Archive for culture
August 30, 2008 at 7:54 pm · Filed under dance, culture, TONY, black cherokee, otis houston, performance art, public art, 125th st, harlem
Hey Otis!
I have been seeing your “Google ME” signs since the beginning of the summer and am real happy I can help make the winger a place where the people can find out more about you share their own stories about you. The chickens make this sign next to the gas station on 125th my favorite. Hello to all the people in the cars who followed the sign. I looked at your myspace page. The pictures are great. This one really shows what you are about: living in peace and being healthy.
Artists depend on others to chronicle their work. The 2003 times article by Alan Feuer is a good start but nowhere near a complete story. My posts arent bad either but there needs to be more. I think people need to know more about how rich your life is before they can really understand what you got to say. Lots of folks think you are crazy or homeless. People should see your paintings and hear your music and read your poetry. If you could share the view from your terrace or inside your art studio the people would really know and want to help support your work.
I think we should create something together with images, music, video, books, wisdom, technology and people. We should continue to use the internet and signs to communicate to each other and with the people. It was great to meet with you on tuesday thanks for giving me a call on my birthday. Let me know next time you are putting up an installation so we can artifact it. I am in the neighborhood.
Tony
I dont know what you know and you don’t know what I do but together we got a whole lot of know.
Otis Houston Jr.
Recent Posts by tony schultz
June 4, 2008 at 2:31 am · Filed under culture, TONY, politics, Barack Obama
Recent Posts by tony schultz
March 17, 2008 at 11:47 pm · Filed under dance, resources, culture, boston, news, SUSAN, research, arts funding, fundraising, issues, america, dance culture, trends, dance companies, funding, arts, future
That the dance community at large has been facing a number of worries is not really news to most of us. (’Tis unfortunate, but true.) For the most part, most of the concerns that dominate the dance headlines have been dollar-focused; the problem of finding consistent funds and finances to pay dancers, commission choreography, license works and underwrite productions is one that will likely (and, sadly) plague us for a while longer. (For those who have not yet heard, Boston Ballet is the most recent company to fall into the financial black hole.)
In order to get a better grasp of what the dance world is facing, it is probably a good idea to get a more distanced perspective of where and how dance stands in relation to its other cultural peers. Towards the end of last year (2007), LaPlaca Cohen published Culture Track 2007, a presentation in which they summarize the results of their fourth national survey of cultural audiences.
The good news: In the past two years, there’s been a slight (2-3%) increase in attendance at classical dance (ballet) and modern dance events. (Yay!)
The bad news: A hefty percentage (52-68%) of people indicated that the genre/period/style to which a “cultural activity” belonged affected their attendance. Might this mean that dance will continue to remain a “lesser attended art form”? (Bummer.)
The hope: A significant number (31-49%) of the surveyed respondents indicated that “supporting a friend or family member” is a “very important” factor in their decision to attend performances and ‘activities.’ We can make a difference! (Hurrah!)
And, just in case your invitations meet resistance, be prepared:
Recent Posts by susan kim
February 7, 2008 at 1:07 am · Filed under SLOAN, dance, culture, architecture, lincoln center, ds+r, arts, fx fowle
The main area of the Lincoln Center campus is about to get crazy, but it will be worth it.
Looking forward to a reinvigorated arts complex by the minds at Diller Scofidio + Renfro and FX Fowle.
DS+R rendering from Lincoln Center’s website.
DS+R rendering from Lincoln Center’s website.
If you are coming to a show in the future, be sure to leave a little extra time to get to where you are going!
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
December 2, 2007 at 4:48 pm · Filed under dance, culture, graffiti, ny times, arts, philanthropy, support, theaters
The Graffiti of the Philanthropic Class.
Thought this was a clever way of titling and framing this NY Times article.
Just for the sake of comparison, here is a screenshot of the first row of images that appear when you do a Google Image Search for TAGGING…
Supporters of arts organizations have long had their own method for “tagging” places that are important to them. The article brings up some interesting points…
Arts institutions in the United States, unlike those in most European countries, receive sparse support from the government, so they cannot be blamed for selling the naming rights to expensive new buildings brick by brick. And it is of course only human to desire acknowledgment of one’s good deeds.
But once upon a time a discreet collective plaque or a name in the program seemed to suffice. We live now in a different age. Celebrity has become a luxury product like any other, and the wealthy can purchase a tasteful morsel of the respectable kind through charitable largess.
I would imagine most artists and arts organizations are incredibly grateful for those individuals or organizations generous enough to support their pursuits, and are happy to have a method for recognizing those supporters in a permanent, significant and aesthetically neutral way. I’d also imagine that the increase in this practice has more to do with social and business trends in giving (and a growing need for contributions), and less to do with supporters direct desire for a certain kind of celebrity, as the article suggests. If this method is a la mode, than so be it… until the trend changes or organizations find an entirely new way of acknowledging their donors.
These possessory tags subtly convey the message that culture belongs, first and foremost, to the rich, that artists serve at the behest of an elite privileged class.
This statement makes me think of the Russians submersing their flagin the water under the ice of the North Pole, staking their claim for the land when global warming melts the ice caps. I hope everyone doesn’t feel that way about this standard for thanking supporters. I think it’s just one of the only ways to acknowledge that scale of support that currently exists.
What do you all think?
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
November 5, 2007 at 4:48 am · Filed under dance, home, culture, apple, environment, life, learning, inspiration, hans rowling, TED conference
“Culture is the most important thing I would say. Because that is what brings joy to life. That’s the value of living.” - Hans Rosling at TED
I’ve had a bad cough/cold for almost two weeks now, so in an effort to help eradicate it for good, I pretty much spent the day on our couch. Doug left for Arizona at 4AM this morning, so I was unfortunately on my own in my loud foggy world (I’m glad he’ll finally be able to get some sleep tonight though!).
We got an AppleTV when it first came out, hoping it would be as amazing as almost every other Apple product we’ve been able to get our hands on, but unfortunately we were a bit disappointed (it’s possible, though, that we were expecting too much). The only thing we really use it for (rarely) is watching YouTube videos on a big screen (they actually don’t look so bad, and the searching and selecting interface is pretty good).
So today, I felt like I needed a little extra nerdy inspiration, and so I caught up on watching some of the videos of speakers at the yearly TED Conference. I was fortunate enough to come across this talk given by international health professor Hans Rowling, in which he uses his incredible graphing system to visualize statistics about the world, particularly analyzing data that can begin to help figure out how to pull people in developing countries out of poverty.
After showing his revealing Trendalyzer software (which was apparently bought by Google 10 days after this conference - you can play with it here!), he pulls up one simple powerpoint page (above), detailing and rating the MEANS and the GOALS for improving people’s lives. The conclusion was that while economic growth is the most effective means of development, culture is, in the end, the ultimate goal to strive for.
“It’s a cultural expression that for thousands of years has inspired human beings to think beyond the obvious.”
He then removes his shirt (exposing a muscle tank decorated with lightening bolts) and proceeds to demonstrate the ancient Indian tradition of sword swallowing, driving home his point (through culture!) that the seemingly impossible is possible.
Amazing. See for yourself…
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
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