“Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs … revealed a new plan, in a memo to county leaders, that lays out a path to get the arts center the final $45 million in tourist development tax dollars it needs to start the $185 million second phase that includes the 1,700-seat Steinmetz Hall acoustical theater.”
Tag: 09.09.16
Royal Ballet’s New Principals Say YouTube Is Making It Harder To Wow Audiences
“The rise of YouTube and the internet have made it more difficult than ever to impress the viewing public, the dancers have said, as they are expected to perform ever-more gymnastic feats to keep up with what people can see online.” Says one, Alexander Campbell, “I think there’s a video of a Chinese acrobat standing en pointe on someone’s head, and that’s incredible. So if you come and see someone en pointe on a massive floor, it doesn’t have that same excitement.”
An Incendiary Title, A University President, A Cancellation, A Resignation
Howard Sherman: “To start at the end, or at least where we are today: Michele Roberge, executive director of the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on the campus of California State University, has resigned, effective yesterday. Why? Because the school’s president, Jane Close Conoley, insisted upon the cancelation of Roberge’s booking of the comedy :N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk, a show that has toured extensively for more than a decade to performing arts centers on and off college campuses. In fact, it played to a sold out house of more than 1,000 seats last year at the Carpenter Center.”
How New York City Became The Center Of The Jazz World
“Many jazz fans assume that New York has always been the preferred destination for up-and-coming musicians, but this hasn’t always been the case. In fact, New York came late to the jazz party.”
UK’s National Gallery Sued Over Matisse Portrait By Heirs Of The Woman In It
“Portrait of Greta Moll (1908) depicts a fellow-artist and a pupil of Matisse. Moll’s heirs – Oliver Williams, Margarete Green, and Iris Filmer – say that Moll, who owned the painting, turned it over in 1945 to a student of her husband, Gertrud Djamarani, fearing it would be lost or destroyed during the Allied occupation of Germany. … Instead of preserving the painting, says the complaint, Djamarani sold it in Switzerland for her own gain.”
Redeveloping Chicago’s South Side With Art
“It roots itself in unlikely places like a once-dilapidated bank that hadn’t been active in more than 30 years, a recently shuttered currency exchange office, a retired beer warehouse, and a housing complex that had been shuttered after the city couldn’t find a way to stymie the violence that had permeated the site. This constellation of projects is the brainchild of Theaster Gates.”
A Dance Video Advertising A Clothing Line Roils All Pakistan
“A video advertisement for a clothing company [in Lahore] featuring women dancing in public to Beyoncé’s ‘Run The World (Girls)’ has sparked a backlash from both feminists and religious conservatives.”
Some Questions About The Fort Worth Symphony Strike
“The piece doesn’t attempt to present an even-handed explanation of what’s happening; instead, it uncritically reposts the position of one actor in the dispute. This is a blind spot I’ve seen many times, from many reporters. We’re conditioned to believe that since management deals with the business side of the organization, anything it says about the business side of the organization is true and unbiased.”
How The Fort Worth Symphony Got Into A Mess (And A Strike)
“Management says it simply can’t grant the musicians raises and remain viable. Orchestra staffers’ pay has been frozen for several years, and they have received no pension funding, management says. The orchestra is projecting a $700,000 operating deficit for the 2016-17 season. The symphony finished its most recent season with a $500,000 deficit, $300,000 less than projected, partly because of better-than-expected ticket sales for the Concerts in the Garden. How did the orchestra’s financial situation get so dire?”
Even Nicholas Serota Was Shocked By Tate Modern’s Wild Success And Popularity
“No one expected such numbers. Serota thought he had an art museum; what he got was a major tourist attraction.”