Tag: 07.12.18

Today’s AJBlog Highlights 07.12.18

Why Did This Suburb Rise Up To Oppose A Prestige Museum?

In late January, the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation was shocked when the planning commission in the Charleston suburb of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, unanimously denied its Safdie-concieved proposal because it would exceed by 75 feet the elevation limit on land zoned for no more than 50 feet. The decision was forwarded to town council for review with a recommendation to disallow. Suddenly this picturesque community, defined by shrimp boats and sprawling marshes, was steeped in controversy over the fate of a hugely significant edifice with limitless potential as a tourist attraction.

Netflix’s Ascendancy To The Top Of The Emmys Illustrates Changes In The TV Landscape

Netflix’s narrow edge over HBO in total noms (112 vs. 108) is rich with symbolism at a moment when the entertainment industry’s old guard is scrambling to reorient a big part of its business operations to reflect the Netflix effect — i.e. making a boatload of original programming available via commercial-free streaming in a 24/7 on-demand format. It’s an incredible feat, pulled off in what feels like a blink of an eye for many industry veterans.

US Appeals Court Strikes Down California Law Giving Royalties On Resale Of Artists Work

On Friday, the court said that the state law conflicts with the federal copyright law’s first-sale doctrine that claims once a copyright owner sells work a first time, they lose control over future sales. “This quixotic action, which was based on an obviously unconstitutional statute, is finally nearing its end,” the auction house Sotheby’s said in an email statement. Christie’s said in a statement that it “is pleased with the court’s decision.”

Robert Lepage’s Slav Will Go On After All After Protests

The Montreal International Jazz Festival closed the production, a “theatrical odyssey based on slave songs,” after only a handful of performances in the wake of an outcry over a majority-white cast portraying black slaves. Only two of the seven people in the show, directed by Robert Lepage and starring Betty Bonifassi, were black. While critics of the show have welcomed the closure as a necessary cultural reckoning, several leading theater directors in Quebec rallied behind Mr. Lepage this week, citing their concerns that closing a production by such an internationally acclaimed director could have a chilling effect on artistic expression in Canada. At least four theaters are proceeding with productions of “Slav,” even if that means braving protests.

Hungry Rat Causes Blackout That Stops Two Dance Performances In Their Tracks

Rodent damage to a high-voltage electric line caused a power failure at the Adelaide Festival Centre in South Australia Wednesday, forcing evacuation of the audience by flashlight. The disrupted performances were The Australian Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty and Australian Dance Theatre’s production of Garry Stewart’s The Beginning of Nature (where the audience at first thought the blackout was part of the production).

Mariss Jansons Extends With Bavarian Radio Symphony To 2024

By the time this most recent contract extension (three years) is fulfilled, Jansons will have been chief conductor of this orchestra (widely considered Germany’s only real peer of the Berlin Philharmonic) for 21 years. Considered crucial to Jansons’s agreement to extend was a government commitment to build a new concert hall for the orchestra, which performs at the acoustically poor Philharmonie am Gasteig. (in German)