Dallas Placed 149th Among U.S. Cities On The Arts Vibrancy Index. Here’s How One Organization Is Trying To Change That

“The Arts Community Alliance (TACA) … has been raising money for the arts in Dallas since 1967. Today it doles that money out in the form of more than 60 general operating, artist residency and new works grants each year. … But in addition to providing monetary support, a big part of TACA’s role in Dallas is what [TACA’s executive director] calls arts leadership. It more or less means helping carve a path forward for the local arts community as a whole.” – SMU Data Arts

Oldest Known ‘Last Supper’ Painted By A Woman On Public View After 450 Years

Plautilla Nelli’s 23-by-6½-foot depiction of Jesus and his disciples was painted for her sisters at a convent in Florence in 1568. When that convent was shuttered by Napoleon’s forces in 1808, the canvas was moved to a nearby monastery, where it was hanging in a (very) humble refectory when it was discovered by an art historian in the early 1990s. And it’s actually thanks to Napoleon that the painting is now on view in a museum. – Atlas Obscura

Alicia Alonso, Cuba’s (Very) Long-Reigning Doyenne Of Ballet, Dead At 98

“Alonso received recognition throughout the world for her flawless technique and her ability to become one with the characters she danced, even after she became nearly blind. After a career in New York, she and her then-husband Fernando Alonso established the Cuban National Ballet and the Cuban National Ballet School, both of which grew into major international dance powerhouses and beloved institutions in their home country.” She remained director of the company until her death, serving for 71 years, and named a successor only this past January. – Pointe Magazine

Nobel’s Literature Prize Debacle Exposes Fault Lines Between Art, Politics

Brett Stephens: “We live in an age that is losing the capacity to distinguish art from ideology and artists from politics. “I’m standing at my garden gate and there are 50 journalists,” Handke complained on Tuesday, “and all of them just ask me questions like you do, and from not a single person who comes to me I hear they have read any of my works or know what I have written.” He has a point. He didn’t win a Nobel Peace Prize or some other humanitarian award. His art deserves to be judged, or condemned, on its artistic merits alone.” – The New York Times