“This growth is partly thanks to a new $5.3 million staffing program called Arts Matter, which allows middle and high schools to share dance, music, art, and theater teachers. The program brought art instruction to some 22,000 new students this year.”
Tag: 12.23.15
See This Picasso? Shall We Give It Away Or Shred It?
“Depending on how the crowd votes, Cards Against Humanity will either gift the work to the Art Institute of Chicago or cut it into teeny squares with a laser and send each off (unframed, presumably) to the 150,000 backers, whether or not they voted in favor of the surgery.”
What Have We Lost Now That We Can No Longer Read The Night Sky?
“For most of human history, … it was unthinkable to ignore the stars. They were critical signposts, as prominent and useful as local hills, paths or wells. … On otherwise trackless seas and deserts, the familiar stars would also serve as a valued friend. That friendship is now broken. … Today, we are more disconnected from the stars than ever before.”
Misty Copeland’s Masterclass In Her SoCal Hometown Becomes A Love Fest
“The crowd of about 200 huddled in the parking lot of San Pedro City Ballet, ensconced in fog and drizzle. Restless and excited, they might have been awaiting the arrival of a rock legend. … Neighbors crouched on the roof of a small bungalow next door to get a glimpse of the action. When at last a gray SUV rolled up, smartphones and tablets shot into the air and the chanting began: ‘Misty, Misty, Misty.'”
How Rock-Paper-Scissors Became A Sport, Complete With World Champions And Professional Players
It started, as so many cool things do, in Canada, with two brothers who liked to play the game and trash-talk in their garage. “At its peak in the mid-aughts, the World Rock Paper Scissors Society was holding championships complete with black-and-white-shirted referees. They had corporate sponsorships from Microsoft and Yahoo! and a pot of $10,000 for the winner. The 2007 championships were televised on ESPN and Fox Sports.”
Mexico’s Literary Prankster Goes To War With The World’s Biggest Spanish-Language Publisher
“For several months this year, Mario Bellatin, one of Mexico’s best-known novelists, waged a quixotic war against Grupo Planeta, the largest publishing group in the Spanish-language world. An eccentric public figure who wears a variety of striking, artist-designed prostheses in lieu of his missing right forearm, Bellatin had an unwavering demand: that Planeta unpublish his magnum opus, Salón de Belleza.”
Inside The Making Of Season Two Of ‘Serial’
“It was the day after the first episode of the second season of the Serial podcast finally kerplunked into view – along with its subject, a soldier named Bowe Bergdahl, who in 2009 walked off his post in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban … – and the show’s host, Sarah Koenig, who doesn’t sound quite like her deliberately paced radio self in person, was a little unnerved by all the attention.”
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Needing More Cancer Treatment, Withdraws From ‘Trovatore’ At The Met
The Russian baritone, who announced last June that he has a brain tumor, will be returning to London for treatment and will miss four scheduled performances of the Verdi opera in February.
Who’s The Next Bob Fosse? Broadway Dance Weigh In
Five of the pros involved in Dance Machine, the company dedicated to preserving the choreography of great Broadway musicals, make their predictions – and one or two names keep coming up.
This Vinyl Record Format Seems To Be Catching On…
“Retailer HMV, which has doubled the floor space it allocates for vinyl in recent years, said it had sold a record player every minute in the past week, as the popularity of the classic system continues to grow.”