“Two years in the making, the plan outlines broad changes in how the museum will hire and train employees, buy goods and services from vendors, collect and exhibit art, and educate students. The goal is to eliminate barriers for historically underrepresented groups in every aspect of the museum’s operations.”
Tag: 08.12.18
Architects Are Protesting Museum Of Contemporary Art San Diego’s Expansion Plans
“At issue is the removal of elements of MCASD’s 1996 expansion, since it’s the only project in San Diego County designed by Venturi Scott Brown (VSB), a Philadelphia firm worshipped in the architecture world.” The objections are to both the changes to VSB design elements in the building and the disruption of the museum’s carefully constructed spatial relationship with the street and downtown La Jolla.
The Unmaking Of Barnes And Noble
Sales are falling. The Nook, Barnes & Noble’s attempt at selling electronic books, became a financial drain. Critics say the company lacks direction, sometimes seeming to prioritize sales of gifts and tchotchkes over books. For investors, the impact is already evident: Barnes & Noble’s stock price is down 60 percent over the last three years. Publishers are worried that a crucial pipeline for book sales could be crumbling.
Banksy Road Sign Appears And Disappears Within A Day
The sign, a pictograph for a road crossing showing elderly people being carried by children, was installed in the English town of Clevedon (not far from the secretive artist’s presumed hometown, Bristol) sometime early Friday. By Friday evening it was gone. There’s no indication of whether the artist, authorities, or vandals removed it.
An Opera About Refugees, Written For Refugees
In Moses, a production of the Bavarian State Opera’s youth program and cast with a mixture of recent refugees, the children of immigrants to Germany, and native Bavarians, and set to “a mixture of new music by Benedikt Brachtel and adapted excerpts from Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto, the teenagers tell the story of Moses — common ground for followers of the Bible, Torah and Quran — with Brechtian interludes about refugee experiences and current events.”
The First-Ever Museum Of European History (Of Course It’s Contentious)
“It begins with the Greek myth of Europa and the bull carved in stone and it ends with the Brexit promise of Vote Leave on an official campaign T-shirt. Both items find their place in the House of European History, an EU-funded museum [in Brussels] that aims to tell the story of a continent. … But those seeking details on the French Revolution, or the life and times of Winston Churchill, will be disappointed. ‘The harshest criticisms comes from those who expected to see their national heroes,’ says [the director].”
Bernstein the Educator
Joseph Horowitz writes about the program he devised for the Brevard Music Festival about the second of the Leonard Bernstein-New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts: “What Makes Music American?”
Recent Listening: JD Allen
JD Allen, Lovestone (Savant)
Allen is a successor to the great tenor saxophonist Ben Webster in terms of adoring both the melody and the lyric. He never strays far the songs’ spirits, keeping them alive with allusions to the melodies during his improvisations.
Netflix Is Creating Content At A Furious Pace. But It Still Needs To Offer Other Content (This Could Be A Problem)
The aggressive move toward original programming is having a palpable effect on content available to subscribers and reflects Netflix’s ambition to dominate Hollywood. The Los Gatos, Calif., company has already upended traditional distribution models and is now lessening its reliance on content from competing studios to fill its direct-to-consumer pipeline. But this change could also pose challenges for Netflix as it licenses fewer of the popular titles that have played a crucial role in retaining subscribers.
Is ‘Summer Camp’ The U.S. Answer To ‘Great British Bake-Off’?
Yes, it seems cute and sweet – but don’t let that fool you. “Wrapping it in this cute little bubble allows you to be a bit darker with your stories. … It’s already in this blanket, so you can dive in a little bit more.”