Today’s Stories
Want A More Creative Brain? Here’s What The Neuroscientists Suggest
Since the early 1990s, we’ve come to develop a more thorough and accurate understanding of what a brain engaged in creative thought “looks like.” The key, it seems, is integration: the firing of strong, lateral networks, connecting a diverse range of brain pathways in both hemispheres. – Fast Company
America’s Most-Endangered Historic Buildings
They might not be the prettiest, or the most interesting architecturally. But significant bits of history happened there. And they’re in danger of being torn down or falling down. – CityLab
Lessons From The Naomi Wolf Affair: When Generalists Get The Expertise Wrong
“When is a writer erudite, a renaissance person, a polymath—and when are they merely trespassing superficially into areas of knowledge they haven’t mastered, imposing their own prejudices or yanking cherry-picked tidbits out of context?” – The New Republic
Intersectionality And The Meaning Of Culture
The term “intersectionality” was coined in 1989 by professor Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap. “Intersectionality” has, in a sense, gone viral over the past half-decade, resulting in a backlash from the right. – Vox
Some Rethinking On The Philosophical Separation Of Mind And Body
The concept of reason itself is built on a profoundly gendered blueprint. But a surprising rapprochement might be in sight: between feminists who criticise the mind/matter split, and certain philosophers and scientists who are now trying to put them back together. – Aeon
Ojai: The Tiny Music Festival That Reflects The World
Mark Swed: “It is still the quirkiest major music festival in America, and possibly anywhere. If anything, Ojai has become even more a habitat for compulsive experimentation as well as a magnet for many of the world’s most accomplished musicians. Charm and informality continue. But thanks in large part to Tom Morris, the Ojai festival is now a Destination.” – Los Angeles Times
‘I Didn’t Feel That There Was Any Casting Couch”: Ann Reinking Talks About Her Relationship With Bob Fosse
“I never thought he was abusive that way at all. I think everybody he was with was completely willing to be with him. I never perceived him as using a part as being manipulative. And I’ll tell you how I knew that — it was instinctual. … I trusted Bob. I trusted Gwen. And I was right to. My instincts weren’t incorrect at all. They never hurt me, and they were on my side.” – The New Yorker
Have The Arts Gotten So Focused On The Mechanics Of Survival That We Forget To Talk About The Art?
Steve Slater: “This is nothing new, and it is not confined to the arts. We see the same pattern repeated again and again in fields like education, health and the police, all of which suffer from diminishing hands-on contact with those they profess to serve.” – Arts Professional
Website Caught Trying To Sell Reviews At Edinburgh Fringe
“The site, The Mumble, is contacting artists appearing at this year’s festival to offer ‘a digitally sophisticated Skyflyer’, comprising a review and interview, for £50. Opting for just a review would cost £30.” – The Stage
Has Arts Criticism Become Too Political?
Andrew Doyle makes the argument: “The best critics are able to appreciate a piece of work on its own terms, whereas the worst seem to believe that success should be measured on the basis of how closely the artist reflects their own ideological perspective.” – spiked
The Future Of Theatre Is Accessible
“In this series, a variety of disabled theatre artists: managers, designers, producers, and dramaturgs, will share how they do their work, as well as their vision for an accessible future in professional theatre.” – HowlRound
Museums Are Increasingly Becoming Stages For Outside Protest
It makes sense. As iconic architectural spaces that are mostly free to enter, museums have a lot to offer today’s media-savvy protestors. – Museums Association
Spaghetti Westerns Shaped Modern Filmmaking, Writes Quentin Tarantino
“There have only been a few filmmakers who have gone into an old genre and created a new universe out of it. … But those Italian guys — Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Duccio Tessari and Franco Giraldi — did it best. They mostly started off as critics and worked their way up to screenwriters. And then they became the second unit guys, the guys that deliver the action. You have to go to the French New Wave to find a group of men who loved cinema as much as they did — except Leone and the others had a thriving film industry they could work their way into.” – The Spectator (UK)
The NYT As Talent Scout
The paper of record showcases a dozen performers – dancers, musicians, street performers – in New York, shows you their work in a multimedia package, and gives some insights into their lives. – The New York Times
Do Arts Philanthropists Make The Gentrification Problem Worse?
