John Killacky: “Artists have certain advantages, particularly with the never-ending aspiration to improve. While building upon technique and experience, curiosity leads artists to explore new horizons. I often tell employees that, ‘We’re hired for what we know, but our job is to learn what we don’t know’.”
Tag: 07.25.17
Let Great Stage Actors Be Great *On Stage* (Not Screen)
Isaac Butler and Dan Kois: ” Call it the Rylance Rule: Great stage actors can be great on film as well, but their film careers are always less interesting than their stage careers.” And Mark Rylance himself is their Exhibit B; Exhibit A is Nathan Lane: “So why on earth would we want to push one of the four or five best living stage actors onto film? Is Nathan Lane’s road to an Oscar worth the dozen great performances on stage that he’d sacrifice to get there?”
Double Dutch As Dance Form (Seriously)
Gia Kourlas: “Double Dutch has been a competitive sport since the 1970s, its popularity in cities intertwined with the birth of hip-hop. While just about anyone can do it, the best practitioners use athleticism, finesse and musicality to transform it from a game into a choreographic feat. Yes, double Dutch is very much an art form. And who knew? It even has roots at Lincoln Center.”
‘Simpsons’ Creator Matt Groening Is Creating A New Cartoon Series
Disenchantment, of which Netflix has ordered an initial 20 episodes, “is described as an adult fantasy about a crumbling medieval kingdom known as Dreamland. The central character is a hard-drinking princess, Bean, [with] her elf companion Elfo and her ‘personal demon’ Luci. The first 10 episodes are targeted to premiere next year.”
Background Music In The Office Is Coming Back (Dept. Of Terrifying Trends From 50 Years Ago)
“For decades, it was thought that playing music in our places of work would boost morale and productivity. Before it terrorised hotel guests and shoppers, Muzak originally set out to rally workers with 15-minute cycles of slowly climaxing, terrible music.” (These days, thank heaven, offices seem to be turning to Spotify.)
Philanthropic Generosity Or ‘Tax Grab’? Battle In Canada Over Donated Annie Leibovitz Portfolio
“Someone – and absolutely no one involved seems ready to say who – came up with an idea in 2012 for a patron to purchase 2,070 photos by the American portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz and then donate them to … the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia … Four years later, though, a Canadian government panel that must sign off on the deduction is still balking at approving it, partly because the panel won’t accept a $20 million valuation for a collection that the donor purchased for just $4.75 million.”
An Arts Festival In The Middle Of The Atlantic
“For the first edition of the Walk & Talk festival in 2011, its current artistic director Jesse James and fellow co-founder Diana Sousa wanted to bring ‘just one artist’ to Ponta Delgada, the capital of the Portuguese Azores islands. Now, in its seventh edition, the festival (until 29 July) has grown with more than 70 participating artists, from around the world and working across different disciplines.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.25.17
Benefits of the Arts (Again)
Summer is an excellent time to review topics covered before and evaluate whether they should be raised again. Four years ago I offered a preliminary overview of a way of discussing the benefits of the arts. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-07-25
“Deeply Opposed”: Joint Statement by AAMD & AAM Blasts Berkshire Museum’s Planned Art Sales
I predicted in my previous post that the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums were “likely to exert pushback” against the Berkshire Museum’s deplorable deaccession plans. Now they have, … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-07-25
Seattle Debates A Funding Proposition To Fund Access To The Arts
“Indeed, this is the county where dreamers built worldwide institutions that reached the sky (Boeing), are working to end disease (The Gates Foundation), put computers in our homes (Microsoft), made artificial intelligence affordable (Amazon), and fueled us for the daily battles we take on (Starbucks). That creativity and imagination was surely nurtured by the art and science education that the county could continue by passing Prop 1. Without it, how will we nurture the minds that create the solutions for the struggles of the day — and the future?”
Richard Florida: Even As NY City Gets More Expensive, There Are More Artists Than Ever
“There is little doubt that New York has become prohibitively expensive for many artists, young and old alike, just as it has for middle-class people and working-class families, never mind the poor and truly disadvantaged. But according to a study released last week by the New York-based Center for an Urban Future (CUF), the city is actually home to more artists than ever.”