“The journalist and writer Anya Kamenetz once said that graduate students are ‘really smart suckers,’ and I – as a Ph.D. who teaches at a liberal arts college – couldn’t agree more. … Now I’d like to suggest a plan for reforming higher education in the humanities that could, someday, make graduate education a responsible, ethical option for … students everywhere.”
Tag: 07.27.11
Pop-Up Theatre: Now Even England’s National Theatre Is Doing It
NT associate director Ben Power: “There’s a certain energy that comes from knowing that a space that was built and used as something else is being inhabited by a particular performance. That both performers and audience are interlopers or invaders in someone else’s space. The idea that the space will revert to another use after the final show.”
Black Kid From Oakland Becoming Beijing Opera Star
Fifteen-year-old Tyler Thompson began studying traditional Chinese opera in a local education program, and “became a sensation in China several years ago after Chinese Central Television broadcast his performance at a Lunar New Year show in San Jose.” Says one aficionado, “It’s very authentic because he hits the tones just right, so you understand everything.”
Sony Profits Plunge 59 Percent
“Net loss of £122m in three months to the end of June reflects impact of PlayStation cyber attack and Japanese earthquake.”
Former Poetry Society Leader Speaks About The Organization’s Disfunction
“Given the current state of the Poetry Society’s Arts Council funding (suspended until further notice), the Board’s ‘no-one need know’ approach does not appear to have served the Society well. Out of concern for my colleagues I have been wary of making the Board’s actions public. It seems quite clear, however, that funding cannot flow again, until the truth is out and a new Board is up.”
Great Britain Creates New Visa Category For Foreign Artists
“A pilot scheme that will allow high-profile actors and artists to enter the UK on special visas without jobs lined up will open for applications next month. … This will allow people who are ‘internationally recognised as world leaders in the arts’ to stay in the UK for up to three years and four months.”
Shepard Fairey And Friends Paint New West Hollywood Library
“The new public library in West Hollywood isn’t expected to officially open until October, but at least one component of the complex is already garnering public attention: a new group of [outdoor] murals created by street artists Shepard Fairey, Retna and Kenny Scharf.”
How Edward Villella Built Miami City Ballet
“It was a slow climb for Villella, who was hard-pressed to lure top dancers trained at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet [in New York] … ‘We were the fourth, fifth choice,’ Villella said of his rank in the American ballet world’s pecking order. ‘We were unproven’.”
Wilton’s Music Hall In London Saved By Fundraising Appeal
“Wilton’s Music Hall will stay open after a public campaign raised enough money for the organisation to start the urgent repairs needed to keep the 19th-century building in working condition.”
DC’s Textile Museum Moving To GWU
“The venerable Textile Museum is moving to the campus of George Washington University … This is the first move ever in its more than 80 years for the museum, an international destination above Dupont Circle.”