his playwright friends. It was the beginning of what would become Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, a collection of nine one-act plays by writers such as Neil LaBute, Paul Rudnick and Wendy MacLeod.”
Crowdfunding Gets Traction With Artists
“This is not the newest idea on the block. It’s very traditional. But we’ve become very used to the idea of someone in a boardroom giving us a check and we hand them a piece of art and cross our fingers. The longer history of art is actually one of patronage that involves the artist’s audience.”
Report Recommends Reforming UK Copyright Law
“The Hargreaves report recommends legalising the practice of copying music and films and seeks to relax the rules around ‘transformative works’ – reworkings of existing content. It also calls for a new agency to mediate between those wanting to license music, film and other digital content and rights owners.”
Britain’s Best Buildings Of 2011 In Pictures
The Royal Institute Of British Architects names its top new buildings of 2011. Here’s a gallery…
London’s West End Box Office Takes A Plunge
“Compared to the same period last year – covering January 1 to March 31 – box office revenue dropped by 6%, while attendances were down 10%.”
Increasingly, Arts Students Seek Training At For-Profits
“The difference between the non- and for-profit art colleges may not be the quality of the education but the nature of the student. Those taking classes at for-profits schools tend to be older than 18 to 22; the average age of an Art Institute student, for example, is 25. The students are more racially and ethnically diverse and less affluent than those at nonprofits.”