“In an age as suspicious of greatness as our own, perhaps it is time to recognize that for all the perversion of the cult of genius in the past, it did preserve a sense of wonder in the face of human possibility, an exhilarating sense of awe at being–and being transcendent–in the world. We relinquish that wonder at a cost.”
Tag: 10.21.13
How Book Publishers Pick The Lowbrow Hits In The 21st Century
“Historically, even editors of tasteless books still played a taste-making role, relying on their guts to decide” what might become a hit. “Today, the public has already indicated what interests it, via the Internet, and the editor just has to be savvy enough and shameless enough to give the rabble what it wants.
What It Takes To Make Masterpiece
In a new memoir, longtime executive producer Rebecca Eaton shares some of the secrets of the flagship PBS series, including foibles of royalty (Princess Margaret was not amused by Upstairs, Downstairs), audiences (many think that all the shows come from the BBC), and herself (she turned down the chance to air Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot).
$100K Siminovitch Prize For Theatre To Toronto’s Daniel Abraham
“It was 12 years ago when the first Siminovitch Prize for Theatre was awarded to director Daniel Brooks and he named Chris Abraham as his protégé. On Monday night, Abraham was picked as the latest winner of the most lucrative prize in Canadian performing arts ($75,000 to the winner, $25,000 to the protégé).”
Cleveland Museum Of Art Director Abruptly Resigns
“David Franklin, who joined the Cleveland Museum of Art as its ninth director a little over three years ago, has resigned his post, effective immediately, … [saying] that he’s is proud of the museum’s accomplishments during his tenure, but has ‘concluded that it’s time to spend more time on research and writing’.”
Trial For Bolshoi Ballet Acid Attack Begins
“Dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, who made his name on stage at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, goes on trial on Tuesday for an acid attack that nearly blinded the ballet’s artistic director.” The 29-year-old “is accused of organizing the assault on Sergei Filin early this year.”
Regional Theatre That Aspires To Be Local
There was a time when it felt as if regional theatres all wanted to have an aspirational “national” in their tag lines, as if local were somehow a dirty word. It’s not.
Will New Tech Owners ‘Disrupt’ Traditional Media In A Better Way?
“Technology could help find a way to actually do important journalism for our democracy that can impact many more people and help serve it to a general-interest audience in a way that can be commercially sustainable.”
What’s Wrong With The New Mega-Galleries
“An aesthetic crisis looms. To grow so huge, these gallerists have had to increase their overhead and output of energy enormously, while decreasing their artistic complexity, capacity for chaos, and quick and fresh thinking. The megas have reached a dangerous stage where they’re using the same amount of energy that they’re generating.”