“Remaining residents, particularly those in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods like San Francisco’s Mission District, don’t see a huge distinction between a well-intentioned arts funder and a slick developer with blueprints for luxury condos. … But does arts-based development really push out long-term residents? The research is inconclusive at best.” – Inside Philanthropy
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Singer Leon Redbone Dead At 69
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‘I Didn’t Feel That There Was Any Casting Couch”: Ann Reinking Talks About Her Relationship With Bob Fosse
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‘The Most Exciting New Private Museum In America’ — Sebastian Smee On Glenstone
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Is iTunes Headed For The Retirement Home?
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Want A More Creative Brain? Here’s What The Neuroscientists Suggest
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Opera Takes Up #BlackLivesMatter And The Central Park Five
Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue is about a black police officer whose son is shot by a white colleague. Jazz trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmons have adapted New York Times columnist Charles Blow’s memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones. And The Central Park Five has a text by Richard Wesley and a score by Anthony Davis, arguably the dean of America’s black composers. And those are just the pieces premiering this summer. – The New York Times
Houston Company METdance Evicted From Its Headquarters
Six years ago, the company moved into a newly-rehabbed 11,000-square-foot space with rent and expenses of $15,000 a month — expensive, though below market for the size and location. But the expense of building damage and other after-effects of Hurricane Harvey (2017) led to a cash-flow problem from which METdance has never recovered. – Houston Chronicle
Reviving The First Language Ever Spoken In (What’s Now) Los Angeles
“Every month [students learning Tongva] gather, practicing pronunciation, mastering the use of particles, singing songs and playing word games under the guidance of Pam Munro, a linguist from UCLA who has been teaching these classes for 15 years. She calls her work ‘a reclamation effort’ for a language that is no longer used in conversations. (includes audio clips, video, and study guides) – Los Angeles Times
The Whistling Language Of Turkey May Be Endangered, But It’s Not Dead
Kuş dili (“bird language”), used to communicate over long distances in a mountainous farming area near Turkey’s Black Sea coast, renders the entire Turkish language into variously pitched and articulated whistles. Cell phones may have made kuş dili redundant, but at least some of its speakers won’t give up on it. – The New York Times
‘The Most Exciting New Private Museum In America’ — Sebastian Smee On Glenstone
“Glenstone is a 21st-century version of the Frick, the Phillips Collection or the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. And it’s the equivalent, among its contemporaries, of such celebrated art sanctuaries as Naoshima in Japan and Louisiana in Denmark. … Even as you sigh and breathe more deeply at Glenstone, you can’t help but feel that the people who set all this up — a billionaire couple who live on the property — have designs on you. And part of you — or part of me, anyway — wants to resist.” – The Washington Post
More And More Studios Question Publicly Whether They Could Operate In A Georgia Where Abortion Is Outlawed
On Tuesday, Netflix issued a cautious statement of concern; on Wednesday, Disney warned a bit more strongly. By late Thursday, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, and AMC Networks had made their disapproval clear, while Sony Pictures and Viacom made statements that were more circumspect, though hardly supportive of the Georgia lawmakers who passed the anti-abortion law. – Variety
Baltimore Symphony Management Cancels All Summer Concerts; Lockout Begins June 17
The musicians have been playing without a contract since mid-January, and the main issue in negotiations has been whether to shorten the orchestra’s annual season to 40 weeks from 52, which management says there is not enough money to maintain. CEO Peter Kjome has now made that decision unilaterally, and, after the subscription concert on June 16, will not pay musicians again until September. – The Baltimore Sun