Here’s your weekend AJ newsletter. This week we’re adding a new feature — five don’t-miss stories from the 125 or so we’ve collected. To see the usual list of stories, click the button below to skip down.
Have a great week. Know someone who might like to subscribe? Send them this link.
Have a great week.
Doug
Jessie Montgomery, Grammy award-winning composer and violinist, shares the key elements that shape her music and role as an artist-citizen.
The magnetic bond between Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, partners in life and in music, has always been central to their songs. On their latest album, the "we" becomes existential.
(Image credit: Alysse Gafkjen)
Happy Saturday. So you thought debates about high and low culture were long settled? David Brooks believes American culture generally – high and low – has now become “junkified.” Your highlights from today’s stories below. As usual, all the stories we collected below that.
Have a great weekend.
Doug
The Director of Development (DOD – Full Time) is responsible for envisioning, planning, implementing, overseeing, and assessing The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival’s fundraising plans in support of the organization’s artistic programming, community education programming, strategic vision, and future growth.
Reporting to the Executive Director, the DOD will be responsible for securing contributed revenue through the Festival’s ongoing fundraising initiatives; foundation, corporate, and government grants; special events; Board of Trustees, Advisory Council and Artists’ Circle membership and major giving, including planned gifts; individual giving; and donor stewardship programs.
The DOD is also responsible for developing strategies for any future capital and endowment campaigns. The DOD will strengthen the culture of philanthropy at the Festival in partnership with the Executive Director, Artistic Director, Board of Trustees and Advisory Council, senior staff, and community to identify and cultivate new donors while energizing and stewarding the existing donor base.
The Atlanta hip-hop star Rich Homie Quan rose to fame nationally in 2013 with his first hit single “Type of Way” and had a short but intense burst of success. He died Thursday.
(Image credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez)
British regulators are looking into how Ticketmaster uses "dynamic pricing" to hike prices in line with demand. A similar controversy prompted a federal lawsuit against the company in the U.S.
(Image credit: Matt Cardy)
October 7, a verbatim play along the lines of The Laramie Project and Anna Deavere Smith’s works, is drawn from interviews with more than 20 survivors of the atrocities by Irish journalists Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney. – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
The current state of our knowledge on aesthetics, and specifically what we consider beautiful, is a mosaic of empirical discoveries. For over 150 years, psychologists have run carefully controlled experiments to determine whether an attribute, such as a particular colour, shape or melody is beautiful. – The Conversation
Sérgio Mendes, the Grammy-winning Brazilian musician whose hit “Mas Que Nada” made him a global legend, has died after months battling the effects of long COVID.
(Image credit: Chris Pizzello)
“It is well-known that classic works of Greek science and philosophy were translated into Arabic before they were translated into other European languages — including Latin. What is less well-known is that the point of translating foreign works was not to preserve them but to build on them.” – Literary Hub
If faith in something as abstruse as literary theory seems absurd, consider a more familiar vehicle of human knowledge: the novel. As a form, “the novel” has the capacity to operate in two registers simultaneously, representing both the enormous breadth of the social world and the intricate minutiae of the individual life. – Public Books
Birmingham City Council owns an artwork collection valued at almost half a billion pounds, a BBC investigation has discovered. But none will be sold off to help tackle the financial challenges at the council which declared it was effectively bankrupt last year. – BBC
The West Kowloon Cultural District received a set amount of funding to open, expecting to sustain itself long-term by developing commercial and residential real estate on its property. But construction delays, and a market downturn have kept that plan from working, leaving WKCD desperate for cash. – Bloomberg (The Business Times, Singapore)
The mini-screens used until July could only show two languages. The new system will offer five languages – Italian, English, French, German and Spanish – with the possibility of arriving at eight languages in total. Chinese will be added for the titles broadcast by LaScalaTv in China. – Gramilano
“We continue to see unprecedented levels of demand for the Open Fund for Individuals and will process the high volume of applications we have received. With the budget now confirmed, we will work to re-open this fund. – The Herald
We often joke about awkwardness; it’s a staple of contemporary comedy. The exclamation ‘Awkward!’ functions as a light-hearted deflection, defusing social tension. The reality is heavier. – Aeon
England’s Northern Ballet premiered Geisha just before the 2020 COVID lockdown. The troupe has several Japanese dancers who were excited about it, the creative team worked with experts on authenticity, and the Japanese Embassy gave official approval. Who made the accusations of appropriation, and who accepted them? – The Spectator
Harari is to the tech CEO what David Foster Wallace once was to the Williamsburg hipster. This is a surprising role for someone who started as almost a parody of professorial obscurity. – The Atlantic (MSN)
Our dopamine-driven brains drive us to choose cheap distraction over entertainment and art. A 15-second video causes a dopamine release in the brain, which creates a desire for more stimulus, which leads to the habit of more scrolling on your phone, which leads to an addiction to more stimulus. – The New York Times
