Arts on Huffington Post

Hans Proppe: Seed Pods in my Hand (PHOTOS)

2012-05-26T11:45:21Z

Over the years I have collected various seed pods as I ran across them in various travels and swap meets. Their size alone is astonishing.

Read more: Seed Pods, Hand, Nature, Slidefreestyle, Geometry, Photography, Arts, Seed Photos, Exposure, Arts News

Fern Siegel: Stage Door: February House

2012-05-23T15:31:50Z

The trials and tribulations, both artistic and personal, of this singular crew would make a compelling story. However, the characters of February House are drawn in brushstrokes; there isn't enough at stake.

Read more: Arts, Poets, Writers, W.H. Auden, Literature, Carson McCullers, February House, The Public Theater, NY Around Town, Public Theater, Arts News

ARTINFO: Why Is This $1-Billion Private Residence in India Empty at Night?

2012-05-23T12:32:37Z

Less than two years ago, Chicago-based Perkins+Will completed construction for a 27-story building in South Mumbai, an eccentric accordion-like high-r...

Read more: Architecture, Arts, India, Art, Arts News

Nora Younkin: What the Heck Is Modern Dance?

2012-05-23T13:07:24Z

Sometimes it would seem audiences are afraid of modern dance because it's not evident what it's about. Let me tell you another secret: that's okay. Take chances. See something weird. Talk about it.

Read more: Modern Dance, Chicago Dance, Live Performance, Art School, Student Performance, Arts, Contemporary Dance, Performance Art, Chicago Around Town, Columbia College Chicago, College Dance, Degree in Dance, Dance Degree, Chicago News

Michael Friedman, L.M.S.W.: Art Helps People Live With Mental Illness

2012-05-23T12:00:16Z

Being with so many like-minded people and having a sense of camaraderie are clearly important dimensions of the experience for these artists. It's being in a place without stigma, where people believe in themselves and their abilities.

Read more: Mental Illness, Arts, Mental Health, Rehabilitation, Mental Illness Stigma, Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Arts Mental Health, Arts Therapy, Art Therapy, Art Mental Health, Healthy Living News

John M. Eger: On Becoming an Innovation Community

2012-05-20T21:18:10Z

It seems every city is talking about becoming an innovation city, an innovation region, an innovation community. But you can't have innovation without creativity.

Read more: Regionalism, Public Policy, Broadband, Cooperation, Cities, Creative Community, Arts, Arts News

Michael Kaiser: Implementation or the Lack Thereof

2012-05-21T08:13:28Z

I know asking for money can be uncomfortable; I know looking for board members or planning an institutional marketing effort can be time-consuming and challenging. But unless one acts on a board development, marketing or fundraising plan, the effort to develop it is wasted.

Read more: Arts Management, Implementation Plan, Institutional Marketing, Boards, Donors, Arts, Planning, Marketing, Fundraising, Culture News

Howard Sherman: Sacrificing Baby Ducks for the Arts

2012-05-17T11:12:12Z

News directors, please leave the animal stories and pictures to the Internet, which was apparently built specifically to disseminate such "aw"-inspiring material. And with the time you free up, maybe you can spare a minute for the arts now and then.

Read more: Arts, Baby Animals, TV News, Arts Journalism, Arts Advocacy, Arts News, Sam Shepard, Arts in the News, Culture News

Tara Woodard-Lehman: The Beast of Mental Illness

2012-05-16T17:55:48Z

A few months ago musician Phill Eason asked me to make a prop for a musical. But this was not your average musical. In part, because it used cosmic, apocalyptic images from scripture. In part, because it was set in a modern-day mental-health ward.

Read more: Musical, Art, Christian Ministry, Mental Health, Musical Theater, Arts, Musicals, Music, Culture News

Samantha Bennett: A Poem In Praise Of The Exuberant

2012-05-16T09:09:08Z

Let's break out the sequins and the feather boas and have dessert first!

Read more: Emotional Wellness, Fearlessness, Arts, Becoming Fearless, Exuberance, Poetry, Becoming-Fearless, Culture, Healthy Living News

Howard Sherman: What We Bring to the Theatre

2012-05-16T02:00:16Z

For all the talk about how theatre is different every night because of the interplay between actors and audiences, the real difference is found in what each member of the audience brings with them: a rough day at the office, a misbehaving child, an undigested bit of beef.

Read more: Arts, Theatergoers, Theater, Going to the Theater, Culture News

Michael Winship: At a Military Hospital, Warriors Are Not the Only Wounded

2012-05-16T00:16:58Z

Wounded Warrior had asked some of us to come to Landstuhl to meet with the medical staff there. Some 3,000 strong, military and civilian, they work ceaselessly in what has become one of the busiest trauma centers in the world.

Read more: Wounded Veterans, Writers, Veterans PTSD, War in Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, War, War in Iraq, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Writers Guild of America, Military, Wounded Warriors, Wounded Warrior Project, Arts, Ptsd, Compassion Fatigue, Impact News

Larissa Archer: Soaring Through the Air, Writhing on the Ground: Bad Unkl Sista's First Breath, Last Breath

2012-05-15T17:14:33Z

There were leather and piles of silver, feathers and dreadlocks, tattoos and guy-liner. I've never felt like such a square; even before the performance began it had rendered my life meaningless.

Read more: Arts, Dance, Events, San Francisco, Butoh, Z-Space, Bad Unkl Sista, Kristen Greco, Karl Gillick, Performance Art, Anastazia Louise, Michael Curran, Arts News

Michael Kaiser: Blog 150: My Visit to Skidmore

2012-05-14T08:36:17Z

Spending two days with these students in classes and lecture was exciting and enlightening. They know far more about arts management than I could have dreamed of at that age.

