“The city has cut $100,000 from the COC’s proposed $1.6 million grant, and $50,000 from the TSO’s $1.27 million grant. … The funding adjustment was made on the recommendations of a four-member committee who had serious concerns surrounding the COC’s and TSO’s diversity, as well as issues surrounding board stability, and a declining in the perceived impact they had on Toronto’s cultural life.”
Tag: 05.25.18
‘Venice Is A Perfect Example Of A City Living Off The Very Thing That Is Killing It’
“This recent quote by the philosopher Giorgio Agamben, who lives an intentionally secluded life in Venice, underlines the city’s daily contradictions. It is increasingly a city of art, ‘invaded’, at an ever-growing rate, by tourists. And this invasion is consuming and weakening it as a city.”
Arkansas Symphony Music Director To Step Down
“Philip Mann, who joined the symphony in 2010 as its maestro, will finish out the 2018-19 season and then pursue international conducting opportunities. … During Mann’s tenure, the orchestra has expanded its statewide presence, taken more shows on the road and added artistic programming, namely the Intimate Neighborhood Concert series that takes place in churches. Mann also led the Composer of the Year initiative that drew several world-renowned composers to the state.”
Ballet San Antonio’s Artistic Director Leaves Suddenly After Accusations Of Abuse
The announcement about AD Willy Shives, a former dancer at the Joffrey and community engagement coordinator there, comes in the wake of accusations from former company members of verbal and mental abuse.
As The Philadelphia Orchestra Tours Europe, It Prepares For A Lot More Anti-Israel Protests
The BDS movement calls for divestment from Israel, including in the arts – and the Philly Orchestra is headed to play in Israel after this trip. Protesters do not appreciate this move from the orchestra. “Security on the tour is being increased at every turn, whether in hotels or at the concert halls.”
Books About Middle-Aged Women Sell Brilliantly – Especially To Women – But You’ll Never Find One On A Book Cover
Even though international bestsellers like Elena Ferranti’s Neapolitan quartet and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge star middle-aged (or older) women, you’ll never see them on the covers of the books. Ugh: “As Hilary Mantel says, women over 50 are the invisible generation.”
Author Louise Penny Calls Herself ‘A Killing Machine – But A Happy One’
Penny’s Instructor Gamache “has become to Canada what Hercule Poirot is to Belgium, and garnered Ms. Penny legions of messianic fans. At last count, she has sold 6.3 million books worldwide. Seldom has murder induced such hunger pangs, with characters who crack cases while indulging in maple-cured rashers of back bacon and wild blueberry jam.”
College Admissions Are In An Existential Crisis
Two numbers colleges used to rely on – SAT scores and GPAs – just aren’t that reliable anymore, admissions people say. So how to judge student applications? The answer is not good: “Admissions officers at about half of the institutions surveyed said an applicant’s ‘ability to pay’ was of at least ‘some importance’ in application decisions.”
The New York Times Has A Poetry Editor, And It’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning Rita Dove
The position of poetry editor was created in 2014, and each poet who gets it has a one-year tenure in the position. But why pair poetry with journalism? Dove: “I always thought this was essentially the way in which poets worked. We were the modern-day griots. You tell the story, but you tell the story that’s under the story. You bring to light human reactions to grander events, in the hope that people will recognize themselves in it.”
The Composer Of The ‘Brokeback Mountain’ Opera Doesn’t Want To Be Just Another Token
Charles Wuorinen is working hard on commissions, and the opera has its U.S. premiere in New York at the end of the month. But he’s not happy with how the United States is dealing with high culture in general. When he was young, he says, “it was considered essential for a civilized person to have some connection with literature or music. Now that’s completely gone.”