They Just Started Building Manchester’s New Arts Hub, And Already It Needs $2M In Design Changes

“The £110m Factory arts centre is set to be built on the site of the old Granada Studios in Manchester city centre … But now it needs approval for a second time after designers realised the glazed exterior would play havoc with the centre’s acoustics. They have also discovered that the theatre design was too complex and the orchestra pit too small.” The architects are OMA, Rem Koolhaas’s firm.

Remember The Good Old Days When NPR Was Weird?

“In March of 1983, a listener would have clicked on the radio hoping to hear an update about Reagan’s plans for what the media was calling ‘Star Wars.’ Instead she would have heard the whoosh of tires, the voice of a hospital intern in North Carolina trying to figure out how to care about all his patients, the sound of a man taking swigs of whiskey as he drives to Florida to see his mom one last time before she dies, and the voice of Scott Carrier describing the light bounce of the red rocks of Arizona.”

Germany’s Most Embarrassing Musical Export

It might not even be an export. It might only be possible within Germany: “Of the current top five albums on the German charts, two are schlager records. To put it into perspective, that would be like if the number three and four albums on the US Billboard Hot 100 were Christian rock about cats.”

The Trump Era Is Changing What Books Are Being Written And Bought (Is It Harder Now?)

“For authors whose books were released in the thick of the political storm, to booksellers watching readers flock to dystopian works, the Trump administration has succeeded in influencing our consideration of books—not necessarily for better or for worse, but in ways that demonstrate how much we need words to survive and provide solace for troubling times ahead.”

Air India Once Amassed The World’s Greatest Collection Of Modern Indian Art – What’s Happened To It?

They don’t know – and that’s the problem. For much of the state-owned airline’s history, it was one of a very few serious buyers of living Indian artists’ work – in effect, a national art patron. Now that much of that artwork is worth many thousands of dollars (or more) a piece, there’s no proper inventory of what Air India bought over the years or where it’s supposed to be – and some of it has been turning up in the private market.

Protesters Demand That ICA Boston Cancel Dana Schutz Show Because Of ‘Open Casket’ (Which Is Not In The Show)

Evidently believing that Schutz hasn’t been punished enough for having shown her painting of the murdered Emmett Till at the Whitney Biennial, a group of activists wrote in an open letter, “The institution will be participating in condoning the coopting of Black pain and showing the art world and beyond that people can co-opt sacred imagery rooted in oppression and face little consequence … Please pull the show. This is not about censorship. This is about institutional accountability.”

Turin’s Big New Tate Modern-Style Arts Complex Set To Open With William Kentridge And Tino Sehgal

“After Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof and London’s Tate Modern, the trend for converting industrial buildings into contemporary art spaces looks set to continue in the northern Italian city of Turin. The Officine Grandi Riparazioni (OGR), an H-shaped complex of 19th-century railway repair workshops covering an area of 35,000 sq. m, is due to reopen as a privately funded ‘arts and innovation centre’ on 30 September with a trio of site-specific artists’ commissions and two weeks of free concerts.”

Why Is Hollywood Making Movies ABout Emojis And Video Games And Legos?

This trend toward I.P.-­based movies has been profound. In 1996, of the top 20 grossing films, nine were live-­action movies based on wholly original screenplays. In 2016, just one of the top 20 grossing movies, ‘‘La La Land,’’ fit that bill. Just about everything else was part of the Marvel universe or the DC Comics universe or the ‘‘Harry Potter’’ universe or the ‘‘Star Wars’’ universe or the ‘‘Star Trek’’ universe or the fifth Jason Bourne film or the third ‘‘Kung Fu Panda’’ or a super-­high-­tech remake of ‘‘Jungle Book.’’ Just outside the top 20, there was a remake of ‘‘Ghostbusters’’ and yet another version of ‘‘Tarzan.’’

Are Working Class Actors Returning To The Theatre? Jim Cartwright Says Yes

“The working class thing is an attitude. It’s a burning, it’s a feeling inside,” Cartwright says. “That’s what came in the ’50s. It wasn’t just that they were from a particular area or a particular economic strata. They carried with them a certain fire. That’s what we’re building in the classes. We’re not just classes – we’re a bit of a movement really and we’re a quiet revolution. And we’re coming. If you won’t let us through the doors, we’re coming over the walls and through the stalls. We’re coming in. It’s time. And anyone out there who feels the same as I do, join us, because it’s time for change in theatre. It really is time for change.”

Report: Creative Industry Jobs Are Fastest-Growing Sector In The UK

“The latest employment statistics from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport found that almost two million people worked in the creative industries in 2016, a 5% increase on the previous year. Across the UK, employment grew by 1.2% year on year. The overall number of creative industries employees has grown from 1.5 million in 2011 to 1.9 million in 2016, now making up 6% of all UK jobs.”