Read more: Arts Management, Zankel Hall, Ariana Huffington, Arts, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, Huffington Post, Kennedy Center, Culture News

Daniel J. Kushner: Experiments in Opera: Under Deconstruction

2012-05-09T15:05:17Z

This seemingly evasive conceit reflects a decidedly nuanced approach to the storied, well-trodden path that is Opera -- openly acknowledging more recent "experimental" precedents even while turning further back in operatic history for creative inspiration.

Read more: Aaron Siegel, Jason Cady, Avant-Garde, Brother Brother, Contemporary Classical, Opera, Brooklyn, Arts, Happiness Is the Problem, Borges and the Other, Baroque Music, Renaissance Music, New York City, Matthew Welch, Experiments in Opera, Roulette, Arts News

Richard Dare: Pride & Prejudice: (What) Can Nonprofits Learn From the For-Profit World?

2012-05-07T18:48:45Z

Like everyone else in the business world, we nonprofits need money to operate, folks, and lots of it. Let's focus on some steps nonprofits might take to follow their siblings in the for-profit sector toward a brighter financial future.

Read more: Arts, Nonprofits, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Entrepreneurship, Business Model, Art, Strategy, Brooklyn, Orchestra, New York, Impact, Business Plan, Culture News

Michael Friedman, L.M.S.W.: 'When We Hear Music, Memories Fill Our Minds': Living With Dementia

2012-05-07T16:29:44Z

A concert by the Unforgettables, a unique singing group, makes it clear that there can be a life worth living for people with dementia and their caregivers, and that music and other forms of art have much to contribute to making it so.

Read more: Arts, Aging Gracefully, Alzheimer's, Dementia, Mental Health, Music, Art and Dementia, Dementia Music, Music and Dementia, Alzheimer's Caregiving, Caregiving, Healthy Living News

Susanne Mentzer: Define 'Charity,' Define 'Humanity'

2012-05-07T13:57:34Z

On his April 27 broadcast, while challenging whether the Mormon Church is a charity, Bill Maher told viewers that donating to the arts also does not qualify as charitable giving, because "unlike food and water, access to Mozart is not a basic human necessity."

Read more: Nonprofits, Arts, Philanthropy, Classical Music, Real Time With Bill Maher, Charity, Altruism, Tax Deductions, Bill Maher Charity, Charitable Giving, Culture News

John Seed: A Look At Peter Selz: Sketches Of A Life In Art

2012-05-07T11:19:14Z

Curatorial infighting, rivalry and the perception of a "glass ceiling" which kept Jews from rising to the position of museum director all colored Selz's tenure at MOMA.

Read more: Books, Paul Karlstrom, Arts, Mitchell Johnson, Sam Francis, Peter Selz, UC Press, Biography, Home News

Marlowe Brown: Films For Your Soul: 'Riding The Invisible' (WATCH)

2012-05-06T11:00:32Z

It is with great excitement that I share with you now the same "private sneak-peek" that I once had and invite you to take a one-of-a-kind ride to your soul.

Read more: GPS for the Soul, Sacred Earth, Previews, Films, Spirit, Mindfulness, Soul, Echoes of Creation, Arts, Healing, Culture, Video, Healthy Living News

Jennifer Rivera: Shouldn't You Be Fatter? (And Other Opera Singer Myths)

2012-05-03T15:51:10Z

Because everybody assumes that opera singers are fat, and because it's still okay to openly mock and disregard overweight people in our society, there is really no reason to even imagine what it means to actually be an opera singer.

Read more: Chris Mann, Weight Concern, Opera, The Voice, Adele, Arts, Music School, Obesity, Culture, Culture News

Artists Fight For Their Rights In Turkey

2012-05-02T17:18:40Z

ANKARA, Turkey -- In a recent play in Turkey, two actors wore trench coats in their role as assassins posing as perverts planning to flash girls near ...

Read more: Theater Censorship Turkey, Turkey Protests, Islam, Religion, Islamist Movement Turkey, Turkey, Turkey Artists, Conservative Movement Turkey, Turkey Conservative, Arts, Secret Obscenities, Erdogan, Turkey Censorship, Culture News

Ian David Moss: Federal Government Money Is Not The Best Way To Fund The Arts

2012-05-01T10:00:51Z

Arts lovers: go ahead and write your letters to Congress asking for level funding, that 6% increase, or whatever you want. But once federal funding becomes less of a joke, it may well become more of a headache.

Read more: Change My Mind, Great Debates, Government Arts Funding, Arts, Who Should Fund the Arts, Government Funding, Should Government Fund the Arts, Great Debate, Arts Funding, Home News

Carla Escoda: Federal Government Money Is The Best Way To Fund The Arts

2012-05-01T10:00:22Z

Reallocating a tiny portion of the defense budget to fund tours for American performing arts companies to strategically important countries makes them a potent weapon in the battle to win hearts and minds.

Read more: Change My Mind, Great Debates, Government Arts Funding, Arts, Government Funding, Should Government Fund the Arts, Who Should Fund the Arts, Great Debate, Arts Funding, Culture News

Kurt Ellenberger: The Audience and the Educator: A Study in Blue

2012-04-30T13:48:28Z

The education system can certainly expose students to classical music and jazz (hopefully enriching their lives by doing so), but it cannot make them love the music.

Read more: Classical Music, Education, Liberal Arts Education, Jazz, Arts, Jazz Music, Higher Education, Arts Funding, Arts Education, Culture News