“As the baby boom was hitting its peak and Sputnik was prompting much hand-wringing about the state of American education, a vigorous debate over literacy was beginning to take shape, and [Theodor Seuss] Geisel found himself thrust to the forefront of the battle.” – The New Yorker
Tag: 06.05.19
The Man Who Made The Ojai Music Festival Cool
Before Thomas W. Morris became artistic director in 2004, the Southern California contemporary music event was respected but somewhat, as Zachary Woolfe puts it, “insular and Eurocentric … If high modernism could be cozy, this was it.” Morris opened Ojai up to the ever-more-lively American new music scene and brought in as visiting music directors (a new one each year) a range of starry, even hip artists such as Mark Morris, Eighth Blackbird, Vijay Iyer, and (this year) Barbara Hannigan. – The New York Times
Terese Hayden, Who Aided The Careers Of Untold Thousands Of Actors, Dead At 98
In addition to a five-decade career an an actor, director, producer, and teacher (among her students at Circle in the Square were Kevin Bacon, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Lady Gaga), she created The Players’ Guide: A Pictorial Directory for the Legitimate Theater, the first-ever organized and bound listing for casting directors of Equity actors, complete with photos and résumés. – The New York Times
More, More, More At Edinburgh Fringe — More Shows, More Venues, More Countries Represented Than Ever Before
“The 2019 programme … includes 3,841 shows, up from 3,548 in 2018, and 59,600 performances, up from 56,796. The programme has a record 63 countries represented, and more than 700 free shows, with more than 400 ‘pay what you want’ shows, an increase from 260 last year.” – The Herald (Scotland)
New Illinois Governor’s Capital Construction Budget Has Loads Of Money For The Arts
Gov. Jay Pritzker’s infrastructure spending bill, the state’s first major public works program in more than ten years, just passed the state legislature, and it includes over $60 million in money for capital projects at various arts institutions. And there’s another $50 million for capital projects to be allocated by the Illinois Arts Council. – Chicago Tribune
YouTube Announces New Crackdown On Hate Speech Videos
“[The company] said content that alleges a group is superior in order to justify discrimination on characteristics like age, race, caste, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status would be prohibited under its new hate speech policy. It’ll also remove some conspiracy theory videos that deny well-documented violent events, like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and the Holocaust.” – Slate
Artist Joe Overstreet, 85
“Over the course of a six-decade career that cut across artistic movements and unflinchingly addressed issues of racism and inequality, Overstreet established himself not only as one of the signal painters of postwar American art, but also as a vital organizer. … He helped to create exhibiting opportunities for numerous artists of diverse backgrounds at Kenkeleba House, the arts space he cofounded in Manhattan’s East Village in 1974.” – ARTnews
‘An American Marriage’ By Tayari Jones Win UK’s Women’s Prize For Fiction
“Jones’s portrait of a young African-American’s wrongful incarceration and its devastating impact on his marriage … [won over] last year’s Booker winner, Anna Burns’s Milkman, and former Booker winner Pat Barker’s new novel, The Silence of the Girls.” – The Guardian
San Francisco Ballet’s New Executive Director Comes From Orchestra/Opera World
Kelly Tweeddale, who trained as a dancer when young, has spent the past five seasons as president of the Vancouver Symphony; before that, she was for 12 years executive director of Seattle Opera, and she worked previously at the Cleveland Orchestra and Seattle Symphony. She begins work in San Francisco after Labor Day. – San Francisco Chronicle
Goodbye to the commercial music industry, hello to the rock stars next door
The New York City subway is not, on any given day, the place to hear the music you need. It’s public in the extreme — in one of the world’s most public cities. And yet that’s where music ambushed me, a few months ago … – David Patrick Stearns