Generally speaking, an innovation is more than an idea and more than an invention. Yet beyond that, things get confusing. We live in a moment when we’re barraged by new stuff every day — new phones, new foods, new surgical techniques. In the pandemic, we’re confronted, too, with new medical tests and pharmaceutical treatments. But which of these are true innovations and which are novel variations on old products? – Washington Post
Tag: 06.18.20
Time To Rethink The Arts
One problem is that our arts palaces lock in comparably palatial costs. In this grave new world, bigness, in fact, is actually a bug, not a feature. Producing in mega-venues like Portland5 or the Hult Center is so expensive that they discourage artistic risk as well as affordable tickets. The unviability of the centralized, large-scale approach will be exacerbated by the new virus-imposed restrictions coming down the pike if this crisis proves to be more than a one-time aberration. – Oregon Arts Watch
At What Point Did Humans Become Creative?
At some point, from around 40,000 years ago in Europe, we see evidence of these behaviourally modern humans in a sudden flourishing of cultural artifacts in the archaeological record. So what caused anatomically modern Homo sapiens to turn into behaviourally modern people? – Aeon
Podcasts Are The New Frontier For Tales Of Superheroes
Is Spotify the new Disney? While film production is paused or barely resumed, the music subscription service has made a deal to be the new home of audio tales of DC superheroes. Perhaps this hearkens back to the radio days of superhero origins, but it’s also about Spotify’s desire “to be less reliant on record labels.” – BBC
How To Figure Out ‘Performance For One’ Online
Playwright and director Edward Einhorn on adapting his in-person creation for the virtual world: “I have never witnessed the audience member witnessing the performance. Which, I must say, is hard for me.” – HowlRound
The Race To Publish Trump Tell-Alls
The confluence of these explosive books, in the months leading up to the 2020 election, has made Simon & Schuster the current front-runner in an ongoing race among publishers to produce news-making titles about the Trump administration. It’s a lucrative business to be in right now. – The New York Times
Maybe Now Is The Time To Reconsider Rousseau’s Radical Education Idea
Rather than stuffing children full of moral precepts and academic knowledge, the aim was to work with the grain of the pupil’s innate capacities and desires. Rousseau was one of the first proponents of the Romantic belief in the nobility of childhood, its freedom from adult corruption and closeness to the state of nature. – Aeon
With Nine Out Of 24 Board Members Remaining, National Book Critics Circle Tries To Pick Up The Pieces
Following an internal dispute gone public that has led to nearly two-thirds of the organization’s directors resigning (but the one whose incendiary comments were at the heart of the problem still there), a new board chair (clearly reluctant to take the position) and her remaining colleagues have decided to delay most of this year’s awards and have stated to NBCC membership that they will undertake “difficult internal work … with deep reflection upon past mistakes, and a commitment to serious, structural change in how we conduct business and continue to celebrate the rich diversity of global literature.” – Publishers Weekly
What Diversity Means In The Choral World
Choral music has unique diversity issues that are more subtle than those in the instrumental world. Because of my work as a publisher and composer, I am particularly interested in the representation of our programming as well as in leadership and overall participation. Unlike orchestral programming, many choral music programs consist of music by living composers. In fact, over 80% of the recommended repertoire from the ACDA National Repertoire and Standards lists were by living composers. Choral singing has fewer barriers for participation and the approach taken by any given choir can range from an egalitarian activity with which nearly anyone can participate to an elite one available only to the highly trained and educated. – NewMusicBox
Chicago’s iO Theater, Mainstay Of City’s Comedy Scene, To Close For Good
The improv company, which was co-founded in 1981 by Charna Halpern and the late Del Close and numbers Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Adam McKay among its alumni, has been closed to the public since March because of the coronavirus. Halpern hasn’t set a final closing date but confirms that the theater won’t reopen and its building will be sold. – Vulture